Topic: ARTS

ONEHEART Canada: Come and Share Your Love

ONEHEART Canada, a not-for-profit advocacy group, is working their way though Canada spreading a positive message about the well-being of our society. It’s a message of change, especially regarding the way our society—even our government—is approaching issues of equality. ONEHEART Canada is organized primarily by indigenous volunteers but welcomes people of all races to join in the effort to spread their message. “Most of us are aware of the state the world is in and the dire need for change,” expresses ONEHEART Canada. “Many of us have watched with concern, but then get overwhelmed with the scope of what needs to happen to put our future back on track. It is difficult for one person to address, but together, we can make a difference.”

In March, ONEHEART Canada made their way through Calgary and Standoff, Alberta, bringing with them a team of volunteers and performance artists, including pow-wow dancers, local Calgary musical talent, and First Nation Californian band Redbone. “We are a nation scattered,” says Redbone’s Pat Vegas. “When the United States government split us up and sent us into different parts of the world, it was like breaking up a puzzle. So we’re like puzzle people that have been spread out all over the place. Myself, and the rest of the members of the band are trying to bring this puzzle back together—bring all the tribes back together.”

 

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Redbone performing at the ONEHEART fundraising event in Calgary. Redbone is a Native American/Mexican American rock group that reached the Top 5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1974 with the single, “Come and Get Your Love” and achieved minor hits with “The Witch Queen of New Orleans” and “Maggie.” They were the first Native American rock group to have a #1 single in the US and overseas. (Photo credit: Hannah Many Guns).

 

During their visit to Alberta, ONEHEART directed their efforts toward drug-related issues arising from southern Alberta’s Hobbema reservation earlier this year. We asked Vegas what he had to say to individuals struggling with drug or alcohol related addiction: “I went down that road, and I’m fortunate to be here. I would say to [those struggling with such addictions:] don’t do it! The end result isn’t a win; it’s a loss. It’s a habit that you must break, and you must put your family, friends, and loved ones before you, and think of others rather than just yourself.” Addiction causes a lot of pain for those you care about, and that pain is an unnecessary kind of stress. So rather than disassociate from the reality that surrounds us, why not make that reality a better place? Share your vision, your strength, your art, your skills—every bit of effort to promote positive change makes a difference. The everlasting comfort of making a difference outlasts the momentary comfort taken from substance. Yes, it may be easier to fall victim to the latter, but this is not where fulfillment lies. Fulfillment lies in the time you spend committed to passion, progression, and sharing your positivity with the world.

And that is really what it all comes down to: the ability to share and contribute toward the well-being of your community. “People have to learn to share,” urges Vegas. “How much can you buy? How much can you spend? How much can you own? You see, things are exploding and going into so many different directions that we’re losing control. I mean, the more you get, the more you worry about and the more you lose and the more grief overcomes you. Everything has its price. But sharing, making sure everyone has a home to live in, land to use, and all the little things, that is important. So, you see, the real question is: how much can you share? This will make all the difference in the world. We just have to learn how to put it into action.”

Would you like join the many volunteers, including Redbone, in ONEHEART Canada’s efforts to promote change within your community? Visit [www.oneheartcanada.com] online for more information and a listing of ongoing events. “Together we can be the change,” encourages ONEHEART Canada. “Let us as people be of ONEHEART, have respect for each other’s difference, and build a home of peace for the generations to come.”

 

 

Book Review: _The Outside Circle_

The Outside Circle is a graphic novel written by Patti LaBoucane-Benson, with art by Kelly Mellings. In this important work, two Aboriginal brothers surrounded by poverty, drug abuse, and gang violence try to overcome centuries of historic trauma in very different ways to bring about positive change in their lives. Richard Van Camp, author of The Lesser Blessed, expressed, “I’m in awe of what you are holding in your hands. This is more than a graphic novel. It’s a teaching; it’s a reminder; and it’s a textbook of hard-won wisdom. It’s also a wish.”

The Outside Circle

Pete, a young Aboriginal man wrapped up in gang violence, lives with his younger brother, Joey, and his mother who is a heroin addict. One night, Pete and his mother’s boyfriend Dennis get into a big fight that sends Dennis to the morgue and Pete to jail. Initially, Pete keeps up ties to his crew until a jail brawl forces him to realize the negative influence he has become on Joey, which encourages him to begin a process of rehabilitation that includes traditional Aboriginal healing circles and ceremonies.

Powerful, courageous, and deeply moving, The Outside Circle is drawn from the author’s twenty years of work and research on healing and reconciliation of gang-affiliated or incarcerated Aboriginal men.

Patti Laboucane-Benson is a Métis woman and the Director of Research, Training, and Communication at Native Counselling Services of Alberta (NCSA). She has a Ph.D. in Human Ecology, focusing on Aboriginal Family Resilience. Her doctoral research explored how providing historic trauma healing programs for Aboriginal offenders builds resilience in Aboriginal families and communities. She has also been the recipient of the Aboriginal Role Model of Alberta Award for Education. She lives in Spruce Grove, Alberta.

Kelly Mellings is an award-winning art director, illustrator, and designer. His work has appeared in comic books, magazines, apps, museum exhibits, and online games, and his clients include Microsoft. He is the co-owner of the acclaimed illustration, animation, and design firm Pulp Studios. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta.

