Brotherhood
November 12, 2026 @ 7:00 pm
This is a free film screening.
The True Story and the Film
On July 20th, 1926 — 100 summers ago — the Brotherhood of St. Andrew leadership group, young men from Toronto’s St. James Cathedral, set off across Balsam Lake in a war canoe. When they encountered a freak summer storm, many of them lost their lives, but what galvanized a young nation at the time was the tragedy’s tales of self-sacrifice, dignity and camaraderie.
The counsellors leading these boys were veterans of the Great War, men who had already lived through their own tests of courage and loss. The young men they led were growing up in that conflict’s long shadow — raised on stories of sacrifice they were, in the end, called to live out themselves. As Remembrance Day season draws to a close, and on the story’s own centenary, Brotherhood is a chance to sit with that inheritance: how one generation’s wartime sacrifice shaped the next, and how it echoed back across the water at Balsam Lake.
Written and directed by Richard Bell, the film was produced by Mehernaz Lentin and Anand Ramayya, and executive produced by celebrated artist Charles Pachter. It stars an entirely Canadian cast: Brendan Fehr, Brendan Fletcher, Jake Manley, Sam Ashe Arnold, Gage Munroe, Matthew Isen, Dylan Everett and Spencer MacPerson.
From Richard Bell: “I first read about this story in a Toronto paper when the 80th anniversary occurred, and it impacted me immediately. Researching and writing it was like unearthing buried treasure. This movie is a survival story: it’s a testament to the bravery of these young men, but it’s also an adventure tale, and will hopefully serve as a clarion call for young people to look up from their phones and return to nature.”
After the drownings, an inquest followed and a jury recommended that war and racing canoes be banned from boys’ and girls’ camps, and awareness and concern about water safety began to be seriously examined.