EXCLUSIVE: How Parks Canada drove Liam Neeson’s movie out of Alberta

Hard Powder is a big budget action movie that was going to be filmed in and around Banff, Alberta. The movie stars Liam Neeson as a snow plow driver who vows revenge after his son is murdered by a drug cartel.

But just eight days before production was going to start, Parks Canada refused to grant them a permit to film within Rocky Mountain National Park.

Parks Canada objected to the depiction of indigenous people in the movie because one of the groups of villains was Indigenous.

But you know who didn’t have a problem with the story? Prominent Metis actor Tom Jackson, who stars in the movie. He spoke out about the lost jobs and loss of economic benefits to the communities.

In the end, production moved to BC.

We knew there was more to the story, so we filed a Freedom of Information request with the Federal Government.

I'll take you through what we found out about this government censorship.

In the first place, the original complaint about how Indigenous characters were being portrayed didn't come from any First Nations groups, but from bureaucrats in Banff.

In the end, the feds killed a project that cost the local economy $5 million.

If that's what looking out for aboriginals means, I hope this government doesn't try to look out for me too.