2015 Indspire Awards Celebrate in Calgary

Culturally, the indigenous community encourages progression through taking the time to honour those who have taken the initiative to build their community. In the far past, members of a tribe – men, women, children, elders – would gather around the glow of a fire, celebrating the individuals that have enriched the livelihood of their community with their bravery, passion, spirit, knowledge, strength, innovation, creativity, their everything. And they would feast and they would dance and they would listen to their brothers and sisters tell stories of their triumphs, encouraging others to go out and fulfil their own triumphs. The fast-paced progression of our immediate society can sometimes make people forget about this type of acknowledgement. Could it still exist? Of course, and it does.

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Santee Smith Onkwehon performs “We Woman from the Mohawk Nation.”

Establishing itself in 1993, the Indspire Awards has been ardent in bringing this mode of recognition back to life, and they have been for the past twenty-two years. Indspire takes the time to recognize fourteen certain individuals who have worked hard to progress the indigenous community, including three outstanding youths. This year, the Indspire Awards was held on the last Friday of February in the traditional territory of the Blackfoot people of Treaty No. 7: Calgary, Alberta. Inviting exceptional indigenous talent and leaders to tell stories of their upbringing, pursuits, and initiatives, the night encouraged and inspired those who gave an ear to listen.

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Tanya Tagaq performing at the Indspire Awards in Calgary, February 27.

Starting off the night with an explosion of raw, traditional dancing from the Kahurangi Maori Dance Theatre, the stage lit up with a fervour of grand lighting fixtures and feather mixtures harmonizing with live traditional drumming and singing. Welcoming the audience to the Indspire reception, Roberta Jamieson, along with comic relief from hosts Lorne Cardinal and Kyle Nobess, began the pace of the evening by inviting the award recipients and performers to share stories of their accomplishments and future endeavours.

Of these, First Nations Drum got a chance to speak with a couple of the individuals involved, starting with recipient of the Art Indspire award, Ron E. Scott.

“For me, it is very humbling to receive an Indspire award,” expresses Scott. “I’m so appreciative of the opportunity to be included with the other recipients this year and in the past, because I feel that their achievements are so incredible.” Founder, president, and executive producer of Prairie Dog Film and Television, Scott has become a prominent member of the indigenous film and television community, specifically for his APTN on-going television series Blackstone. Being a member of the Aboriginal Filmmakers Program at the National Film Board, Scott invests his time and energy into training Indigenous people on the sets of his shows, introducing them to the ways of the film and television industry.

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Lorne Cardinal & Kyle Nobess MC the award show.

“In Canada, there is a lot of opportunity for indigenous people, especially in the arts, whether it be the visual arts, music, or film and TV,” says Scott. “What I’ve seen with TV and film production, within the indigenous community, the quality has risen every year. It’s a progression not only in crew, but in writers, directors, and producers, and we’re seeing some projects that are competing with other non-indigenous film and TV shows.”

Also showcasing indigenous engagement in the film and television industry was comic host of The Candy Show on APTN Candy Palmater, co-hosts Cardinal and Nobess, youth reporter and founder of Konek Productions Jordan Konek, as well as actor Tahmoh Penikett, who shared a couple words with First Nations Drum.

“Most First Nations across Canada and North America, as diverse as they are, are incredibly artistic,” articulates Penikett. “It’s how we tell our stories. It’s about the world, the tradition, the music, and the art – it’s in our blood, it’s in everyone’s blood.” Penikett has made a name for himself as an actor in films such as Man of Steel and his most recent role in the series Supernatural. Discussing with him, he spoke about his interest in being involved with more indigenous centred films. “I take on roles that tell a great story, because the way a story a told is so important. A lot of the stories I grew up with came from my grandmother, and these are the kind of stories I want to bring to the screen.”

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Crystal Lightning performs “Redcloud” to a welcoming crowd.

This day-in-age, where everything seems to be moving at such a rapid pace, telling stories around a campfire seems to be a tradition of the past. Bringing indigenous stories to the screen, however, is a way the nation can bridge the gap of cultural misunderstanding. “Unfortunately we’re underrepresented in film and television today, and there needs to be more First Nations actors out there, and more material that is about our stories,” states Penikett, and isn’t it the truth? There is an evident need in the film industry for stories scribed from the pens of First Nations story-tellers, portrayed by First Nation people, and given to the global audience. Why? Well, in order to dispel any misrepresentation indigenous people have encountered in the past, and still do today. “We’re at a time in this era where we have access to the web and the internet, and so now we can grab a camera and film a story on little to no budget, we just need more First Nations people bringing their ideas towards this type of communication,” states Petikett.

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Dancer addresses the crowd.

The uniqueness of the First Nation culture is particular to the worldviews cultivated during ones upbringing. In an age where most kids have a better relationship with their cell-phone than with their own parents, it’s a reprieve to see views from individuals that grew up focused on family ties, respect for the land, and a realization that technology is not something that controls you, rather, technology is something to take control of.

Other than hearing award recipients share their stories, the night was also filled with performances ranging from performances from hip-hop duo Lightning Cloud, Moari vocalist Pieter T, R&B singer/songwriters Dani & Lizzy, as well as mulch-instrumentalist and singer Niiko Soul. Of all showcases, the most unique performance of the night had to come from Inuk throat-singer Tanya Tagaq. Displaying traditional Inuit attire, dancing, and unique singing, Tagaq resounded the room with primitive ritual, bringing the entire audience back to their indigenous roots.

