Tanya Talaga searches for family matriarch in new series

OnCBC television Wednesdays at 8pm and now streaming on CBC Gem.

The Knowing is a four-part series that follows journalist Tanya Talaga and her family's eight-decade-long search for family matriarch Annie Carpenter. Talaga's search reveals a story deeply intertwined with Canada's residential school system.

Using sweeping imagery of the land, blended with rare archival footage, Ininiw poetic narration and deeply personal conversations with Survivors, knowledge holders and newly-found family, Talaga takes us on an emotional journey of both familial reclamation and an exploration of Canada's true history.

Adapted from Talaga's book of the same name and told through an Indigenous lens, The Knowing is one story of survival, love and of outlasting. It is a story that every single Indigenous family in Canada shares.

Episode One: The Knowing

Investigative journalist Tanya Talaga is trying to piece together a mystery that dates back 150 years - who were the maternal matriarchs in her family and how did they become so lost? She travels to the James Bay coast looking for answers.

Episode Two: Stolen Children

Journalist Tanya Talaga uses records left behind by her Uncle Hank as she delves into Canada's Indian Residential School and Indian Hospital history, looking for answers as to what happened to Annie Carpenter and her daughter Liz. Her friend Sol Mamakwa joins her and they begin to look into his past at Stirland Lake Indian Residential School.

Episode Three: Lost, Found and Lost Again

On the hunt to find out more about Annie Carpenter, Tanya Talaga makes an unexpected discovery: two of her great uncles died at Shingwauk Indian Residential School. We also travel withan Indigenous delegation to Rome, looking for an elusive apology from Pope Francis.

Episode Four: The End is the Beginning

Tanya Talaga's journey finishes with a shocking revelationof where Annie Carpenter's final resting place is and she realizes that Annie's story could represent every Indigenous family's story under colonization.

Based on the book by Tanya Talaga, The Knowing is written and directed by Talaga and Courtney Montour.