Angry in the Great White North

The news that CBS is in some trouble for the reality show Kid Nation has made many people sensitive to the problem of using children as stand-ins for activities normally done by adults:

The New Mexico attorney general has reopened an investigation into whether the CBS reality show “Kid Nation” violated the state’s child-labor laws and other state regulations governing the welfare of children, a spokesman for the attorney general said on Thursday.

“Kid Nation,” which is scheduled to have its premiere on Sept. 19, is a reality show that takes 40 children ages 8 to 15 to a New Mexico desert ghost town south of Santa Fe for 40 days and challenges them to build an adult-free society. Several children were injured during the production; four children drank bleach from an unmarked soda bottle and another was burned on her face with hot grease while cooking in an unsupervised kitchen.

The Camp Okutta video from War Child Canada aims to use the incongruity of children behaving as adults to promote their work in fighting the phenomenon of child soldiers. In doing so, the video raised a lot of questions about exactly what risks the children were exposed to.

War Child Canada got in touch with me this morning, and after a genuinely pleasant discussion, I immediately offered them space on the blog to help explain how the video was made. Here is that explanation:

War Child Canada launched the Camp Okutta ad campaign this week to raise awareness about the use of child soldiers around the world. The organization has gathered that there are some questions regarding the safety of the children involved in the video. It should be noted that safety was our primary concern throughout the production.

War Child Canada and John St. took the direction of professional personal that have experience with fire arms. These professionals included ERU, the Emergency Rescue Unit of the York Region Police. The ERU determined if and how the production took place. They directed everyone on the set as to where they could stand, how they were to hold the weapons, and any other actions that took place. Nothing occurred on the set without the ERU staff approving it. The ERU was present throughout the shoot and they had all final say in production related to the use of firearms. Our sole concern during production was the safety of the actors and everyone on set.

In addition, to the ERU, there was a professional gun wrangler, an emergency medical professional, and a trauma councillor. As a precautionary measure, we had the trauma councillor speak with all children and parents before anything happened on set. The councillor was present throughout the day as well as being available after for any necessary discussions.

No real grenades were set off during the shoot. The cloud of dirt and dust was created from four highly professional pyrotechnicians which created the dust away from the children. The pyrotechnics were the responsibility of special effects professionals, who knew how to create the dust without causing any harm. The dust was creating with all organic products; there were no chemicals used.

By pulling the curtain aside to explain just how intensely managed that video was might take dilute some of the shock value, but War Child Canada had no hesitation in risking that to assure people who were surprised by what they saw that indeed the welfare of the kids was carefully guarded.