The entire video is live action.
[Black screen. A warning message appears: The following video includes personal experiences that may be difficult for viewers. Please take care while viewing.]
[Opening music playing.]
[The title, Does Voting Matter? appears, followed by the words Marie-Claire’s story.]
Marie-Claire: I was born in a big family in Rwanda.
[Close-up of a woman’s face.]
Marie-Claire: During genocide, I lost my brother, my dad, big part of my family.
[Close-up of a newspaper article with the title, “Seneca College grad shares story of genocide”, held by the woman speaking in the video.]
Marie-Claire: I was traumatized, I can say.
[Wide shot of the woman seated on a couch with a man. They are looking at each other while she speaks. The camera angles interchange between close-ups of the woman and wide shots of the man and woman seated together.]
Marie-Claire: Going through the house was very, very hard. To sit down where you used to sit with so many people. During that time, I did not get a chance to vote. I was too young to vote. There was always one candidate. So for people who were voting at that time, they were discouraged because there was nothing. They don’t make any difference. The majority, Hutus, would get a better school, they would get a better job. So for me, there was no freedom at all.
Now, it’s like a new beginning. It’s like I am Canadian. I am good. This is Albert Kayumba. He’s my husband.
[Close-ups of their wedding pictures that both of them are holding.]
Marie-Claire: We got married in 2007...
[Back to a medium shot of the couple seated on the couch, holding hands while she speaks to camera.]
Marie-Claire: ...and now we have two kids and he’s my best friend.
[The man and woman hold up their Canadian Immigration cards up to camera and we pan to a close-up of the cards.]
Marie-Claire: I start over. This is my country.
[Back to a medium shot of the couple seated on the couch while she speaks to camera. The camera angles interchange between close-ups and wide shots of the man and woman seated together.]
Marie-Claire: And then I get citizenship and now, as a Canadian, I am going to vote. It was like a dream come true. It was important for me to vote for the first time in my life and I start feeling like, “Oh, maybe my vote made a difference.”
Albert: And you have always to listen, to ask questions, to make sure that the people who are going to be there for you will work for you. So that’s why I’m going to try, we’re going to try to make sure that our kids will know the system, will vote, will participate. Maybe they will become politicians too. Why not?
Marie-Claire: You can’t dream of this when you lived the life I lived before. You can’t dream of this. This is an opportunity. This is beautiful, yes.
[White background. Elections Canada logo and the following words written underneath: This video has been developed by Elections Canada as part of an educational resource for secondary students.
Followed by the website electionsanddemocracy.ca]