Documentary examines the life and murder of Mi'kmaw activist

Yvonne Russo says she had to see the world through the eyes of Annie Mae Pictou Aquash when directing and producing a new four-part documentary, Vow of Silence: the Assassination of Annie Mae.

"There was so much to know, to really learn about Annie Mae. We knew she grew up in Nova Scotia. She's Mi'kmaw from Nova Scotia. She was one with the land," said Russo, an award-winning director and producer and member of the Sicangu Lakota Tribal Nation in South Dakota.

Aquash was a mother of two from Sipekne'katik First Nation and became a notable member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) that called for the civil rights of Indigenous peoples in Canada and the United States.

She participated in the 71-day armed standoff at Wounded Knee on South Dakota's Pine Ridge Reservation in 1973, one of the protests that helped the movement rise in prominence.

The FBI tried to dismantle the movement through counterintelligence operations, like planting spies in AIM's upper ranks. Internal suspicions within AIM because of FBI infiltration reached a critical point when Aquash was executed by gunshot to the head in 1975.

AIM members, Arlo Looking Cloud and John Graham, were charged and convicted of her murder in 2004 and 2010, respectively. Prosecutors of the trials theorized the murder was prompted when high-ranking AIM members suspected Aquash of being an FBI informant.

Russo said growing up, the murder of 30-year-old Aquash was well known to her.

"There were whispers about it because the [American Indian] Movement was so prominent within our communities at the time. It was a movement that everybody was extremely proud of. And then there was a moment when things became very silent," she said.

Russo said she took into account the complexities and enormity of the story when the opportunity to make it into a documentary was presented to her in 2018.

"I knew that this was a story that needed to be a larger series in order to serve a form of justice for Annie Mae and for the family as well, " said Russo. "It's just an important story for our community."

Russo said her team retrieved hundreds of hours of archival footage, including rare footage of Aquash. They also conducted interviews with living AIM members, friends and family members, including Aquash's daughter, Denise Pictou Maloney.

Russo said it was also important for her to go to Nova Scotia, speak with her family, view Aquash's burial site and immerse herself in her world.

"I flew to Nova Scotia, met with Denise, spent days with her and her family," said Russo. "I asked to see where she grew up in the land and really just spent time absorbing her world and life."

It was around the site of Nova Scotia's Shubenacadie Residential School where one memorable moment of filming happened. Russo encountered a woman who Aquash used to care for in Boston. The woman retrieved an item she told Russo belonged to Aquash's daughter.