[opirgyork] Indigenous Sovereignty Week 2010 (Nov 21st - 28th)

[OPIRG York]

***PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY!***

2nd Annual Indigenous Sovereignty Week 2010
Indigenous Resistance and Renewal

Toronto Indigenous Sovereignty Week 2010 - Resistance and Renewal

Full schedule and updates: http://www.defendersoftheland.org/toronto
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/event.php?eid=170827162936733

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21
5pm-7pm
Ceremonial opening

Native Canadian Centre of Toronto - 16 Spadina Road, just north of Bloor.

Join us as we open Indigenous Sovereignty Week with drum, song, and 
food, and an opening address by Lee Maracle (Stó:lo-)
and Derek Bressette. Performers will include Zainab Amadahy (Tsalagi) 
and a big drum (TBA).

7pm-9pm
"The Scars of Mercury"
A film about Grassy Narrows

Native Canadian Centre of Toronto - 16 Spadina Road, just north of Bloor.

Please join us to watch a documentary film about Grassy Narrows, and to 
mark the opening of Indigenous Sovereignty Week.

‘The Scars of Mercury’ explores the processes that threaten the 
destruction of a traditional and contemporary Indigenous hunting,
fishing and gathering way of life, through residential schools, 
relocation, treaty violations, and clear-cutting, with a special
focus on mercury poisoning.

The Grassy Narrows community has fought decades for justice on mercury 
issues, and is home to the longest running blockade in Canada -
established to stop clearcut logging of their forests. Grassroots people 
are working tirelessly to heal their community,
revive their culture, and take control of their lives and territory.

See the film website.
Stay informed and to take action in support of Grassy Narrows

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22
7pm-9pm
Fighting for Indigenous education

UTS, 371 Bloor Street West, between Huron and Spadina (to be confirmed)

Speakers:
Joanna Anaquod (Anishinaabe), organizer of the 1989 hunger strike to 
protect post-secondary education funding for status Indians
Ruth Koleszar-Green (Kanienkehaka), Academic Support Advisor at 
Aboriginal Student Services, Ryerson University (on leave)
Others TBA

Moderator: Lee Maracle (Stó:lo-), well-known poet, thinker, feminist, 
elder-in-residence at U of T, and long-time Indigenous sovereignty activist

Canada's education system has been a pillar of Canadian colonialism - it 
has been a primary weapon of cultural genocide in
Canada; it has shaped racist images of Indigenous peoples in public 
discourse; and it has disappeared Canada's history of
colonialism, so that non-Native people do not see or understand their 
role in Canadian colonialism.

Generations of Indigenous people were forced to go to residential 
schools, where they were brutalized and forced to forget
their languages, customs, and cultures. Today, the reality of most 
education for status Indians is that it is underfunded
and inadequate. Governments spend much less on education for on-reserve 
Native students than they do for non-Natives. And
they are doing little to address issues of language loss and cultural 
alienation. Meanwhile, post-secondary funding for
Indian students is being threatened for the first time in 20 years.

Learn about the history of education in Canadian colonialism, and about 
how Indigenous people are fighting attacks on their
access to education, while at the same time creating Indigenous models 
of education that are part of a process of decolonizing
Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples alike.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23
7pm-9pm
Every inch of our land is who we are: protecting mother Earth, 
protecting traditional knowledge
Fitzgerald Building, Room 103, University of Toronto - 150 College Street

Land, life, and language are inseparable from the identity of First 
Nations. Many First Nations still live in a
traditional subsistence economy - gathering food and medicines, hunting 
and trapping for food and clothing, and
building shelter on their traditional territories. Over thousands of 
years of living on and caring for the land,
Indigenous Peoples have developed a vast and sensitive knowledge of 
their territories and the beings that live
within them. Destruction of traditional food sources threatens the 
survival of Indigenous Peoples and their knowledge -
but destruction of Indigenous Peoples also threatens the survival of the 
planet.

Aamjiwnaang First Nation, in Chemical Valley near Sarnia, has been 
devastated by toxins produced in the petrochemical
plants near the community. The Wet'suwet'en First Nation in Northern BC 
is fighting the building of a pipeline to
carry tar sands oil through their territory. Our speakers will talk 
about the struggles for environmental justice
on these territories, and on strategies for preserving traditional 
ecological knowledge for future generations.

