“Hebron was a name I heard a lot growing up,” says Holly Andersen at the outset of Hebron Relocation. “But I never knew the full story.” Over the course of its brief runtime, the film follows Andersen as she works to find out more of the story.
Hebron was an Inuit Settlement located in Northern Labrador whose inhabitants were forced to relocate after it was shut down in 1959 by government officials. Living in a house that was once inhabited by some of the relocatees is what initially drives Andersen to want to learn more about exactly what went down – even though it’s all before her time, she feels it’s now a part of her history too. Along the way, she speaks to people with some connection to Hebron’s past, including one of the last surviving relocatees, in order to find out more of the story. It’s not a happy tale, but as the granddaughter of one of the relocatees notes, it’s important to talk about these things “to understand where we fit … and why some things dont feel right”
How much do we really know about the places we call home? Often not that much. Hebron Relocation examines this question through the eyes of director Andersen, ultimately concluding that an understanding of the history of the places we live in can enrich and deepen our connection to those places.