EDMONTON —The University of Alberta community celebrates the heritage and contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples all year round. June is National Indigenous History Month and National Indigenous Peoples Day is June 21. Here is how the university is marking the month:
Events:
Celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Day with the Faculty of Native Studies
Tuesday, June 20, from noon - 4:30 p.m., Main Quad in front of Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science (CCIS)
The event features a Métis fiddler, First Nations drummers and hoop dancers, Cree language puppet show, Indigenous drag queens, and food.
Unearthing Métis footprint in St. Albert
Until June 23 on historic river lot land in St. Albert
U of A archaeology students are getting hands-on experience with ground penetrating radar, drone surveys and excavation methods as they unearth Métis history in St. Albert. Field School is led by the Institute of Prairie and Indigenous Archaeology’s director Dr. Kisha Supernant. It is offered through the Department of Anthropology in collaboration with the Arts and Heritage Foundation of St. Albert and the Métis Nation of Alberta. Dr. Supernant and students can share what has been discovered at the site and what it tells us about Métis history.
Highlighting some of the U of A’s outstanding Indigenous scholars and students:
Professors Tamara Pearl and Hadley Friedland in the Faculty of Law are part of a team receiving $700,000 in federal research funding for a project to address gender-based violence against Indigenous women, girls, trans and two-spirit+ (WGT2S+) persons and access to justice. The researchers, in partnership with Standing Together, a grassroots community organization based in Edmonton will work to establish a model of Indigenous legal lodges, described by Friedland as “safer spaces where people with lived experiences of colonial gendered violence can collectively draw on their own wisdom and experiences, as well as Indigenous legal resources, to identify pathways toward greater safety, justice and healing.” The funding is through the Social Sciences and the Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and Women and Gender Equality Canada’s Gender-Based Violence Research Initiative.
Ruth DyckFehderau, an adjunct professor in the Department of English and Film Studies, compiled 19 stories from James Bay Cree storytellers in northern Quebec about recovery from trauma in residential schools, in the homes when children were taken, and in the communities after survivors returned home. The book E nâtamukw miyeyimuwin: Residential School Recovery Stories of the James Bay Cree was commissioned and published by the Cree Board of Health and Social Services of James Bay. DyckFehderau and some of the James Bay Cree storytellers are available for interviews.
Within the last month, Dene and Métis doctoral student and poet Matthew James Weigel won national, provincial and local literary awards for Whitemud Walking. The collection of poetry, photos and archival documents explores his place in Edmonton’s colonial history and tells “stories that tend to get very easily erased.” The structure of Whitemud Walking is based on his 20-minute walk from the U of A’s North Campus to his apartment in Old Strathcona.
In Indigenous communities, Aunties are not only teachers and mentors but also the heart and laughter of a nation. The Auntie Is In podcast, presented by Dr. Paulina Johnson, an assistant professor of Sociology, uses the Auntie mentality to address misconceptions and stereotypes about Indigenous peoples and their culture, and examines the vibrancy of Indigenous Nations and, importantly, her home Nehiyawak community of Samson Cree Nation.
The new season of the Presenting Our Presence (POP) vodcast is online and updated with each full moon. POP amplifies the voices and visibility of Indigenous knowledge holders at the U of A. Its Indigenous-led protocols and ethics center knowledge holders' sovereignty as stewards of their own stories. The June episode features political scientist Dr. Matthew Wildcat addressing the role of Indigenous knowledge, leadership and relationships in Indigenous education.
Several continuing education courses are available in July through the Faculty of Native Studies:
The Tackling Structural Racism micro-course presents ways to recognize and tackle issues related to structural racism in Canada. It begins on July 5.
Indigenous Peoples and Canada, a condensed version of the popular 12-lesson Massive Open Online Course Indigenous Canada, examines the experiences of Indigenous peoples to understand the legacy of settler colonialism. It begins on July 12.
For more information or to speak with any of the experts above, please contact: Sarah Vernon | University of Alberta communications associate | svernon@ualberta.ca