Speakers:
Ron Plain (Aamjiwnaang), has been a leader in environmental justice 
struggles by First Nations, particularly
in his home community of Aamjiwnaang
Toghestiy Wet'suwet'en (Wet'suwet'en), hereditary title holder in the 
Wet'suwet'en nation
Leanne Simpson (to be confirmed), professor of Native Studies at Trent 
University
Moderator: Sylvia Plain (Aamjiwnang), organizer with the Native Students 
Association

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24
6pm-9pm
Igniting resistance through Indigenous Bodies: Sexuality, Two-Spirit and 
Creativity
Native Canadian Centre of Toronto - 16 Spadina Road, Toronto

This evening will focus on a discussion and a workshop around resistance 
through Indigenous bodies in the
creative spaces that they exist. Topics will include self-determination, 
youth empowerment, sex and the
crucial role of two-spirit people in the fight for sovereignty. Join us 
for refreshments, intense conversations, and fun!

6:00pm-7:30pm
Erin Konsmo (Saulteaux), Indigenous feminist, artist, and Alberta 
representative on the National Aboriginal Youth Council on HIV/AIDS 
(NAYCHA).
Krysta WIlliams, Lead Youth Advocate for the Native Youth Sexual Health 
Network, an Indigenous Feminist and
Turtle clan from Moravian of the Thames First Nation.
Louis Cruz (Mi'kmaq)

7:30pm-9:00pm
Dana Wesley (Cree)
Shanee Qua (Plains Cree) Two-spirit Trans Aboriginal who speaks on 
behalf of Two Spirit, HIV/AIDS, Trans and Native Issues.
Daniel Heath Justice (Cherokee)

Cosponsored by the Centre for Women and Trans People (U of T)

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25
7pm-9pm
The Privatization of Reserve Lands: the Conservative shortcut to 
assimilation of status Indians?
Music Room at Hart House (University of Toronto), 7 Hart House Circle
Accessible: Yes, for more information, see: 
http://www.harthouse.utoronto.ca/accessibility

Speakers:

Arthur Manuel (Secwepemc), veteran of the Sun Peaks struggle, former 
chief of Neskonlith First Nation, and
spokesperson for Defenders of the Land and Indigenous Network on 
Economies and Trade

Armand Mackenzie (Innu), Innu Lawyer for the Council of Nitassinan, has 
been defending his nation from low-level
military flights and hydro projects for over 15 years.

Bertha Williams (Coast Salish), continues to fight the Tsawassen treaty 
which privatized her people's land

Pamela Palmater (Mi'kmaq), chair in Indigenous Governance and Associate 
Professor in the Department of Politics and
Public Administration at Ryerson University

Moderator: Heather Dorries (Anishinaabe)

Since the 1800s, Canada has been seeking to terminate Indigenous Peoples 
and extinguish their title to their lands.
 From the 1850s on, a favoured strategy has been the conversion of 
reserve lands into "fee simple" lands that can be
bought and sold like other lands - including to non-Native people. This 
idea was most clearly put forward in the
infamous White Paper of 1969, and the Buffalo Jump memo of the 1980s, a 
cabinet memo that described how "fee simple",
among other policy tools, would channel Indigenous Peoples to voluntary 
termination and extinguishment. Today, in a
massive push by the Department of Indian Affairs and high-powered 
Conservative thinkers close to Stephen Harper -
including the Fraser Institute and Harper's mentor Tom Flanagan - the 
idea of fee simple is again being peddled to Indians as a panacea.

Despite the legacy of colonialism and racism surrounding the creation of 
reserve lands, reserve lands have served
to anchor Indigenous Peoples in their traditional territories. Fee 
simple has only one goal - the alienation of
reserve lands, the extinguishment of Aboriginal title, and the 
termination of Indigenous Peoples. Hear how the
government is trying to roll out this policy, and how it can be stopped.

Sponsored by Indigenous Law Journal, University of Toronto Initiative on 
Indigenous Governance, Aboriginal Law
Students Association, Barriere Lake Solidarity

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26
1pm-3:30pm
Tkaronto - Film Screening
University College Room 179, 15 Kings College Circle


 a reflective and provoking exploration of two Aboriginal 
30-somethings, Ray and Jolene, who make an unexpected
connection at the pinnacle of a common struggle: to stake claim to their 
urban Aboriginal identity...
Director Shane Belcourt will be in attendance!

