Jessie Levene

Filming at the BC Cabinet & First Nations Leadership Gathering, Vancouver, January 2025.

Since February 2023, I have been working full-time with Munro/Thompson Communications, a strategic communications and creative firm specializing in public relations and digital media production.

Amongst many, many different projects over the last few years, here are a selection of films of which I am most proud:

We’re suing the RCMP: join our fight for press freedom – 4-minute video about The Narwhal and freelance photojournalist Amber Bracken‘s lawsuit against the RCMP for Amber’s wrongful arrest, wrongful detention and violation of her Charter rights.

Bamfield Main Road Reconciliation Project – 15-minute documentary about the final stages of the Huu-ay-aht First Nations-led vision of creating a safer route between Anacla, Bamfield, and Port Alberni on the west coast of Vancouver Island.

Action, Advocacy & Change: Twenty Years of the First Nations Leadership Council – 4-minute documentary  on the founding of the First Nations Leadership Council, its work creating meaningful change for First Nations in BC, and its impact on federal and provincial legislation to date.

My essay ‘Creating a Canoe’, about K’ómoks First Nation members Sean Frank and Trevor Hardy’s carving and painting of a new canoe for the community, was published in the Summer 2022, Volume 30 edition of the CV Collective magazine.

In early 2023, I wrote two articles for Ha-Shilth-Sa, Canada’s oldest First Nations newspaper:

Tseshaht weighs in as public dialogue begins on the future of the Royal BC Museum.

Significant changes in store for Long Beach Airport.

My essay ‘Rat Year’, about my experience of the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, was longlisted for the Creative Nonfiction Collective Society/Humber Literary Review 2020 Contest.

Thrilled that ‘Kaysaythot – the K’ómoks Treaty Podcast’ which I produced for K’ómoks First Nation is now online! Learn directly from K’ómoks members about their journey through the modern Treaty process – which, should the community vote yes, will make K’ómoks self-governing for the first time since colonization. It boggles my mind that the Indian Act still exists – a racist piece of legislation designed to keep Indigenous people powerless and in poverty. Iiiiimoot (huge thanks) to everyone in the KFN Treaty Team for their awesome work on this project.

My special week-long series looking at the need for supportive housing in the Comox Valley for CBC’s All Points West is now online. Listen here.

I recently branched out into a new area – location sound recording for film. It was for a documentary, ‘Save Space Nugget’, commissioned by Telus On Demand. The film chronicles how my own amazing community, Cumberland, BC, came together to save the forest that surrounds the village. You can watch the documentary here, and learn more about the incredible Cumberland Forest Society here.

The old Canada Post mailboxes of Denman Island may be gone, but they’re not forgotten. Watch my most recent photofilm, ‘Seeing Green – A Denman Love Letter’, here.

My feature documentary ‘Ahousaht: Story of a Skatepark’ aired recently on CBC1’s Unreserved. This was an incredibly fulfilling piece to make – it’s my first piece for Canadian radio and the CBC, and a wonderfully positive and uplifting story to boot. I also received fantastically supportive mentoring from Iris Yudai, Executive Producer of Unreserved, via the brilliant Doc Project. Listen online here, or even better, subscribe to the Unreserved podcast for your weekly dose of Indigenous community, culture and conversation.

I am beyond thrilled to be currently producing my first radio documentary for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation! The finished doc will air on CBC1’s Unreserved, the radio space for Indigenous community, culture and conversation. And that’s not all – I was also lucky enough to be selected for CBC’s Doc Project Mentorship Program, which pairs veteran producers with emerging talent, and airs the resulting documentary on the CBC1 show, The Doc Project. My mentor is the  editor of Unreserved, Iris Yudai, who has over 20 years experience at CBC, and who I am enjoying working with immensely. Read all about me and my fellow mentees and our forthcoming documentaries here.