[Iswg3906.organizers] ISWG Working Group Update - November 3rd / 2013

[Marguerite Marlin]

Hello All,

This Sunday at 1pm works great for me, but Saturday the 9th would be okay
too.

Best,
               Marguerite


On Sun, Nov 3, 2013 at 6:58 PM, A.R.J. Gracey <graceyar at mcmaster.ca> wrote:

> Hello folks:
>
> Just a quick update about our previous working group discussions on
> Sunday, October 27th, 2013. It's a bit long, sorry in advance. These are in
> effect the meeting minutes.
>
> (1) The first item we discussed was the group's ongoing budgetary
> discussions setting out how we can better define budget lines to reflect
> our group's overall vision and concerns. We talked about prioritizing
> solidarity actions and donations with local, grassroots groups and
> organizations that are largely excluded from accessing institutional
> funding. In prioritizing our efforts, a discussion the group must recognize
> as being one of ongoing concern and negotiation, we are able to make some
> distinctions in budgetary and other support requests, providing us with a
> set of guidelines for decision making.
>
> (2) With this in mind, and in the interest in facilitating ongoing
> relationships with individuals and groups we work with, it was thought that
> support requests which reflect these qualifications and which speak to how
> the group seeking support meets them, will help build stronger
> relationships between ISWG and potential allies. In addition, requests for
> support should also address two questions guided by the ongoing, negotiated
> vision for the working group's relationship-building strategies and
> practices. These two questions which we are asking those requesting our
> support to answer include: (1) How is this particular kind of work
> decolonising? (2) How do you envision your actions taking on structures of
> power such as colonialism and racism? Answering these questions may reveal
> other ways ISWG could potentially support allies, and it will create spaces
> for analyzing issues together, to reflect on issues together, ultimately
> building better relationships between the working group and groups seeking
> our support.
>
> (3) We also talked about potentially creating a web-based presence for our
> work, building on past discussions of such a presence.
>
> (4) We discussed an issue from last meeting regarding a statement and
> potential actions in regards to missing and murdered Native women in
> Canada. A public inquiry is needed and we talked about how a statement from
> the union and potential actions by the working group could support the
> requests for an inquiry. People at the working group meeting decided it was
> best to first reach out to people in the community doing such work to gauge
> what is being done and what work may be in need of support. We wondered if
> CUPE Ontario or CUPE national had undertaken any work on this issue, and
> more importantly what organizations and groups within the community may be
> doing and what kind of support they require.
>
> (5) Finally, we talked about our ongoing efforts to revisit the workshops
> that are an integral part of our work. We talked about producing a small
> pamphlet or piece of literature based on the first workshop hosted by Peter
> and Devon and the counter-stories or counter-histories they discussed. What
> would such a document look like if it were tailored for Hamilton
> specifically and perhaps this region more generally? Would we focus on the
> Treaties governing this area? Could it perhaps be the first in an ongoing
> series of resources dedicated to such counter-histories? It would certainly
> reflect some of the reflections from the workshop, provide questions for
> future workshops, and function to advertise future workshops.
>
> In terms of the actual next workshop, we talked about going back to the
> original idea to focus on Thomas King's 'The Truth About Stories.' We
> thought it was important to maintain this as the theme to the next workshop
> because participants would most likely already be familiar with the piece
> so we decided to move forward with organizing the next workshop based on
> this theme. In order to do so, we thought it would be best to draft a
> message to workshop participants to recap just briefly the ideas and events
> from the first workshop, to remind participants what the second workshop is
> about, to direct them to the online resources to read prior to the second
> workshop, and to provide a road-map detailing what the second workshop
> would entail.
>
> The timeline for the workshop would be as follows: (1) Announcement of the
> workshop would go out next week (November 11th-15th) (2) Summary of 1st
> workshop and road-map for 2nd workshop the following week (November 18th-
> 22nd). (3) Final reminders of workshop (Nov 25th-29th) (4) Second ISWG
> workshop Saturday, November 30th, 1 p.m. at the Artbar Wordbar (primary
> choice) or some other venue.
>
> If you are interested in helping out, please come out to our next ISWG
> meetings. We are looking to have two meetings before the workshop on the
> 30th. The first meeting would be either this Saturday, November 9th, at 1
> p.m. or Sunday, November 10th, at 1 p.m., and the second would be either
> Saturday, November 23rd, at 1 p.m. or Sunday, November 24th, at 1 p.m. What
> days work best for folks? It seems as though a lot of people like the early
> afternoon on Sundays. Shall we stick with that day and time for now?
>
> Sorry for the long email.
>
> Take care,
>
> Tony
>
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