THE SILENCE

Synopsis
Tackling the scandals of sexual abuse perpetrated by priests on young boys in New Brunswick, Acadian filmmaker Renée Blanchar reveals the root causes of the collective silence that paralyzed the affected communities for so many years.

Why keep quiet about the most serious things? Doesn’t silence contribute to perpetuating suffering? From the 1950s to the 1980s, Catholic priests committed numerous sexual abuses against young boys in several French-speaking villages in New Brunswick. Coming to light when the victims were in their fifties, these scandals caused shock and indignation in the media and public opinion. Why have affected communities preferred secrecy to justice and truth for so long? Taking advantage of their influence to impose a “pious silence” on their parishioners, several authority figures have built a veritable structure of abuse which testifies as much to the oppressions specific to Acadian populations as to the systemic denial of the Catholic Church. Challenged by the power of collective silence, seasoned filmmaker Renée Blanchar seeks to unravel its root causes by meeting survivors. With the film Silence, she brings us closer to the humanity of these broken men, and reveals what unites and disunites Acadian communities, yesterday as today.

Production
ÇaTourne Productions and the National Film Board of Canada