Background

Marks was once a street youth before being adopted by an aboriginal family. From 1974 to 1976, he was co-ordinator of the War Resister Information Program in Winnipeg

Winnipeg

Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

, providing assistance for Americans who moved to Canada to avoid service in the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

. He was a candidate for the Manitoba Liberal Party

Manitoba Liberal Party

The Manitoba Liberal Party is a political party in Manitoba, Canada. Its roots can be traced to the late nineteenth-century, following the province's creation in 1870.-Origins and early development :...

 in the 1977 provincial election

Manitoba general election, 1977

The Manitoba general election of October 11, 1977 was held to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Manitoba, Canada. It was won by the Progressive Conservative Party, which took 33 seats out of 57...

, and received 769 votes (15.63%) for a third-place finish in Point Douglas

Point Douglas

Point Douglas is a part of the city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, surrounded by a bend in the Red River. It is the namesake of a larger city ward, represented by a member of Winnipeg City Council...

. He was a weekend news anchor at CKND-TV

CKND-TV

CKND-DT is a television station that broadcasts from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is the Manitoba outlet for the Global Television Network.-History:...

 during the mid-1980s.

Aboriginal focus

Marks is not aboriginal by background, but was raised by an indigenous family. Elijah Harper

Elijah Harper

Elijah Harper is an Aboriginal Cree Canadian politician and band chief. He was a key player in the rejection of the Meech Lake Accord, an attempt at Canadian constitutional reform.- Early life :...

 once said of Marks, "I don't view him as a white person. As a matter of fact, I view him as a brother, like you do when you get to know a person and become comfortable talking with him."

In 1982, he collaborated with Bill Brittain in preparing an original stage musical called InDEO, which examines aspects of native life before and after European conquest. Live performances featured the singer Shingoose in a lead role. Marks and Shingoose subsequently collaborated in the partnership Native Multimedia Productions Inc., and worked together in several television ventures. They created the First Nations-themed show Full Circle (later First Nations Magazine) in 1986. Three years later, they worked as co-executive producers of the CTV

CTV television network

CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival...

 variety show Indian Time, which received an American Indian Film Festival Spirit Award and a 1989 Gemini nomination for Best Canadian Variety Program. Marks later directed Indian Time 2: Fly With Eagles for Global TV in 1991, which earned Marks another Gemini nomination for Best Director (Toronto Star, 9 August 1992), and wrote and directed First Nations for CKND in 1993, both in collaboration with Shingoose. The latter work examined aspects of aboriginal life in Winnipeg

Winnipeg

Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...

.

In the summer of 1994, Marks organized the Sagkeeng First Nations Gathering in collaboration with native and non-native groups. Later in the year, he produced the special "Boys in the Hood" to focus on aboriginal talent in Winnipeg. He issued Friends - With a Difference, a hard-hitting work about general trends of racism in Canada, in 1985. Marks also managed aboriginal singer Aaron Peters in this period.

Marks once said that he started creating aboriginal-themed television shows to counter the negative perceptions of aboriginals in the mainstream media during his youth. He said, "All you ever saw about Indians back then was either a political confrontation, Main Street's socio-economic problems or the buckskin-and-beads powwow stuff. Nobody was doing stories about contemporary aboriginal people who were contributing to society. I was out there, seeing so many positive things, and I just wanted to say, 'Hey, wait a minute. Don't judge everybody by Main Street'." Don was chosen for the Manitoba Human Rights Achievement Award by the Manitoba Human Rights Commission in 1993.

Don also wrote, produced and directed numerous episodes of the "Man Alive" (CBC) television documentary series, including the Gemini Award-winning "The Red Road" episode.

In the late 1990s, Marks produced a video to combat the problem of solvent abuse in aboriginal communities. He produced a five-part documentary series called Everywhere Spirit with Shingoose in 2000. He produced a work in 2001 entitled They Call Me Chief about aboriginal talent in the National Hockey League

National Hockey League

The National Hockey League is an unincorporated not-for-profit association which operates a major professional ice hockey league of 30 franchised member clubs, of which 7 are currently located in Canada and 23 in the United States...

, which was awarded Best Documentary Film at the Fargo Film Festival. He produced Indian Time 3 in 2003.

He wrote a tribute piece for media mogul Izzy Asper

Izzy Asper

Israel Harold "Izzy" Asper, , Canadian tax lawyer and media magnate, was the founder of the now defunct CanWest Global Communications Corp and father to its former CEO and President Leonard Asper, former director and corporate secretary Gail Asper, as well as Executive Vice President David Asper...

 in 2003, thanking him for his support in the First Nations Magazine and Indian Time series.

He became a freelance writer with the Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press

The Winnipeg Free Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Founded in 1872, as the Manitoba Free Press, it is the oldest newspaper in western Canada. It is the newspaper with the largest readership in the province....

in 2005, and began working on a documentary about Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder. In November of the same year, he organized an exhibition hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 game between aboriginal ex-NHL players and alumni of the Winnipeg Jets to raise funds for the White Buffalo Spiritual Society

Marks writes a column and news features for Grassroots News - Manitoba's largest Aboriginal newspaper, and became Editor of this publication in January 2008. Marks is developing the television variety program, Indian Time 4, and has founded TRUTH Video Productions, which produces documentaries about social and economic justice in First Nations communities.

Don Marks launched his first book, "They Call Me Chief" in October 2008 (published by J. Gordon Shillingford Publishing, The University of Toronto Press and represented by the Literary Press Group).

Marks wrote a column, published on July 26 in the Winnipeg Free Press, praising Terry Nelson, chief of Roseau River who has faced widespread allegations of corruption, comparing him to Crazy Horse.