Indigenous Sovereignty Week Toronto 2011 Events

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Christine Balmes

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Nov 14, 2011, 1:36:26 PM11/14/11
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Indigenous Sovereignty Week Toronto 2011

INDIGENOUS SOVEREIGNTY WEEK TORONTO 2011

***PLEASE CHECK BACK REGULARLY FOR CHANGES***
http://www.defendersoftheland.org/toronto



NOTE: Because of the move of the pow-wow back to Toronto on Nov.
19-20, ISW will be spread out over 2 weeks this year.





Monday, November 14

6.30pm – 9pm

Native Canadian Centre of Toronto



Opening Ceremony



This event will feature an Elders’ welcome, traditional Big Drum
opening, and open mic. Come early for the feast.



Eagle Heart Drum

Lee Maracle (Stó:lō)

Roger Obonsawin (Abenaki)



Emcee: Tannis Nielsen (Cree)





Tuesday, November 15

6.30pm – 9pm

@ Beit Zatoun Community Centre, 612 Markham St. (near Bathurst Subway
Stn)



Racialized Peoples on Stolen Lands



This event will feature sharing circles on relationship building
across Indigenous and other racialized communities.



Do you identify as racialized and/or Indigenous? Do you think building
relationships among our communities is important?



This sharing circle will be an opportunity for us to respectfully
discuss:



What work have you have or your organizations done to build healthy
relationships across our communities?

Why is this work important?

What are some of the challenges of working across our communities?
What are the rewards?

What are our roles and responsibilities to each other on Turtle
Island?



Short presentations by:



Seven Directions: a Turtle Island-based community of Indigenous
peoples and those who support Indigenous efforts to protect our
respective lands and land-based cultures. We are committed to working
towards these goals in Turtle Island (The Americas), and globally.



R3 Artists’ Collective - R3: (Roots Rhythms Resistance) is an artists’
collective recovering indigenous roots and resisting colonial
oppression through music, dance, visual art and theatre for and by
marginalized peoples, with a particular focus on Queer Indigenous and
Queer communities of colour. R3's main initiative currently is a
series of educational, fundraising events that provide a platform for
socially conscious artists to collaborate with one another, showcase
their work, and utilize art itself as a vehicle for decolonization and
political intervention. Funds raised are divided between the African
Reparations Fund and Turtle Island Reparations Fund, to support
decolonization work in Africa and North America.



Robert Massoud, Beit Zatoun: Robert is a Palestinian-Canadian born in
Jerusalem and immigrated to Canada with his family at age six. In
spring 2004, he founded Zatoun as a registered non-profit, volunteer
organization with a goal to build a direct bridge between Palestine
and North America using olive oil to serve as a symbol of light, hope
and peace. Robert was awarded the 2004/05 YMCA Peace Medallion for
Toronto by the YMCA of Greater Toronto. Zatoun was selected as a 2007
finalist for the "Leonardo daVinci Award for Creativity & Innovation"
in the community category (creativityday.ca).



Snacks provided. Donations accepted.



* Beit Zatoun is wheelchair accessible, but its bathrooms are not.



Endorsed by No One Is Illegal



Friday, November 18

7pm – 9pm

@ Room 2215, OISE. 252 Bloor Street W, at Bedford exit of St. George
subway (NOTE CHANGE OF VENUE)



Celebrating Community Victories - Standing up to the Harper Threat



Panel organized by: Defenders of the Land supporters



Russell Diabo will be discussing big picture of the war against First
Nations in Canada. He will discuss the challenges of getting rid of
the Indian Act and having section 35 & the United Nations Declaration
of Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) Articles recognized and
respected for Inherent, Aboriginal & Treaty Rights implementation.



Pamela Palmater will discuss her recent work analyzing Bill S-2,
regarding matrimonial property rights on reserve, which, as she
writes, “will have a significant impact not only on the nature and
legal status of reserve lands generally, but specifically in relation
to who can hold, occupy, use and benefit from reserve lands.” Palmater
has learned that this bill could lead to the elimination of many bands
in Canada over the next 75 years.



(Chair) Sylvia Plain, Aamjiwnaang First Nation, Water Walker



Russell Diabo, Policy Consultant for the Algonquin Nation Secretariat,
Editor and Publisher of the First Nations Strategic Bulletin



Pamela Palmater, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Governance,
Ryerson University



Randy Kapashesit, Chief of the MoCreebec Council of the Cree Nation



More speakers to be announced shortly.



