Thursday, September 29, 2016

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Orange Shirt Day Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3vUqr01kAk

Phyllis Webstad talks about Orange Shirt Day--why the day originated, and what it means to her.

Monday, September 26, 2016

Pole Raising

Monday, October 3: Traditional Naming and Pole Raising Ceremony @ UBC Farm

The Indigenous Research Partnerships in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems invites everyone to attend a Pole Raising and Traditional Naming Ceremony of the Indigenous Health Research and Education Garden at UBC Farm.
Mon, Oct 3, 12-3pm
UBC Farm, 3461 Ross Drive, Vancouver
For more information, contact Dr. Eduardo Jovel.
 

Interactive Medicine Walk

Thursday, September 29: Interactive Medicine Walk with Indigenous Plant Diva

Immerse yourself in a healthy balance and join Cease Wyss, the Indigenous Plant Diva, in alliance with the Indigenous Research Partnerships in the Faculty of Land and Food Systems. In this session, Cease will introduce participants to a variety of medicines and some fresh medicines collected over the summer and fall in Coast Salish lands and waterways. She will also be sharing knowledge on plants including preservation for tea making and a few other fun ways of creating remedies.
Thurs, Sept 29, 10-11:30am
Live videoconference or computer webinar

October 5, Book Presentation

 Wednesday, October 5: Book Presentation: The Colonial Problem: An Indigenous Perspective on Crime and Injustice in Canada

Dr. Lisa Monchalin, from Kwantlen Polytechnic University, will be presenting her book 'The Colonial Problem: An Indigenous Perspective on Crime and Injustice in Canada' at the Longhouse. In her book, Dr. Monchalin, who is the first Indigenous woman to hold a PhD in Criminology in Canada, inverts the notion that the over-representation of Aboriginal people in the Canadian justice system is an 'Indian problem' (thus putting the blame on Indigenous people) but rather is a result of a 'colonial problem.'
This event is being hosted by the Aboriginal Health Initiative.
Wed, Oct 5, 6:30-8pm
Sty-Wet-Tan Great Hall, The Longhouse
For further inquiries, contact Paula Chanyungco.

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Culture Days in Richmond, September 30 - October 2

Over 80 Culture Days events happening in Richmond


Richmond, BC – Culture Days, the annual free celebration of Canadian culture, will return to Richmond this fall with over 80 hands-on activities and behind-the-scenes experiences. Richmond artists, organizations and community groups open their doors for three full days – Friday, September 30 to Sunday, October 2 – for people to discover the world of artists, creators, historians, creative businesses and designers living and working in their community.

For months, members of Richmond’s cultural community have been planning a variety of demonstrations, tours, workshops and other special events. The Richmond Cultural Centre will be the hub of the weekend’s festivities with many more activities taking place throughout the City. Culture Days visitors can expect a wide range of things to do in Richmond, including:

·        Live First Nations Drum painting with Brandon Gabriel: Visit with well-known Kwantlen First Nations artist, Brandon Gabriel, as he designs and paints a drum at the Richmond Cultural Centre on Saturday, October 1, 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

History of Aboriginals in Canada Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7h9CBMDlb0w

This video, called Roots of Racism, is about a sister that takes her brother back through time to show him how racist polices towards Aboriginal people developed in Canada.  Starting from first contact, it explores the topics such as colonialism, the Indian Act, and Residential Schools.

Monday, September 19, 2016

Secret Path by Gord Downie

STATEMENT BY GORD DOWNIE
Ogoki Post, Ontario
September 9, 2016

Mike Downie introduced me to Chanie Wenjack; he gave me the story from Ian Adam’s Maclean’s magazine story dating back to February 6, 1967, “The Lonely Death of Charlie Wenjack.”
Chanie was a young boy who died on October 22, 1966, walking the railroad tracks, trying to escape from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School to walk home. Chanie’s home was 400 miles away. He didn’t know that. He didn’t know where it was, nor know how to find it, but, like so many kids – more than anyone will be able to imagine – he tried. I never knew Chanie, the child his teachers misnamed Charlie, but I will always love him.

