Topic: ARTS

This exhibition has grown out of a unique opportunity to present the personal experiences of First Nations children who attended St. Michael’s Indian Residential School at Alert Bay, British Columbia. During the late 1930s, one student at the school had a camera and photographed many of her friends and classmates there. She recently donated these images to the Museum of Anthropology’s archive. The photos provide a rare and moving glimpse of residential school life through the eyes of students as they made a life for themselves away from families and home communities.

St. Michael’s Indian Residential School operated from 1929 to 1974, and its now-empty building is in deteriorating condition. With the support of the U’mista Cultural Centre (UCC) and the ‘Namgis First Nation at Alert Bay, MOA curator Bill McLennan was recently permitted to enter the building and photograph its interior spaces where the children had lived and worked. The resulting images, together with those of the students, are featured in Speaking to Memory, an exhibition jointly produced by McLennan and the UCC’s director Sarah Holland and curator Juanita Johnston.

In Alert Bay, Speaking to Memory will be hung around the exterior of the St. Michael’s school building, located beside the cultural centre. At MOA, the exhibition will be presented in our O’Brian Gallery. The large photographic panels depict the interior rooms of the school as they now appear, overlaid with historical images of the children. Accompanying the images are personal statements from former students of St. Michael’s school, recalling their experiences there. Quotations from a variety of sources express the Canadian government’s rationale for Indian residential schools, while excerpts from the 1996 Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples recognize the devastating impact of the schools. In addition, one “artifact” is featured in MOA’s exhibit: the institutional food-mixing machine, recently salvaged from the school’s kitchen.

The Indian residential school system was implemented in 1879 by the Canadian government to eliminate the “Indian problem”—that is, to absorb the Aboriginal population into the dominant Canadian identity, and to impose Christianity, English or French as the primary languages, and the abandonment of cultural and family traditions. St. Michael’s Indian Residential School in Alert Bay was one of 140 Indian residential schools that operated in Canada.

The exhibition is scheduled to coincide with meetings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Vancouver from September 18 – 21, 2013. On Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013, MOA will host a public event to recognize the impact of the residential school experience in British Columbia.

For more information, please contact Bill McLennan at bill.mclennan@ubc.ca or Anna Pappalardo at anna.pappalardo@ubc.ca.

Publishing company Jack Lake Productions Inc. has announced a unique and exciting new project. The One Tribe benefit comic book anthology is a non-profit book to be published in 2014 in association with James Waley of Pique Productions. The collection is being produced in support of improving First Nations’ reserve schools in Canada, with all proceeds going to the Shannen’s Dream campaign, which was formed to carry on the courageous work of the late Shannen Koostachin. Some of the top comic creator talents in the country have contributed work to support this worthwhile cause.

Shannen Koostachin, a young activist from the Attawapiskat First Nation on the James Bay coast in Ontario, had a simple and practical dream: safe, comfortable schools and culturally-based education for First Nations children and youth. In her brief life, Shannen worked tirelessly to convince the Federal government to give First Nations children a proper education. According to The First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada website, “First Nations schools receive less funding per student than provincial and territorial schools, and zero dollars for things like libraries, computers, languages, or extracurricular activities. Many schools are plagued by serious health concerns such as extreme black mould contamination, high carbon dioxide levels, rodent and reptile infestations, sewage fumes, and unheated portables.”

James Waley, editor and graphic coordinator for the One Tribe project, says he was shocked and mortified that the Attawapiskat First Nations reserve had to declare a state of emergency due to substandard housing conditions. Reflecting on the outpouring of aid to victims of Japan’s tsunami and the disaster in Haiti, he noticed, “Canadians are quite eager to rush to the aid of people half a world away from us, [but] a huge segment of our population, suffering in our own backyard, is so often ignored and overlooked.” He says, “It was becoming increasingly clear that Attawapiskat was simply the tip of the iceberg of an ongoing crisis that most citizens and our government have allowed to continue for much too long.”

Shannen attended J.R. Nakogee elementary school, which was condemned and closed because of a decades-old fuel leak. Classes had been held held in makeshift portables since 2000, and by 2007, the federal government had backed out of three commitments to build a new school for the Attawapiskat community. Shannen and others took action and began a Students Helping Students campaign using Youtube and Facebook to share their experiences. In 2008, Shannen bravely spoke out on the steps of Parliament Hill, and she was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize in 2009 at the age of 14.
On July 27th, 2008, Shannen sent a letter to government officials, written in both Cree and English. In it, she revealed she wanted to become a lawyer, and she wrote frankly about the state of her own school: “For the last eight years, I have never been in a real school since I’ve started my education. For what inspired me was when I realized in grade in grade eight that I’ve been going to school in these portables for eight long struggling years. We put on our coats outside and battle through the seasons just to go to computers, gym, and library. I was always taught by the parents to stand up and speak out for myself. My message is to never give up. You get up, pick up your books, and keep walking in your moccasins.”

