Minnijean Brown-Trickey, an original member of the "Little Rock Nine", will return to Ottawa this weekend for a benefit screening of Journey to Little Rock: The Untold Story of Minnijean Brown Trickey, and a surprise special honour to be presented by the Ottawa's Mayor and Chief of Police. Ms. Brown Trickey will be in the nation's capital to help kick off the annual Crime Prevention Week.

This exciting line up of events will take place from November 3-5, 2007. Event sponsors include the Ottawa Police Service, North-East Pictures, the Somali Youth Basketball League, and a number of other Ottawa groups.

On Saturday November 3rd, Ms. Brown Trickey will meet with the Somali Youth Basketball League at Lisgar High School in anticipation of their benefit film screening. With sheer determination, this league has been a success for minority and low-income youth. This benefit screening will support their plans to hold an invitational tournament next summer in honour of the Little Rock Nine.

Following this, North-East Pictures is proud to announce the public screening of Journey to Little Rock which will take place on Sunday, November 4th at the National Gallery of Canada. The screening will feature a conversation with Adrian Harewood, Host, CBC Radio's All in a Day. Suggested ticket price is $10, and all donations are welcome.

Ottawa's Crime Prevention Week will commence on Monday, November 5th, and Ms. Brown Trickey will be present to kick off the festivities. At the same time, Ottawa's Mayor and Chief of Police will present Brown Trickey with a special honour, which is being kept a secret from her until the time of presentation. The presentation will take place at Ben Franklin Place from 11:45 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Directed by Rob Thompson and produced by Maria Yongmee Shin, Journey to Little Rock tells the story of Minnijean Brown Trickey, a Canadian social activist and one of the Little Rock Nine civil rights pioneers. It is the winner of the top audience awards at the Sprockets Toronto International Film Festival (Best Feature) and at the Oscar-qualifying Chicago International Children's Film Festival (Best of Fest). It was also the first documentary to win these prestigious audience awards over dramas and animations. Now, Journey to Little Rock is being used to reach out to young people about non-violence.

September 25, 2007 marked the 50th anniversary of the Little Rock school desegregation crisis.

Minnijean Brown Trickey and the other members of the Little Rock Nine were honoured at a series of commemoration events leading up to a fundraising gala for the Little Rock Nine Foundation's Scholarship Fund chaired by former President Bill Clinton, and a ceremony in front of the Central High School where the "Nine" members all spoke publicly for the first time before a mesmerized crowd, with President Clinton and the presidential candidate Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton looking on.

Ten years earlier in 1997, President Clinton had spoken stirringly during the 40th commemoration ceremony as the sitting president and the first to apologize to the "Nine" for the humiliations and the abuses they, their families and their community endured in 1957.

Journey to Little Rock captures the events of the 40th commemoration and the White House ceremony where Clinton awarded the Little Rock Nine with the Congressional Gold Medal - the only film to document this historic event and an important presidential speech on civil rights and race relations in many years.

For Minnijean Brown Trickey, Little Rock was only the first step in an amazing journey of the heart, mind and spirit. The film traces her remarkable life as a life-long activist who never lost the courage of her convictions - from the move to Canada with her white husband during the Vietnam War, the fight to save the Temagami forest and supporting Aboriginal rights, to becoming an organic farmer and raising six children. It also reveals the painful periods through her divorce, the Toronto police beating of her son Isaiah, and her bittersweet return to the United States.

Currently, Brown Trickey is working on her memoir Mixed Blessings and speaking to audiences, particularly young people, across North America. She is a consultant on education and race relations matters and makes regular appearances in the media, including CNN, CBC, NPR and others. Her story continues to receive extensive media coverage on TV, radio, print and the Internet.