* This space is accessible. Please contact iswto...@gmail.com to
arrange for access to elevators from the side building entrance. We
will also have people on hand to accommodate drop-ins throughout the
event.





Tuesday, November 22nd



12:00-3:00 pm

@ York University, Room 242, York Lanes.

Deconstructing Identity Barriers: Aboriginal Women’s Sharing Circle



Facilitated by Erin Konsmo



As Aboriginal women, we experience challenges unique to our cultural
identity and sexuality on a constant and public basis. We believe that
these challenges compromise achieving indigenous sovereignty for our
Nations. Our sharing circle seeks to bring forth personal experiences
of identity barriers by articulating our opinions in a group setting,
addressing the fear of further marginalization and by critically
challenging the public value of the “expert’s” perspective over our
own. We acknowledge the power imbalances that are unique to Aboriginal
women and our objective is to formulate individualized strategies to
empower each other, as Aboriginal women, in the deconstruction of
identity barriers and in constructing of ourselves.



Please note that our facilitator is not equipped to counsel individual
cases of trauma.



This is an accessible location.



A light lunch will be served and tokens provided, if needed.



6:30 p.m.



Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug (KI) Speak About Their Struggle to
Protect Scared Areas From Mining Exploration



KI Chief Donny Morris

John Cutfeet, Spokesperson





Wednesday, November 23

7pm – 9pm

Location: University of Toronto Multi-Faith Centre



Criminalization of Indigenous Peoples



Christa Big Canoe: Speaking on the impacts of Harper's Omnibus crime
bill on Indigenous peoples in Canada.

Jules Koostachin, Elisabeth Fry: speaking on the over-incarceration
and criminalization of Indigenous women and girls





Thursday, November 24

6:30pm – 9pm

@ Native Women’s Resource Centre, 191 Gerrard Street East (Gerrard/
Sherbourne)



The Silence is Broken: Now What?



Panel organized by: No More Silence and Native Women’s Resource Centre



Where should the energy of groups like No More Silence be focused? How
do we best continue to raise awareness around the disappearance of
Indigenous women and create conditions that stop the violence?



Lee Maracle



Darlene Ritchie, Executive Director, At^losha Native Family Healing
Services, London Ontario



Wanda Whitebird, Women's Outreach/Support Services, Ontario Aboriginal
HIV/AIDS Strategy



Faith Nolan, Singer, Songwriter & Activist



* This space is accessible.



Friday, Novmber 25

6:00pm - 9:00pm

@Beit Zatoun, 612 Markham Street Toronto, ON M6G 2L8



A Colonial Contagion

This event will present- an overview of the context of the Indigenous
arts of the Americas, to exemplify the similarities amongst colonial,
capitalist, imperial, neo-liberal strategies, that have acted as a
type of “disease” amongst our communities.



The intent of this event, is predicated by the idea that by sharing
our stories in text, art and audio, we may recognize each other and
begin to unify; in solidarity –to honor the diversity amongst our
memories, as we work towards building an Indigenous encyclopedia of
emancipatory strategies.



Format of Presentation



+ The “Diagnosis” (Battiste)

The birth, lineage and legacy of colonization

Its persona, (through media)

Its ill effects / symptoms



+ Participatory Prescriptions, and Pedagogies

How do we find a cure?

“The stages of decolonization”(burgess)

The multiple modes, of implementation



Group discussion (to be recorded) - Emancipatory strategy

What is the dream?

What is the action?

Past successes

Present need

Future strategies



Some of the artists/activists works presented; Rebecca Belmore, Robert
Houle, Edgar Heap of Birds, Alfred YoungMan, Joanne Cardinal Schubert,
Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun, James Luna, Guillermo Gomez Pena, Diego
Rivera, - Jacques Louis David, John Gast, Thomas Cole and Edward
Curtis



special thanks to Terrance Houle for generously allowing us to borrow
his image titled "Trails End / End Trails"



note-Indigenous art work- contains so much more, than what will be
discussed here-for the purposes of Indigenous Sovereignty Week





**** WARNING ****** the presentation contains graphic images and the
portrayal of tragic events-but will end-with a balanced discussion of
POSITIVE Participation, a discussion of healing and dreaming, faith in
future possibilities



Presenters / Facilitation-Tannis Nielsen and Zainab Amadahy

Saturday November 26

6:00pm - 8:30pm

Native Canadian Centre of Toronto



Muskrat Magazine Launch



In the spirit of community building and honouring our relationship to
land and sustenance MUSKRAT Magazine, The Toronto Native Community
History Project, Indigenous Sovereignty Week, ANDPVA and The
Accidental Caterer invite you to feast with us!!