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2015 Indspire Recipients

Of the fourteen recipients, the other thirteen Indspire awards went to: Elsie Yanik (Lifetime Achievement), Brenda LaRose (Business & Commerce), Piita (Peter) Irniq (Culture, Heritage & Spirituality), Dr. Paulette C. Tremblay (Education), Gerald Anderson (Environment & Natural Resources), William Julius Mussell (Health), Dr. Wilton Littlechild (Law & Justice), Kim Baird (Politics), Madeleine (Public Service), Gino Odjick (Sports), Kendal Netmaker (Youth – First Nation), Jordan Konek (Youth – Inuit), Gabrielle Fayant (Youth – Métis).

 

Nominations for the 2016 Indspire Awards are now open. If you find a particular educator within your indigenous community reaching above and beyond to progress and educate people on their culture, why not nominate them? It’s easy to do, check it out on their website at indspire.ca. If you can’t think of anyone, why not make yourself that particular educator? Aspire to be who Indspire gives recognition to. You’ll be recognized by your community regardless, and perhaps even nominated to be a future recipient of a Indspire award.

 

Tin Tin Comic Removed From Winnipeg Librairies

Tin Tin in America, a comic in book form, is part of a series written by Helge in the 1930’s that depicted the adventures of a red headed hero and his dog Snowy. The comics were meant for a young audience and have been successful for over 60 years and translated in 70 languages. The title that has offended certain people in Winnipeg is Tin Tin In America, which reflects the 1940’s Hollywood representation of Native people as bloodthirsty savages who capture poor Tin Tin. Keep in mind this is a comic book; it doesn’t come close to John Ford’s brutal depiction of First Nations in his movies that had John Wayne as the star and are seen on television frequently.

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“Following yesterday’s media coverage of this topic, we proactively ask that copies of Tin Tin in America be sent to our selectors for review,” Winnipeg communication officer Michelle Finley told the CBC. One can understand the library’s stance. Winnipeg recently received some bad press from Maclean’s magazine, and the Winnipeg Library didn’t want to add fuel to the fire. Professor Niigaan Sinclair gave an explanation of their decision: “The problem is when you show Indians carrying weapons coming out of the 15th, 16th centuries always invested in violence, deficiency, and loss, then [children] think that is what First Nations culture is. When they see a First Nations person riding the bus, going to a job, they can’t conceive the reconcilability of those two things.”

Perhaps professor Sinclair is right, but if you start with a comic book, where does it stop? Children can handle cell phones today with more dexterity than their parents, and their understanding of the world is a lot more developed than any generation that came before them. Does a child being made aware of the last World Wars also look upon Japanese and Germans as evil people? I doubt it. Once introduced to history, children come to accept the bravery and the atrocities of the past as simply the past. There is an intuitive understanding of history that age and advanced schooling will turn into knowledge. Censorship has no place here. We are talking about a comic, a form of expression that uses exaggeration as a tool.

George Remi was a Belgian cartoonist who’s pen name was Helge, famous for his ligne claire (clear line) style. His main character Tin Tin was a young reporter/adventurer who found himself in trouble in exotic countries. The plots were well crafted, usually a synthesis of the adventure/action hero that was popular in movies and books the 1930’s and 1940’s, mixed in with eccentric characters such as his best friend Captain Haddock. There was also a dash of slapstick humour usually supplied by Professor Calculus and the bungling twins a.k.a. private eyes Thompson and Thompson. If you took Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and crossed it with the Peter Sellers in the Pink Panther, the result would be an adult version of Tin Tin.

Unfortunately, Helge never visited America or most of the countries in which he set his stories. His knowledge of First Nations people would have been taken from the movies of the period and perhaps from the German author Karl May, who became a successful writer in Europe with stories of Old Shatterhand and the American frontier. The book in question, Tin Tin in America, is set in the late thirties, but the Natives depicted in the comic belong in the 1870’s when American Indians were at war with the US Calvary. It’s a rather large mistake that is beyond creative licence, but was it intentionally racist? Perhaps not, and considering it was written more than a half century ago by an author who had never met a First Nations person, the question remains, should the Winnipeg Library have taken off the shelves? No, because if you do, then you should also remove The Last of the Mohicans.

CCAB Announces 2015 Aboriginal Business Hall of Fame Inductee and National Youth Aboriginal Entrepreneur Award Recipient

Toronto, ON – The Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business (CCAB) and ESS Support Services Worldwide (a member of Compass Group Canada), are pleased to announce the 2015 inductee into the Aboriginal Business Hall of Fame (ABHF): Melvin E. Benson, of Beaver Lake Cree Nation. Aboriginal business leaders inducted into the ABHF are recognized for their accomplishments in achieving sustainable economic development in Aboriginal communities.

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Kendal Netmaker receives 2015 National Youth Aboriginal Entrepreneur award.