She talked about leadership and her father, Andrew Koostachin, who taught her “to look up to the Seven Grandfathers. Love, Respect, Truth, Honesty, Humility, Bravery and Wisdom.” He taught his daughter to put God first, then family, then education. “School is very important!” Shannen wrote. “This why I’m here, because children before grade 5 had already lost hope.” That statement is heartbreaking. Shannen was brave and strong to fight for what she felt was right. She stated honestly, “One, I do not like broken promises. Two, I do not like seeing my siblings going to school in washrooms. And three, I would like them to know too that I AM NOT GIVING UP.”

She wanted Minister Strahl to face the facts. “He knows that we are sick and tired walking back and forth outside in the cold winter, the cold wind, the cold rain, the hot sun. He knows that. It’s just that he doesn’t understand. If he did understood he could’ve just give us a school just like that!” Some might say the situation is far too complicated for such a simple solution, but if a government official’s child had to take classes in a run-down portable, that “new school building” promise would have been fulfilled in a hurry. Shannen also offered words of hope to fellow students, telling them not to be afraid, telling them to ignore the people who try to put them down, encouraging them speak out, think about the future, and follow their dreams. “I would tell them NEVER give up hope,” Shannen wrote. “Get up; pick up your books, and GO TO SCHOOL. But not in portables.”

Tragically, Shannen died in a car accident on May 30th, 2010, but her vision of better education is carried on through Shannen’s Dream, a student and youth-focused campaign designed to raise awareness about inequitable funding for First Nations children. Supporters are encouraged to write letters to their Member of Parliament, to the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada, and to the Prime Minister of Canada. The Caring Society is an independent national organization with a vision is to ensure that First Nations children have opportunities to grow up safely at home, be healthy, and be proud of who they are. For additional information about Shannen’s Dream, visit [fncaringsociety.ca/shannens-dream].

The One Tribe anthology contains about 200 pages of outstanding work by Canadian comic creators from Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal backgrounds. James calls it “an all-ages full-colour comic book anthology not just for kids, but suitable for readers of any age. One Tribe will contain storylines exploring a potpourri of humour, drama, slice-of-life, horror, adventure, science fiction, and fantasy with a wide variety of art styles from the mainstream superhero and cartoon approach to alternative and underground.” James says, “I’ve always felt that comic book storytelling was a great resource for both learning and teaching materials. Students of any age respond to comics enthusiastically as they bring a lot more life and excitement to what might otherwise be boring classroom lessons. Students engage more quickly with material in this format, and with short attention spans being rampant in this age of the internet that’s a win-win situation, for sure! Studies have shown, also, that most material presented as sequential art tends to enhance students’ linguistic and communicative competence.”

Contributor Richard Van Camp [www.richardvancamp.com] has written numerous novels, children’s stories, and comic book scripts; one of his books, The Lesser Blessed, was recently produced as a feature film. Chad Solomon [www.rabbitandbearpaws.com] produces the beloved series Rabbit and Bear Paws, which he has self-published in a series of graphic novels and storybooks along with an entertaining puppet show he presents at schools, libraries, and events throughout Ontario. Jay Odjick (www.jayodjick.deviantart.com) has done animation and comics, but is best known for his superhero creation Kagagi the Raven, first published as a graphic novel through Arcana Comics and now being developed into an animated series.

The collection also features the top-notch talents of Troy Little (writer/artist on Angora Napkin), Brandon Mitchell (writer on Sacred Circles), Nick Bradshaw (artist on Wolverine & The X-Men), Kevin Sylvester (writer/artist on Neil Flambé), Mark A. Nelson (classic artist on Dark Horse Comics’ Alien series), Tom Grummett and Karl Kesel (artist/writer team on Section Zero), Nik Poliwko and Martin Powell (artist/writer team on Edgar Rice Burroughs’ The War Chief), Jim Craig (artist on The Northern Light), Mike Cerkas & Larry Hancock (artist/writer team on Silent Invasion), and Rob Walton (writer/artist on Ragmop), with more to be announced in the months ahead.

Copies of the book will be sent to schools on reserves across Canada at no cost, and will also be available at libraries, comic shops, and bookstores everywhere through JLP’s worldwide distribution network. A crowd-funding Indiegogo campaign will begin on Friday, August 30th to raise funds to cover production costs and a modest page rate for the comic creators, but James says almost all of them have chosen to waive that payment and direct it to Shannen’s Dream instead. A free launch event is planned at Toronto’s top comic book shop, The Silver Snail, on Saturday September 7th. Featured artists and writers will be doing sketches and discussing their work in the anthology. Stay tuned at [www.OneTribeAnthology.ca] or find OneTribeAnthology on Facebook. For information about book sales and distribution, contact Jaak Jarve at (416-222-9445) or toll free (800-269-9206).

