Charles Wilkinson: A Passion for the Environment

Fallout from resource extraction the focus of Hot Docs winner

Charles Wilkinson, director of “Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World,” the last film in a trilogy that aims to raise awareness about the devastation that occurs from resource extraction in Canada’s northern regions. Courtesy Hot Docs

Charles Wilkinson won Best Canadian Feature Documentary award at Hot Docs on May 1 for “Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World,” the final film in a trilogy spotlighting the environmental cost of the massive harvesting of natural resources occurring in northern Canada.

The documentary received the top honour when it premiered at Hot Docs, the Canadian International Documentary Festival that takes place in Toronto every year. Awards are presented to Canadian and international filmmakers, chosen from the over 200 films screened during the festival. It’s the largest documentary film festival in North America.

“It’s an enormous honour and it’s a great huge pat on the head, and it means that people will have an opportunity to see that film, the Haida Gwaii film, a lot more because of that award,” Wilkinson says.

I know for a fact that the vast majority of Canadians have no sense of what is being done in our north.

— Director Charles Wilkinson