Mr. Benson is the president of Mel E. Benson Management Services Inc., an international consulting firm working in various countries with a focus on First Nations / Corporate negotiations. He is also part owner of the private oil & gas company Tenax Energy Inc. Retired from Exxon International, Mr. Benson has been on the board of directors at Suncor Energy since 2000, serving on the compensation and environment, health and safety committees. He also sits as a Director of the Fort McKay Group of Companies and as a Director of Oilstone Energy Services, based in the USA. A member of several charitable organizations, Mr. Benson prides himself on being active in his community. He’s taken numerous leadership positions in this capacity, most recently being appointed to the advisory council for the Alberta Land Institute through the University of Alberta.

The CCAB and ESS Support Services is also pleased to announce the 2015 recipient of the National Youth Aboriginal Entrepreneur Award: Kendal Netmaker, owner of Neechie Gear Inc. from Sweetgrass First Nation, Saskatchewan. This award recognizes an up-and-coming Aboriginal entrepreneur under the age of 35. Kendal Netmaker is founder and CEO of Neechie Gear, a lifestyle apparel brand built to empower youth through sports. He has successfully grown his business from a university project to a national name brand. Kendal grew up on Sweetgrass First Nation. As a single-parented child, he came from a low-income family and had little opportunity to be involved in any extra-curricular activities. As a result he felt compelled to give back by donating a portion of Neechie Gear’s profits to help fund underprivileged youth, allowing them the opportunity to take part in extracurricular sports.

The CCAB would like to recognize and thank ESS, the founding and exclusive sponsor for the Aboriginal Business Hall of Fame and the National Youth Aboriginal Entrepreneur Award. Compass Group Canada and ESS Support Services Worldwide is the country’s leading food service and support services company providing food and service excellence in sector as diverse as business and industry, colleges and universities, healthcare and hospitals, sports, entertainment, leisure and cultural venues, remote camps, facilities management and vending.

Erin Meehan, president of ESS stated, “Melvin Benson joins a storied list of past Aboriginal Business Hall of Fame inductees who like himself used business skills over the course of a lifetimes work to foster optimism and potential in the world of Aboriginal business.” Meehan added about the National Youth Aboriginal Entrepreneur Award, “Kendal Netmaker is an inspiration born of hard work and the commitment to live and build his dream.”

This year is the 10th year of the ABHF’s recognition of the outstanding achievements of Aboriginal business leaders from across Canada. JP Gladu, CCAB president and CEO stated, “We are deeply honoured to be celebrating another leader who has made community and business leadership throughout his career the stepping stone to evolving his business endeavors into the success we are so proud to celebrate.”

2015 also marks the second year of the exciting new National Youth Aboriginal Entrepreneur Award. Gladu stated, “Kendal is the new face of Aboriginal business, it’s a young face reflecting our people and the optimism that his success represents to all Aboriginal Canadians, young and old.”

Alicja Rozanska: Lost Partner, Protector, and Healer

The very first time I saw this very tall noble woman walking around our neighbourhood marketplace, I knew she was someone special. Later when I got to know her and spoke to her co-workers, they said when you meet Alicja you are getting the real deal, you will be talking to someone who is real, and she has a sense of humour.

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Alicja and our grandson Justice on Gladstone Ave. in Toronto around 2005. Photo by Danny Beaton.

When I first did meet Alicja at Taste of Nature, the local health store in our neighbourhood, I felt she was totally magnificent, delicate, and original. I was taken aback by her demeanour. Then it was weeks later I got a call around midnight one night, and Alicja said she had just come back from Moose Factory, James Bay area where she had taken the long train ride to go camping alone. She told me a lone wolf, who was very friendly, had stayed close to her camp and had followed her around all the time she was up there hiking and exploring. Alicja said she had seen plenty of wildlife, bears, moose and smaller animals. She said she knew Canada was stolen land and felt guilty being here. Alicja said she had seen me around our neighbourhood for many years, but we had not met. I asked her to come on over to my place and stay the night with me, and when she arrived we were together for almost fourteen years till the very morning she died in my arms. My life has never been the same, from the enormous loss and amount of love and beauty that we shared with each other. Alicja gave and shared love with everyone we became friends with and worked with.

We had been using natural herbs like dandelion root, red clove, milk thistle, and burdock root most of the summer of 2013 and fall. By October, Alicja had an appointment with Dr. Gabor Kandel in the Dept. of Gastroenterology at St. Michael’s Hospital, and we thought all of this must be an infection, but we were told Alicja had stage four cancer; it was in her lungs, liver and colon. The next day, I began phoning all my professional friends and asking them if they knew anyone who had beaten stage 4 cancer. It turned out my best friend told me a friend of his, who was an environmentalist/farmer, his wife had beat stage 4 cancer 20 years ago and was still living. This gave me and Alicja great hope because we had positive news so fast. But it turned out the doctor, Dr. Rudy Falk, had died himself ten years ago. I learned Dr Falk had an office on College Street here in Toronto. Dr. Rudy Falk was a surgeon and was treating his patients in his office on College Street with alternative protocols such as high doses of intravenous vitamins C, D, B and mistletoe, poly-MV, etc. Dr Falk had also administered hypothermia and was doing his own x-ray tests in his office to locate tumours.

Alicja took me to many places. From the first time we met, we were going to Simcoe County and Georgian Bay. We were swimming and hiking and berry picking. Once she started to swim so fast and so far, I couldn’t see her almost. She stopped and waved to me from the middle of the lake. I was calling to her, “Come back! Come back!” She was a strong swimmer. She took me hiking in Iceland, New Mexico, British Columbia, and New York, and all over Ontario, Canada, up mountains. She really loved to hike and swim, so she planned all of our trips.

