CBC News – March 14, 2018
Trauma counsellors from Northern Canada gathered in Ottawa this week to talk about combining clinical therapy with cultural healing to better help residential school survivors and their families. The three-day training event was organized by the Ilisaqsivik Society — an organization based in Nunavut that helps residential school survivors — and the Department of Indigenous Services.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/residential-school-counsellors-psychologists-1.4574642
Indigenous Education Week Celebrates Heritage
The Cord – March 14, 2018
“All of our lectures, talks, workshops, food and everything that we do this week are coordinated by or have had voices of Indigenous people, which sometimes don’t always have the foreground,” Melissa Ireland, coordinator of Indigenous Student Support, said. “It’s a way to make sure that the campus community knows who we are where we are and that we have services for students.”
https://thecord.ca/indigenous-education-week-celebrates-heritage/
N.W.T. Residential School Survivor Hopes his Testimony will get 2nd Hearing
CBC News – March 14, 2018
CBC News has learned the Canadian government is seeking residential school survivors whose testimony about student-on-student abuse was originally deemed ineligible for compensation. Crown-Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett is expected to announce a separate stream of funding outside the Independent Assessment Process for these claims.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/residential-school-survivor-student-abuse-claim-1.4575034
Indigenous Knowledge and Science Meet off B.C.’s Central Coast
Toronto Metro – March 13, 2018
Aboard the Coast Guard’s 40-metre mid-shore ship Vector, a team of scientists are working closely with First Nations along British Columbia’s Central Coast this week. Using a high-tech camera system lowered on a winch, scuba divers and scientific experts both on board and on shore, they’re getting a first-ever glimpse of species up to 400 metres underwater.
Residential Schools Focus of Next Moccasin Talk
Niagara This Week – March 13, 2018
A generational survivor refers to those whose family lives were disrupted by the effects of having a parent or even a grandparent attend a residential school. In recent years, more has been learned about the intergenerational effects of the residential school system. Gallant will be speaking about residential schools and will introduce two survivors who will tell their stories.
Poundmaker Representatives Attend Indigenous Language Conference
News Optimist – March 13, 2018
There were delegates from across Canada representing many Indigenous Nations and all there with the goals of networking and sharing ideas for revitalizing our Indigenous languages. Some communities, like the Lenne Lape Nation of Ontario, have only two language speakers left and many, including Poundmaker, have most people only over the age of 40 (with a few notable exceptions) able to communicate fluently in their language.
How a Former Residential School is Being Transformed into a Place for Healing
TVO News – March 12, 2018
Bud Whiteye says he was just eight years old when he was lured from his family’s home on the Six Nations Reserve by people in a black car with promises that he’d get ice cream. He got his treat, but he ended up at the Mohawk Institute, where he says he learned to fight for survival. He was isolated from everything he knew, belittled for speaking his own language, physically assaulted by teachers. “Even though it is a painful place, my wish was that the building should be kept as a tribute and a reminder for the community of what happened there,” he says.
British Columbia Commits $50-Million to Protect Indigenous Languages
The Globe and Mail – March 12, 2018
In the house, Mr. Olsen said more policing is not the solution to overrepresentation of Indigenous people in Canada’s prisons. “We don’t need more police or a forceful approach to address the deep-seated social ills that have come from our trauma of being displaced from our homes; taken from our parents and grandparents; stripped of our language, our identity; and becoming a foreigner in our own home.”
Scott Benesiinaabandan Wants you to Feel the Sound of the Anishinaabe Language
CBC News – March 12, 2018
We would recognize French, Spanish or Chinese if you overheard it being spoken in public — but what about any of Canada’s Indigenous languages? Scott Benesiinaabandan’s piece at the Winnipeg Art Gallery’s Insurgence/Resurgence exhibit is calling attention to that lack of recognition. His piece for the show, Animikiikaa 10/97, is a sound installation that plays a recording of a woman speaking two poems in the Anishinaabe language along with one piece of low frequency sound art. See it in action in the video below.
Ottawa to Pursue Settlements with Residential School Survivors that Suffered Student-on-Student Abuse
The Toronto Star – March 12, 2018
Crown-Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett was set to announce the move Tuesday, which will see the government pursue negotiated settlements with former students who “may not have received fair compensation” for abuse perpetrated by other students at the notorious church-run schools for Indigenous children.
