HISTORY & Hungry Eyes Doc Explores Canada’s Black History

HISTORY and Hungry Eyes Media Group have partnered for BLK: An Origin Story, a four-part documentary series about the historical impact of Black Canadians.

Each episode of the limited series takes viewers to a different Canadian location (Nova Scotia, Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec) and provides chronologically significant insights into Black history in the areas. The docuseries, which also highlights the legacy of Black contributions to the larger story of Canada, will premiere on February 26.

BLK: An Origin Story is produced by Hungry Eyes Media in association with Corus Studios for HISTORY.

Jennifer Holness, executive producer of Hungry Eyes Media Group, said: “As Canadian creatives, BLK: An Origin Story embodies our professional mission to champion fresh and authentic perspectives toward storytelling. We crossed the country and spoke, listened and learned. The result is four hours of programming that resets the understanding of Black history in Canada. It was important for us to deliver the series as a comprehensive, multilayered, multidisciplinary and essential Canadian journey. We are grateful to the stalwarts, knowledge keepers and storytellers from Black Canadian communities and locations from Vancouver to Halifax, with Owen Sound, Amherstburg, Windsor and Montreal as points in between. They’ve shared the immense generational experiences and events documented in each episode. We view history, and Black contribution to Canadian history, as a defining part of Canada’s overall identity, from both an inward and outward gaze.”

Lisa Godfrey, senior VP of original content at Corus Studios, said: “It is a crucial time in our country’s history to reflect on and share the important Black narratives that influenced our nation. We are proud to partner with the talented storytellers at Hungry Eyes Media who have developed this must-see and influential docuseries.”

Sudz Sutherland, executive producer for Hungry Eyes Media Group, said: “Black people are entitled to know how they have taken up space in Canada, going back to the beginning of how the country’s identity has been shaped. The historic learnings that we share in this documentary series are vitally important for our communities since we cannot move forward without acknowledging our tremendous contributions to Canada’s past. In shedding these lights, the series contributes to the larger societal conversation toward dismantling systemic racism.”