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L to R: Alice Gibson, Mohawk; Audrey Shenandoah, Onandaga; Jeannie Shenandoah, Onandaga; Alicja Rozanska, Kaszebe/Polish at the Gibson Farm, Six Nations Territory. Photo by Danny Beaton.

The first time I spoke to her was in Taste of Nature, a health food store where she worked at the time. She used to work in a macrobiotic restaurant in the Annex around 2001, but she first lived in Chicago. She came to Toronto twenty-three years ago. She told me that there was no work for her in Poland, but she said she was here now for her son, Rigel, named after the brightest star in the constellation Orion. She was also working as a bookkeeper for my friend at one time; she had taken some courses at University of Toronto and received very good marks she really understood mathematics. Later she found a job with the Canada Revenue Agency. After a couple of years she became a team leader, managing and overseeing 16 people on her team. At the same time, she volunteered to organize some social programs for her staff and her department. Alicja initiated environmental and energy conservation projects and Native cultural exhibits. What we had in common was that we believed in healing, laughter, having fun, and holistic health and organic food just to name a few of the things that we shared. To put it mildly, she was a nature-oriented person, but her biggest interests were her son, traveling, and being in a forest or water.

We picked berries every year. Strawberries first, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. She loved mushroom picking and fresh water from the Alliston Aquifer in Georgian Bay area. There are places where the water shoots out from the ground, the surface springs. This is what we protected and we were fighting for in Simcoe County when we got involved in stopping dump site 41. We were involved for several years in a protest in Simcoe County, being arrested when we set up blockades with Ojibwa women of that area to stop the machines from raping the farmland and taking water away. Later we fought for Dufferin County to stop the Mega Quarry from raping farmland and water. Alicja received an award from the citizens of Simcoe County, a plaque that says: “Protect Our Water Stop Dump Site 41 Alicja Rozanska Site 41 Hero.”

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L to R: Chief Oren Lyons, Danny Beaton, Alicja Rozanska, John Mohawk, and Rigel Rozanska in front. Photo by Brian Daniels around 2001.

She died on June 29, 2014 in my arms. We thought that she had an infection, but we were devastated when (in November 2013) she was diagnosed with fourth stage cancer. She was weak and bleeding. Her cancer had spread to her liver and lungs and colon. During Chernobyl, when Alicja was a teenager, she went on a school field trip into the mountains. Nobody had told people that there is radiation in the air. She felt that she was contaminated with radiation while she was on that school trip in the mountains during the Chernobyl catastrophe.

She was with me for fourteen years. We traveled with (Native) activists and elders, because I was a Native filmmaker first on Alice Gibson farm, so Alicja met the Elders before and after filming. The Elders treated her with respect because they liked her. Alicja brought positive and peaceful energy wherever we went. Around the same time, we were traveling to Georgian Bay and Simcoe County. We visited several Native camps, and we almost always left Toronto every Saturday just to get into the bush and water. Wherever we went, Alicja always helped with the cooking and cleaning. All of these trips that we took only happened on the weekends or when she had holidays. Up in Simcoe County, we attended many Native ceremonies and feasts in order to help the environmental struggles that we were involved in. She loved Native food and tried buffalo, deer, beaver, muskrat, fish and especially loved to make fish soup. My people believe in laughter, and she loved to joke with everyone. We were staying with the people of Simcoe County as often as we could. Oh yes, she loved drumming and the stars…

After she passed away, somebody from her work answered the phone when I called and said they knew her well, so I tried to get her to talk about her relationship with people at work. That woman said, “When you are talking to Alicja, you are talking to the real thing and so when you are talking to Alicja you are getting the real deal.” The second woman that I talked to from her team agreed with me that Alicja was one of the most amazing people that she had ever met because she cared so much about her team and all the life struggles that were happening in the world. She said that Alicja was involved with all the personal problems at work because that was her job, and she cared about everybody.

Alicja became a foster parent for Native kids through Native Child and Family Services. I was told that I was the first foster parent for this system in Toronto. We went to a Christmas party one year and Landy Anderson suggested that I should be a foster parent, so I asked Alicja. We completed the program and learned how to be foster parents through the Native Child and Family Services policy. We had a few kids in our home. Some were needy kids, some were well organized, and we took care of these kids, and Alicja loved those kids like they were her own.

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Janet Nadjiron, Alicja, Rigel, Wilmer Nadjiron Camp, Owen Sound. Photo by Danny Beaton around 2003.

When she was diagnosed with cancer, she knew she would be treating it in a natural way. Alicja had spent most of her life as an alternative holistic thinker and natural holistic human being. We were using organic herbs that were passed on to us from Natives and Alicja had been studying healing all the years I knew her, so we even had some herbs in our garden. We spent a lot of time using medicines that were being used to fight cancer but were non toxic, and they did not kill immune system that protects the body. Alicja did not want to use chemotherapy or radiation or surgery. She felt she could cure herself, and she wanted to take control over her own body. This was an important rule she thought, but she took my advice to seek out the ones who followed Dr. Rudy Falk’s work. Most of the contacts I made came from Googling over the internet.