BRING a "Traditional" dish to share (WHATEVER TRADITIONAL MEANS TO
YOU- it may be featured in our next food issue!)

Special Guests Include: Elder: Jan Longboat; Community leader and
teacher: Sylvia Maracle; Performance artist: Cheryl L’Hirondelle;
Entertainer: Glen Gould; Poet: Giles Benaway and...a sneak peak of
MUSKRAT's upcoming FOOD issue!

Bring home a new read from the Toronto History Project's booksale!

ANDPVA will lead children's craft activities so bring your little
artists!

Bring your own utensils!



Sunday, November 27



Closing Circle



Location and time will be announced at ISW events.



Advising elder: Lee Maracle

Organizing committee: Zainab Amadahy, Mike Barber, Andrea Bastien,
Craig Fortier, Audrey Huntley, Tannis Nielsen, Shiri Pasternak, Hannah
Peck, Corvin Russell, Crystal Sinclair, Aman Sium, Rebeka Tabobondung







NEARBY community events happening during ISW



LauraLee K. Harris exhibit at the Collingwood Public Library - “nibi
anishinabe kwewag - Water and the Women of the Original People” -
throughout November

@The Collingwood Public Library, 55 Ste. Marie Street, Collingwood ~
705 445-1571

nibi anishinabe kwewag: Water and the Women of the First Peoples
combines LauraLee Harris’ own poems with her paintings on wood.

“I work on wood using the grains to bring out imagery, and from this
intuitive work I find meaning from the symbols that present themselves
from an anishinabe cultural perspective and these works are put into
words,” says Harris.

The exhibit shares how the Anishinaabekwewag made a promise to their
Creator, in the beginning of Creation, to care for the water connected
to the orb of life within them. Now the water is being poisoned and
over 580 Anishinaabe women in Canada are missing or murdered.


“It is through the trees I paint on that I hope to educate and raise
awareness to the life forces we were given, that the anishinabe have
been protecting for over thirty thousand years, striving to keep the
life from being destroyed.”





BACKGROUND & REQUEST FOR SUPPORT



For the third year in a row Defenders of the Land (DoL) has issued a
call to First Nations / Indigenous communities and supporters across
Canada to host a week of events celebrating Indigenous Sovereignty.



The purpose of Indigenous Sovereignty Week is to gather with the
intention of building local relationships among groups and individuals
around the dissemination of ideas of Indigenism as well as to
contribute to building a cross-Canada movement for Indigenous rights,
self-determination and justice that is led by Indigenous communities
but with a broad base of informed support.



The theme for ISW 2011 is Celebrating Community Victories - Standing
up to the Harper Threat.



In response to this call the Toronto ISW Council has planned a week of
events and invites organizations and groups across the GTA to host
join us, to make this year the best year ever. You can also support us
in the following ways:



(1) PROVIDE FINANCIAL SUPPORT: Most of our funds are dedicated to
providing gifts to Elders and traditional performers. Please support
the organizing by sending cheques payable to "Indigenous Sovereignty
and Solidarity Network" to 1034 College St W., Toronto, ON, M6H 1A9.



(2) VOLUNTEER: If you are able to poster, help do event setup or clean
up, please email iswto...@gmail.com. Please write ‘volunteer’ in the
subject line and you will be contacted closer to the date.



(3) ENDORSE: Please endorse the event and forward announcements to
your membership. Just email iswto...@gmail.com with ‘endorsement’ in
the subject line.



Please contact iswto...@gmail.com for more information or to submit
your event.



Toronto ISW Council adheres to the process of governance and other
principles outlined in the “The Defenders of the Land - Basis of
Unity” which can be found at http://www.defendersoftheland.org/about.



Non-Indigenous supporters / “allies” may wish to familiarize
themselves with “The Supporters -Basis of Unity” found at
http://www.defendersoftheland.org/supporters.

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