A Founding Teacher's Story Through a Different Lens

For founding teacher Colin Field, storytelling has always been part of teaching. Long before he became an award-winning documentary filmmaker, he was encouraging students to pick up a camera, ask questions and tell stories.

In the early 1990s, he introduced a video production club at CIS, where students learnt the basics of filming, editing and storytelling while creating the school's very first documentary. 

He remembers filming and editing the video with his students; a memory that still makes him smile, and a reminder that some of the most meaningful learning happens through collaboration, creativity and a willingness to try something new.

CIS’s first documentary produced by Colin Field and CIS students.

After a successful 25-year career in corporate learning technology, Colin returned to his lifelong passion. He went back to college, studied filmmaking and bought a couple of cameras and equipment. 

His first feature documentary, ‘We Lend a Hand: The Forgotten Story of Ontario Farmerettes’, shines a light on an overlooked chapter of Canadian history. It follows the extraordinary story of more than 40,000 Canadian teenage girls who volunteered on farms to help feed a nation and its allies during the Second World War. 

The film has since screened more than 200 times, won 11 awards, been selected by 33 film festivals and joined the Toronto International Film Festival Film Circuit and the National Canadian Film Day. But for Colin, the greatest reward was seeing all 20 of the Farmerettes he interviewed, now in their late nineties, watch the film premiere and receive standing ovations.

Colin Field with two of the farmerette Mary Loucks and Inge Moyer Viau, whose family welcomed farmerettes to their Niagara Region farm.

Colin hopes today's students will have the confidence to follow their passions wherever they may lead. While those passions may change over time, he believes every experience shapes the next. His own journey has taken him from the classroom to the corporate world and, ultimately, behind the camera. Different chapters, but all connected by a love of learning and a belief that stories have the ability to make a difference.

He hopes students will watch We Lend a Hand, not only to discover an inspiring chapter of Canadian history, but to see how one person's curiosity can preserve the stories of many. Colin's classroom may have changed but he hopes to share the same lesson; when we listen with empathy, embrace creativity and share stories that matter, we build stronger connections with one another, and with the world.

Thank you Colin for sharing your story and for continuing to help others see the world through a different lens. Watch the trailer for ‘We Lend a Hand’ and learn more about the film here.