Sponsored by the departments of Geography and Planning and Canadian 
Studies at the University of Toronto

4pm-6pm
The Aboriginal City - panel discussion
University College Room 179, 15 Kings College Circle

What does it mean to work with, for and/or in the Aboriginal city? What 
would a decolonizing city look like? How do we get there?
Panelists:
Shane Belcourt (Director, ‘Tkaronto’), Heather Howard (University of 
Michigan), Evelyn Peters (University of Winnipeg), Lee Maracle 
(University of Toronto)

Moderator: Shiri Pasternak (University of Toronto)
Light refreshments will be provided.
Sponsored by the departments of Canadian Studies and Geography and 
Planning at the University of Toronto.

7pm-9pm
Indigenous Law, Justice, Governance
Wilson Hall 1016, New College, University of Toronto

Speakers: Toby Decoursay, elder, Algonquins of Barriere Lake; others TBA
Aaaron Mills, (Anishnabe - Couchiching First Nation)
Moderator: Dawnis Kennedy (Anishinaabe - Roseau River)

Join us for an evening of learning about the legal, constitutional, and 
justice systems of Indigenous peoples.
While some of these customary traditions were buried throughout periods 
of colonial repression, unbroken lines
of knowledge continue to pass along between generations and continue to 
govern the social orders of communities across this land.

Sponsored by Indigenous Law Journal, University of Toronto Initiative on 
Indigenous Governance, Aboriginal Law
Students Association, Barriere Lake Solidarity

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27
11pm-2pm
Mobilizing support for Canada to implement the United Nations 
Declaration on the RIghts of Indigenous Peoples

Bowing to intense political pressure, Canada has finally signed the UN 
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples -
with caveats and provisos. KAIROS Canada has chosen to make the UN 
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples its
major focus for 2010-2011. Come learn about the UNDRIP, its background, 
and how you can be part of the campaign to get Canada to implement it.

Speaker: Arthur Manuel (Secwepemc), Defenders of the Land & Indigenous 
Network on Economies and Trade

2pm-5pm
Great Indian Bus Tour
The Native Canadian Centre
16 Spadina Road - north of Bloor

Get on the bus! A real tour of the Indigenous history of Toronto!

HOSTED BY THE TORONTO NATIVE HISTORY PROJECT
The Toronto Native History Project at The Native Canadian Centre in 
partnership with Indigenous Sovereignty Week
is proud to present The Great Indian Bus Tour.

2:00pm to 5:00pm (Arrive 10 minutes early to get seated)

The Bus tour will depart from and return to The Native Canadian Centre 
(NCC) on Saturday Nov. 27 located at 16 Spadina ROAD, north of Bloor.
Seating must be reserved and paid in advance by contacting Tannis 
Nielson at the NCC 416-964-9087 ext. 326.
We recommend booking and paying for your seat early to guarantee your 
spot. Payment must be made to Tannis no later than Thursday Nov. 25.

Ticket cost is $20 per person
Cash payment only
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=148694568510339&num_event_invites=0

7pm-10pm
MUSKRAT magazine Launch & Creation Tales
Walnut Studios, 83 Walnut Avenue (near Bathurst and King)

With Special Guest Storytellers:

Come sit around the fire and listen to The Anishinabek Creation Story 
(inspired by Muskrat) and told by Mnijikining storyteller, Mark Douglas
Witness Creation, a Video Performance by Métis Visual Artist, Tannis Neilson
New Works showcase by:
Visual Artist Travis Shilling & Filmmaker & Photographer Keesic Douglas

The MUSKRAT is an on-line Indigenous arts, culture, and living magazine 
that honours the connection between humans
and our traditional ecological knowledge by exhibiting original works 
and critical commentary. MUSKRAT embraces
both rural and urban settings and uses media arts, the Internet, and 
wireless technology to investigate and
disseminate traditional knowledges in ways that inspire their reclamation.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28
9:30am-5:00pm
Symposium on building new relationships between Indigenous and 
non-Indigenous peoples, and working in solidarity, including:

* Canada's termination policy - an overview by Roger Obonsawin (Abenaki)
* Building Indigenous unity -a workshop with Roger Obonsawin
* Learning lessons from the past and present of solidarity organizing 
with Ed Bianchi (KAIROS)
* Indigenous Solidarity for people of colour

* Closing debrief circle

Further details TBA

21 – 28 November 2010, Toronto

Full schedule to be posted shortly