Film maker and actor Cowboy Smithx and photographer Blaire Russell are taking The Pensive Times Tour across North America. They are touring Canada and the United States to promote their work through presentations, speaking to other artists and groups in different cities to raise funds for Cowboy’s first feature film called Pensive Times of an Urban Tribe.

The film is about an ensemble of indigenous people living in Toronto, facing extreme adversity in their personal lives. A young art student gets them all together to write about their personal struggles; she then publishes their stories in an online blog called The Pensive Times. The site gains popularity in social media, and the group becomes the target of an obsessed homicidal fan.
Blaire Russell, from the Kainai First Nation, joined Cowboy to talk about photography and document their tour through his camera lens.

“The tour has given me a chance to network with many artists and media people across Turtle Island. It has also inspired me as an artist to pursue my dreams and talents,” says Blaire, who has also been booking photo shoots with models and artists along the way. After beginning the tour in March 2013 at the Concordia University in Edmonton Alberta, they headed south to Calgary, Kainai, Piikani and Siksika. They have travelled east to capital cities and communities in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, then to British Columbia where Cowboy directed a music video for award winning and Juno nominated musician Inez Jasper for her new track called “Dancin’ on the Run.”

They recently toured Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, the Navajo Nation, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Oklahoma, and New York.

”It’s huge for me,” says Cowboy. “I have been doing small projects for far too long. This tour has been a leap of faith into the abyss of feature filmmaking—the primary reason I got into this business in the first place. I have seen so many great projects from my peers get rejected by funders—not because they aren’t good; it’s just the arts have been getting cut so much there isn’t enough money to go around. Crowd funding gives artists another chance to bring their work to life.”
Cowboy was inspired to start this tour because the storyline of his project is about the impact of colonization on the characters: all indigenous people who have become disconnected within their lives.

”It’s important because the next few generations will be facing very serious circumstances concerning the environment, indigenous rights, protection of their territories, and the maintenance of their language and culture. Non-indigenous people in North America need to see that we are allies, not enemies. The Idle No More movement exposed the vibrant presence of racist ignorance in North America, especially in Canada. I want to create a healthy dialogue around a lot of these issues through the creation of this film,” explains Cowboy.

Cowboy and Blaire continue their journey through Indian Country and plan on ending the tour in Ontario, Canada. After the tour, Cowboy will go into production for the film Pensive Times of an Urban Tribe.

“This tour has proven to a lot of people the hope that if you set your mind to something and see the end result, good things will happen if you work hard towards them. The importance of getting yourself out there, putting in hard work, and meeting as many people as possible helps you as an artist in the long run,” says Blaire Russell.

To support the project, go to [www.fundweaver.com] and look up Pensive Times of an Urban Tribe. They have also documented the tour through video, radio, photography, and music. Look for Cowboy Smithx on YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter (@CowboySmithx), and follow Blaire Russell Photography on Facebook and Tumblr.

Indigenous hip-hop trio Gmanwolf includes 17-year-old founder/producer/rapper WolfMan (AKA Galveston Barnaby), 20-year-old rapper Waldo (AKA Dustin Isaac), and 18-year-old rapper Static Kane (AKA Brandon Wysote). Living on the Listuguj First Nation in Quebec, Gmanwolf turned to music as a constructive way of dealing with the daily challenges of life on the reservation. After honing their musical skills through constant writing and recording since 2008, the group recorded “All We Need Is Change” in 2012, which instantly resonated with their community. The positive yet realistic lyrics encourage community members to choose music and education as a healthy outlet and turn away from drugs.

Through their efforts to make a difference in their First Nation by inspiring youth to be drug-free, ambitious, and hard-working, the trio caught the attention of Canadian news network CBC, which published a feature on Gmanwolf titled “Northern Rappers Use Music To Spread Positive Message.” This national coverage immediately put them on the Revolution Harmony radar, as the group’s meaningful and hopeful lyrics were in perfect alignment with the label’s ethos. Revolution Harmony approached Gmanwolf in June 2012 and has been working behind-the-scenes with them ever since.

After their flagship track “All We Need Is Change” was chosen as the debut single, it grew into an international recording project, with live instruments performed by Stefan Loh (We Claimed Sentience Once) in Bristol, UK and vocals recorded at Gmanwolf Productions in Listuguj, Canada. Mixing/mastering was done by Rohan Onraet (Shakira, Robbie Williams, etc.) in London, UK.