During the 14 years I lived with Alicja, she never even took aspirin. The first clinic we found that was using some of Dr. Falk’s work was the Nasari clinic. Alicja began treatments at Nasari clinic including roughly 20 treatments of high doses of intravenous vitamin C, D, and mistletoe, Poly MV, and other non-toxic medicines. At home, Alicja was using protocols off the internet such as the Budwig diet, drinking organic vegetable juices 3 times a day, taking baking soda baths, using the Tesla Proton IIX Sound Machine, and using infrared lights to kill cancer cells. Later, Alicja began using Essiac Tea and essential oils. We traveled to our house in Simcoe county on April 15th, and I began to tap birch trees so she could drink the birch water. Alicja was also a patient at Grand River Regional Cancer Center; her doctor there was Dr. Knight. Alicja began protocols at Marsden Centre with many treatments of hyperthermia and chemotherapy; however, the cancer had spread, and we were too late in using any kind of medicine.

Alicja loved Dr. Eric Marsden and Dr. Ashley Chauvin and all their nurses because she told me they talked to her and really cared for her healing. This journey in Canada for Alicja was healing and later shattering for her and me, but Alicja never steered away from her spiritual or intellectual thoughts or values. Alicja said to me “you cannot change my destiny” and after we lost our baby years before Alicja said to me “I have no future now.” These things she said to me echo in my mind just like the way we began to study the stars at night when we would sit outside in the bush or when we camped out.

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Alicja hiking in the Adirondack Mountains around 2011.

The universe was alive for Alicja. Of all the people and elders I have known in my lifetime, Alicja was the purist loving human being I have ever seen or known. I photographed her for fourteen years, swimming, hiking, or smiling; she was an incredible swimmer, dancer, and hiker! If I could say anything to the Polish people it would be that you lost and gained a female hero and spiritual leader who was almost not noticed by many. Only photographs can show the strength and calmness of Alicja or anyone else who was able to remember or capture her incredible beauty and love that she carried and shared. My words do not do her life justice. The reason why I am writing about the non-toxic protocols Alicja was using is because Alicja would want society and people to know about non-toxic medicines available to stop cancer!

Dream Woman

I never imagined myself being fifty six. I turned that age recently and frankly, it amazes me. Back a handful of decades I couldn’t see myself being thirty or heaven forbid, a crusty old dinosaur of forty. But here I am. I can get a senior’s discount in some places now and lawn bowling is starting to look really appealing. There’s a touch of arthritis in one of my fingers, I don’t run as fast as I used to and the term, old-timer’s league, has a romantic resonance and alluring cachet.

I’m at a point in my life now where there’s likely more years behind me than in front of me. I’m okay with that because it’s been a thrilling journey up to this point and I’ve managed to learn a few things along the way to being me. I don’t know if I would necessarily say that I’m wiser but I do confess to being less susceptible to being fooled – by others or more often by myself.

The trick of getting older is being able and willing to take the time to look back and see the trail. For me it’s how I learn to appreciate the gifts that come my way and how the hand of Creator looks taking care of my life. It’s valuable. I’ve made a lot of plans through my life and I’m more than glad that most of them didn’t come to fruition. They say that life is what happens when you’re busy making other plans and that’s startlingly true in my case.

Like the other day I was thinking about how my mind has changed over the years. I swore up and down that I was a dyed-in-the-wool bachelor. I believed that I couldn’t possibly find someone who would ‘get’ me or the things that mattered to me most. But I’m married now and living a darn good life. But there were times that I thought that I would never meet the one person who could make it all worthwhile.

That woman would be spectacular. Not only would she be sensitive to my needs but attuned to my dreams. I called her Dream Woman. She was going to be the one who finally ‘get’ me, the one who understood implicitly the things that moved me, motivated me, thrilled me and made me the man that I was. She would be the ultimate partner because she cared about everything important to me.

Dream Woman would care, for instance, that the starting infield for the 1965 Boston Red Sox – the year I became a fan – was Lee Thomas, Felix Mantilla, Rico Petrocelli and Frank Malzone. That would matter to Dream Woman because well, she was Dream Woman. I love baseball and I love the Red Sox and to me, Fenway Park (where I’ve never been) is the green cathedral of hope. She would know all that and be there with a crying towel when they lost and a hug, a kiss and a cheer when they won. Dream Women do that sort of thing.

She would also care deeply that the bass player for the 60s rock group Moby Grape was a guy named Bob Mosely or that the origin of the banjo was the Gambra River in Africa, made from a hollowed-out gourd and gut strings. Recorded music is one of my passions and Dream Woman would know that the Hanks – Williams, Mobley and Ballard – are part of the ongoing rhythm section of my life. Oh, and she would also know that Hawkshaw Hawkins wasn’t a character from the L’il Abner comic strip.

Dream Woman would care immensely that the thirteen primary poles in a tipi stand for a principle meant to guide the lives of the family that lived there. She’d care that the ribs of a sweat lodge represent the same things to guide our prayers and petitions.

I always thought Dream Woman would be like that. She would be the female version of me, and the perfect partner because of it. She’d glean the spiritual connection between a knuckle curveball and an honor song and know that Kraft Dinner with a can of tuna thrown in is the bachelor’s casserole. That’s what the younger version of me thought was vital.