Chanie haunts me. His story is Canada’s story. This is about Canada. We are not the country we thought we were. History will be re-written. We are all accountable, but this begins in the late 1800s and goes to 1996. “White” Canada knew – on somebody’s purpose – nothing about this. We weren’t taught it; it was hardly ever mentioned.

All of those Governments, and all of those Churches, for all of those years, misused themselves. They hurt many children. They broke up many families. They erased entire communities. It will take seven generations to fix this. Seven. Seven is not arbitrary. This is far from over. Things up north have never been harder. Canada is not Canada. We are not the country we think we are.

I am trying in this small way to help spread what Murray Sinclair said, “This is not an aboriginal problem. This is a Canadian problem. Because at the same time that aboriginal people were being demeaned in the schools and their culture and language were being taken away from them and they were being told that they were inferior, they were pagans, that they were heathens and savages and that they were unworthy of being respected — that very same message was being given to the non-aboriginal children in the public schools as well…They need to know that history includes them.” (Murray Sinclair, Ottawa Citizen, May 24, 2015)

I have always wondered why, even as a kid, I never thought of Canada as a country – It’s not a popular thought; you keep it to yourself – I never wrote of it as so. The next hundred years are going to be painful as we come to know Chanie Wenjack and thousands like him – as we find out about ourselves, about all of us – but only when we do can we truly call ourselves, “Canada.”
“Do we want to live in a haunted house the rest of our lives?” - Joseph Boyden

Proceeds from the sale of Secret Path will go to The Gord Downie Secret Path Fund for Truth and Reconciliation via The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at The University of Manitoba.
The Secret Path will be broadcast by CBC in an hour-long commercial-free television special on Sunday, October 23, 2016, at 9pm (9:30 NT).

Gord Downie began Secret Path as ten poems incited by the story of Chanie Wenjack, a twelve year-old boy who died fifty years ago on October 22, 1966, in flight from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School near Kenora, Ontario, walking home to the family he was taken from over 400 miles away. Gord was introduced to Chanie Wenjack (miscalled “Charlie” by his teachers) by Mike Downie, his brother, who shared with him Ian Adams’ Maclean’s story from February 6, 1967, “The Lonely Death of Charlie Wenjack.”

The stories Gord’s poems tell were fleshed into the ten songs of Secret Path with producers Kevin Drew and Dave Hamelin. Recording took place over two sessions at the Bathouse in Bath, Ontario, November and December 2013. The music features Downie on vocals and guitars, with Drew and Hamelin playing all other instruments, except guest contributions by Charles Spearin (bass), Ohad Benchetrit (lap steel/guitar), Kevin Hearn (piano), and Dave “Billy Ray” Koster (drums).

In winter 2014, Gord and Mike brought the recently finished music to comic artist Jeff Lemire for his help illustrating Chanie’s story, bringing him and the many children like him to life.
Secret Path acknowledges a dark part of Canada’s history – the long-supressed mistreatment of Indigenous children and families by the residential school system – with the hope of starting our country on a road to reconciliation.

The ten song album will be released by Arts & Crafts accompanied by Lemire’s eighty-eight page graphic novel published by Simon & Schuster Canada. Secret Path will arrive on October 18, 2016, in a deluxe vinyl and book edition, and as a book with album download.

Downie’s music and Lemire’s illustrations have inspired The Secret Path, an animated film to be broadcast by CBC in an hour-long commercial-free television special on Sunday, October 23, 2016, at 9pm (9:30 NT).http://secretpath.ca/

Thursday, September 8, 2016

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

Artist Talk with Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun

Thursday, September 8: Unceded Territories: Artist Talk with Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun

Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, an artist of Coast Salish and Okanagan descent, is known for his bold and political approach to Northwest Coast Native art. Join him as he speaks about the Unceded Territories exhibition at MOA, his artistic practice, and his quest for social change. Then stay and see his remarkable solo exhibition at the museum he has often called the "Indian morgue."
Thursday, September 8, 7pm
Museum of Anthropology, UBC