Fight over Secret St. Anne’s Residential School Documents Back in Court
APTN – March 12, 2018
“Canada failed the St. Anne’s survivors and misled the adjudicators,” the plaintiffs say in written Appeal Court submissions. “Canada continues to fail in the duties it owes to the St. Anne’s survivors, the adjudicators, and the administration of justice by refusing to produce transcripts from examinations from discovery that are part of the factual narrative of St. Anne’s IRS.”
http://aptnnews.ca/2018/03/12/fight-secret-st-annes-residential-school-documents-back-court/
Ottawa Looks to Settle with Residential School Survivors who were Abused by Other Students
CBC News – March 12, 2018
Crown-Indigenous Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett will formally announce Tuesday that the government will set up a separate stream outside of the Independent Assessment Process (IAP) to help those former students receive compensation. The payouts will go to former students who were abused by fellow students, and whose claims were rejected or did not receive fair compensation.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/student-on-student-abuse-1.4573516
Indigenous Advocates Excited by Funding to Preserve BC’s Oldest Languages
The Tyee – March 12, 2018
“Even though we’re teaching our students the Heiltsuk language half an hour a day, they’re going home with language they don’t understand,” Brown said. “I recognize there is an inter-generational gap and I recognize that immersion is key.”
https://thetyee.ca/News/2018/03/12/BC-Funding-Indigenous-Language/
Grand Chief Accepts Canadian Screen Award on Behalf of Secret Path Project
Nishnawbe Aski Nation – March 11, 2018
“I am honoured to accept this award on behalf of the producers who’s vision and creativity helped my dear friend Gord shine much-needed light on this dark chapter of our shared history. Secret Path is a milestone on the path to reconciliation, and I thank the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television for recognizing the significance of this project,” said Grand Chief Alvin Fiddler who accepted the award with Patrick Downie, Harriet Visitor and Justin Stephenson. “Gord’s artistry was matched by his determination to tell the story of Charlie Wenjack and all the youth who never made it home. Gord and Chanie’s lives are forever entwined, and we must honour their legacies by completing the journey they so bravely began.”
http://www.nan.on.ca/article/march-11-2018-22560.asp
U of T Brings Pow Wows to the City
Yahoo News – March 11, 2018
Hundreds of people turned out Sunday as the University of Toronto’s Indigenous Studies Student Union hosted their second annual powwow. Student union representative Ziigwen Mixemong said the powwow is a coming together of many different First Nations to celebrate being Indigenous. “It’s been absolutely amazing. It’s about love and respect and going forth with kindness, having fun and coming and doing that in a good way,” she told CBC Toronto.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/u-t-brings-powwows-city-203541773.html
Speaking Ojibwe an ‘Act of Defiance’ says 19-year-Old Language Teacher
CBC Radio – March 11, 2018
“We would sit under this tent and learn the language,” said Muldrew. “Or we would walk around and learn words in the environment right there.” For Muldrew, the immersive camps were a chance to think in Ojibwe, “thinking how you’d say that and preparing ahead of time,” for anything you might want to communicate to the group.
Sask. Professor Receives Threats Over Upcoming Talk on ‘Whiteness’ at Ontario University
CBC News – March 11, 2018
Cappello said the Trent Central Student Association (TCSA) has received positive feedback from students on the upcoming event, but he’s mostly seen a “violent reaction” to its title. He said he has received dozens of hateful emails and abusive and threatening phone calls. One caller even told him, “I know where you live.” “The person on the phone, and a number of people who have emailed, are just sort of refusing to take up the conversation, insisting that this is anti-white or against white people and not about the ways in which ideas about colour circulate in the society that we’re a part of,” Cappello said. “That refusal to have that conversation is a problem.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-professor-threats-whiteness-talk-1.4571723
Ontario Regional Chief Isadore Day Statement on Ministry of Education Announcement on Indigenous Education and Languages
Chiefs of Ontario – March 9, 2018
“Today Minister Indira Naidoo-Harris recognized the ten year anniversary of the First Nation, Métis and Inuit Education Policy Framework with the release of their 3rd Progress Report – Strengthening Our Learning Journey. Additionally, the Minister announced a $10 million investment over 2 years to promote the revitalization of Indigenous languages. First Nations in Ontario welcome the announcement and understand that this recognition and investment support the ongoing work in partnership with First Nations to ensure the success of First Nation learners. Many thanks to the generous and welcoming hospitality of the students and staff of the Eastview Public School in Scarborough for hosting this announcement.
Ontario Marking Ten Years of Collaboration on Indigenous Education
Ministry of Education – March 9, 2018
Ontario is recognizing a decade of collaboration with Indigenous and education partners to support the well-being and achievement of First Nation, Métis and Inuit students, with new investments in the revitalization of Indigenous languages.
“We’ll Plant a Seed in Their Minds”
McGill Reporter – March 6, 2018
“Canada is a leader in the world for its recognition of aboriginal midwifery. We are moving toward the restoration of the meaning and practice of indigenous ways of knowing,” said Cook. “It is my radical hope that with this new program we will launch more love, compassion, and kindness into the world.”