Well, nowadays I look at my wife, busy with the things that drive and motivate her, watch as she becomes, every day, a more fully fleshed vision of who she wants to be and I can’t help but be thankful for her. Her full life fills out mine. Her joy over the things she appreciates and adores have become important to me.

I see now that my Dream Woman doesn’t necessarily need to care about things like baseball, music, books and the nature of First Nations politics and spirituality. It only matters that she cares that I do. Ain’t aging grand?

Three Juno Award Nominations for Animism by Tanya Tagaq

Animism is the third studio album by Canadian Inuk musician Tanya Tagaq, released May 27, 2014. The album won the 2014 Polaris Music Prize last September and is shortlisted for Aboriginal Album of the Year, Alternative Album of the Year, and Producer of the Year for the album tracks “Caribou” and “Uja” by producer Jesse Zubot.

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Winning the Polaris Prize was already a great feat, during which Tagaq controversially exclaimed “Fuck PETA!” in her acceptance speech, addressing the issue of seal hunting as an important indigenous resource. Tagaq’s disc was picked out of a shortlist that included Drake and Arcade Fire. But the Juno Awards are even more prestigious. Tagaq was in Maine for a concert when she heard the news, “I’m trapped in storm Juno in Maine, and found out Animism is nominated for three Juno’s in Canada! Life is grand,” she tweeted.

Tagaq has described Animism as more consciously political than her earlier work. She continues to push her greatest political message, having dedicated her album to all the missing and murdered Aboriginal women. In an interview she explains, “Everywhere you turn there’s fear, terror,” Tagaq said. “There’s horrible things happening, and I’m sick of it. I want things to change; that’s why I’m talking. I want change. I’m tired of this. I don’t want to be worried for my daughters’ lives. They’re four times more likely to be murdered than your daughters. Like, that’s not cool. That’s not okay.”

Tagaq’s recent popularity in the media has been more positive than last year, when she evoked internet rage by posting a “sealfie” showing her infant daughter beside a dead and bloodied seal Tagaq killed, a photo she said she got “months and months of abuse” from, including death threats and digitally altered photos showing her daughter being killed.

The tides have turned though, and in January she was picked by Rolling Stone as one of “Ten New Artists You Need To Know.” She was included on the New York Times and NPR playlist, as well as profiled in the current issue of The New Yorker. Animism had its US and UK release, and scored 5 of 5 stars from the Financial Times. She’s also been recently commissioned to write a piece of music for the Kronos Quartet.

It’s going to be a race, as the Aboriginal Album of the Year shortlist is long. Tagaq has never won a Juno, and neither has Cree playwright Tomson Highway, who’s in the field for the soundtrack to his play The (Post) Mistress. But Crystal Shawanda, Leela Gilday, and Digging Roots (the other three nominated artists) are all past winners. In the Alternative Album category, Tagaq’s disc is up against releases by Timber Timbre, Chad VanGaalen, Alvvays, and July Talk.

The Juno Awards ceremony will take place on March 15, in Hamilton, Ontario, and will be broadcast on CTV. For complete information, visit [www.junoawards.ca].

 

 

Hobiyee Truly An Inspiring Event Celebrating Nisga’a New Year

Walking into the PNE Forum on a rainy Saturday afternoon in East Vancouver, it was wonderful to hear the drums and songs of the Git Susit’aam’a Dancers at the 2015 Ho Biyee Nisga’a New Year annual celebrations.

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Singing in the new year. Photo credit:  Wameesh G. Hamilton.

The month of February marks the beginning of the Nisga’a First Nation’s New Year, and each year Hobiyee (Ho-be-yeh) the Nisga’a’ of Ts’amiks, hosts this celebration and invites dance groups from other Nations to celebrate with them the strength, beauty, and diversity of indigenous cultures. Hobiyee is a celebration of the waxing crescent moon during the latter part of winter each year. The Nisga’a’ People of the northwestern British Columbia, watch for the positioning of the moon and the stars as a prediction of the coming harvest. Hobiyee is celebrated wherever Nisga’a people live. Like many communities, they celebrate the New Year with family, friends, and community. The Nisga’a New Year is also celebrated annually in one of the four respected Nisga’a communities in the beautiful Nass Valley; this year the Gingolx will host the celebrations.

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Huge crowds enjoy two days of traditional sounds, dance, food, and exhibits. Photo by Kelly Many Guns

Through research, The Nisga’a Nation’s oral tradition says that, “the Simgigat – Nisga’a Chieftains – in past centuries studied the celestial heavens. They were knowledgeable in the behaviours of the stars in proximity to the moon, which forecasted the weather patterns. They studied astrology, not from textbooks, but by years of observing the heavens.”

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Git Hayetsk Dancers brought the crowd to spontaneous cheers and dancing. Photo by Kelly Many Guns.

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Eleven dance groups participate in 2015 Hobiyee. Photo by Kelly Many Guns.

The Halayt-Simgigat (spiritual leader) studied the Buxw-laks moon, the moon of February, and they made note of the different shapes leading up to the full moon. Over time, they observed that whenever the first crescent moon (thin shaped) is in the shape of the hoobix (the bowl of the Nisga’a wooden spoon with the ends pointing upward) this meant abundant resources in the harvesting seasons to follow in K’alii-Aksims (the Nass Valley). The oolichans would be plentiful, as would the salmon, berries and various other resources important to the Nisga’a. All in all, 2015 is predicted to be bountiful.

