By the Rapids
By the Rapids is Mohawk-language animated television show that originally aired on the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN) from 2008 to 2012. It was the first Indigenous animated television series in Canada.
The series centers on Cory Littlehorn, a teenager whose family moves from the urban setting of Toronto to the small Native community where his parents grew up and the humor of day-to-day life in a small town. It was created by Joseph Lazare who drew from his experience of moving when he was a teenager from Kahnawake, a Mohawk reserve outside of Montreal, to Toronto. Lazare has stated that it was his intent to create a show that "was special to our community but wasn't neglecting people from the outside." Additionally, he wanted to show that his culture was filled with a variety of types of people with different lifestyles.