Hallmark movies are in full swing for the holiday season and a local Burns Lake woman will be the first Indigenous woman to be featured in this year’s programming.
Barbara Patrick stars in a Five Star Christmas as Suzanne Ralston.
According to Patrick, when she arrived on set she was told they would have the character be Indigenous which was a shock.
She said playing an Indigenous character is something that she has always dreamed of.
“I think that Indigenous people need to be represented on screen and it is one of the reasons why I’ve continued acting because we’re underrepresented,” she said.
Patrick added Jay Brazeau, who played her grandfather in the film is half metis as well and is probably the first male Indigenous character as well.
Patrick is mixed race and was often told people didn’t see her as Indigenous.
She said the big thing for her is the representation of Indigenous peoples.
“Our culture is so beautiful and we just don’t have that [representation] on screen and I think that it is well due time, so it means a lot to me,” she said.
Patrick’s journey with acting began in Prince George at the Pine Centre Mall in 1998 after she was approached by a modeling agent while shopping.
She originally thought she was going to participate in a runway show but it was a contest that she won which turned into a bigger contest in Vancouver and two months later she went to Japan.
Five Star Christmas premiered on Nov 27 and Patrick said the movie had a great response.
“Everybody from up North, I just felt the overwhelming sense of joy and support and it was and it just felt so amazing to have a body of work and for me to be recognized as an Indigenous woman,” she said.
Patrick starred alongside CW Network’s One Tree Hill alum Bethany Joy Lenz and Hallmark Channel alum Victor Webster,
The movie can be watched on the Hallmark Channel, the W network, or Amazon Prime.
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