During the two-day celebrations at the PNE Forum, nine Nisga’a dance groups performed their traditional celebration songs to large appreciative crowds. It was my first Hobiyee that I attended, and for it’s beautiful songs, drums, and awesome dancers, everyone should mark this wonderful event on their calendar each February!

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A dancer from the Dhahka Khwaan Dance Group from Whitehorse, Yukon performs on day one at Hobiyee 2015 in Vancouver. Photo credit: Wameesh G Hamilton.

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The Nisga’a of Ts’amiks host this celebration and invite dance groups from other nations to celebrate with them the strength, beauty, and diversity of indigenous cultures. Photo by Kelly Many Guns.

 

One Native Life: Riding With the Cartwrights

I’ve discovered, in my life as a tribal person, that rituals ground you. They don’t need to be elaborate in their solemnity or deeply devotional in their application to affect you that way. No, rituals, no matter how slight or insignificant, have the power to let you feel the ground on which you stand, connect you to the people you share your home and planet with, allow you the freedom to breathe.

Little rituals today keep me rooted. Walking the dog in the early morning by the lake, washing dishes right after supper, getting the morning coffee ready the night before or making the lunch my partner will eat at work that day. All of them plant me squarely in my life just like the more traditional rituals of prayer, smudging or sweat lodges.

Like everyone I learned about those little rituals early. When I was six or seven Sunday nights were a ritual. It was the mid 60s and if times were a little slower then, it made everything all that much more perfect.

I was living in my second foster home and those Sunday evenings were the first thing in my life that gave me a sense of family, of togetherness, of sharing. Everyone gathered in the living room. The lights were turned low and the telephone, if it rang, was never answered. I still recall the excitement as the old Philips TV in the corner sprang to life.

It began with The Thunderbirds. They were animated puppets riding in Super Car, a magical machine that could dive under water and fly through the air at jet speed. We watched it together every week. Then, as the credits rolled, we arranged the TV trays that dinner was served on. We did it quickly because the big show was next.

It was Walt Disney. Every week it seemed like Disney offered up amazing journeys like Spin & Marty, Flubber, Sammy the Way Out Seal and the usual gang of Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Goofy. It was charming television. There was an ease to the storytelling that’s lost these days and everyone regardless of age could sink themselves into it and disappear for an hour.

Then it was the Ed Sullivan Show. The dishes were cleared for washing up later and we sat and watched the entertainers presented each week. There were still vaudeville performers around then, tap dancers, magicians, ventriloquists and singers. They were show people, raised on the old boards and taught to work a crowd, offer up the spirit of their art humbly and generously and it was captivating. I saw the Beatles in 1964, Elvis, Liberace, Ethel Merman, Sherry Lewis and Lamb Chop and the great Edgar Bergen.

But it was after that weekly spectacle that the night truly became magical.

At nine o’clock Bonanza came on. It was the highlight of the week for everyone. We rode the west with Ben and Hoss, Little Joe and Adam. We rode the length and breadth of the Ponderosa each week, could almost smell those pines, feel the sway of horses beneath us and the Cartwrights gave us adventure and romance and the feeling of family. We never missed it.

Rding with the Cartwrights was absolutely engaging. We all had our favorites. Mine was Little Joe and his beautiful paint horse. And we all had our favorite episodes that we talked about and argued over. Mine was a hilarious episode called Hoss and the Leprechauns. But every week we were lifted out of our chairs and our lives and taken away on sweeping journeys we shared together.

Then, later, alone in my bed, I would go back over all that I’d seen. Drifting off to sleep, filled with images of hope and warmth, community and adventure, generosity of spirit and storytelling, I couldn’t wait for the replay of that ritual in seven days time. Those few hours in front of the television, huddled together in the living room were a ritual that framed my early childhood, made me forget that I was a foster kid, a displaced person, filled with hurts I hadn’t found the words for yet.

I left that foster home when I was nine, went to a different family in a different place who didn’t have rituals like that. Television was restricted to a few hours a week and meals were never eaten away from the table. I was nine and introduced to the rituals of discipline, responsibility, punishment, studiousness and a hard Presbyterian ethic. There were no magic times. I sometimes wonder what my life would have been like if there’d been a time of gathering like those special Sunday nights.

Television has changed now. It’s like the charm has gone. There was an innocence and a humility to TV then that’s missing now. There are no Ed Sullivans, no grand production numbers of dance and orchestra, no vocal chorales or ebullient entertainers who learned their chops and riffs in small vaudeville theaters, no real spellbinders, no Red Skeltons, Maurice Chevaliers, Carmen McRaes or Cyd Charisse – and there’s no one like the Cartwrights.

But what’s missing the most is the living room, a gathering place. We’d be such stronger homes and communities if we could find a way to recreate that – a place where magic is shared whether it’s a TV, a radio, a guitar, a book or a favorite story retold for the thousandth time.

When you come together in a ritual way like that, gather together for the sublime purpose of simply being together and sharing a common magic, the strength of that ritual binds you, shapes you, maybe even saves you one day. I learned that as a foster home kid and these days, as a grown native man of 52, it’s the rituals of coming together that hold the charm and the power for me.

We’re tribal people, the whole magnificent lot of us and we shine best in our togetherness.