Indigenous Network McGill

Beans is a 2020 Canadian drama film directed by filmmaker Tracey Deer. It explores the 1990 Oka Crisis at Kanesatake, which Deer lived through as a child, through the eyes of Tekehentahkhwa, a young Kanien’kehá:ka girl whose perspective on life is radically changed by these events.

ISCEI is looking into purchasing tickets for students and faculty who are interested in seeing this film in theatres. If you are interested, please email vanessa.racine2@mcgill.ca

Please note the content warnings for the film: colonial violence, racism, images, voices and videos of the Kanesatake Resistance that may trigger reactions (emotions, memories, personal experiences). There may be words and descriptions that may be culturally sensitive and which might not normally be used in certain public or community contexts

Ardith Walkem, alumni of McGill (BA), was appointed as a judge in British Columbia’s Supreme Court in December. As an Nlaka’pamux community member, she is the first Indigenous woman to be appointed as a BC Supreme Court Justice. Walkem completed her BA at McGill University and then studied law the University of British Columbia. Walkem is also the owner and partner at Cedar and Sage Law. 

Taken from the Nanaimo News Bulletin, Chief Don Tom, UBCIC (Union of BC Indian Chiefs) vice-president said;

“Ardith is a brave and bold thinker who challenges those around her to understand the law and different legal traditions in innovative, transformative ways. Her research, work, and teaching have often focused extensively on the application and elevation of Indigenous laws, including in areas of child welfare and specific claims, and have undoubtedly changed the field.”

You can read more about her achievements and appointment here.

The Assembly of First Nations hosted an online National Youth Gathering from the Languages and Culture Sector virtually over the weekend of October 17th and 18th. This gathering, Spirit Speakers: Our Languages, Our Future, was originally scheduled for March 27th-30th 2020, however, due to health concerns stemming from COVID-19, the gathering was canceled.

The gathering’s goal was to create a collaborative discussion space for youth to share their experiences, best practices, successes, challenges, and recommendations regarding the revitalization, promotion, and maintenance of Indigenous languages.

One of the organizers of the gathering is Isabelle Zwicker, an Anishinaabe student who is currently at McGill studying Law. In the gathering itself, Zwicker helped facilitate and moderate discussions as well as making sure that the gathering ran smoothly. As well, Vanessa Racine (an Anishinaabe student at McGill and Administrative Coordinator for ISCEI) attended the conference.

Some of the concerns that participants voiced were the lack of visibility of Indigenous languages both in schools as well as in general media.

The ideas, experiences, and comments from the First Nations youth participants were compiled into a report and will be shared with the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) and other leaders in language revitalization.

Over the last couple of weeks, the Indigenous Student Alliance (ISA) raised over 600.00$ to support Joyce Echaquan‘s family. In order to raise the funds, the ISA raffled a purse (see image) made by Karahkwinetha (Sage) Goodleaf, who is a Kanienʼkehá:ka student at McGill University.

The ISA is a community-based group of Indigenous students and allies working to improve student life on campus. They provide integrative support for Indigenous peoples attending McGill University, so that we may connect and share our Indigenous ways of knowing with each other and with non-I

ndigenous peoples in the community. Their vision is to develop networks and partnerships with university student groups and organizations through learning–teaching relationships that foster real and meaningful human development and community solidarity.

Joyce was a member of Atikamekw Nation from Manawan and was supporting seven children, may she rest in power. If you would like to further support Joyce’s family, donations are still being accepted on the GoFundMe page.

Rahskwahseron:nis – Building Bridges is a recent video presented by Indigenous Access McGill and the School of Social Work, celebrating ten years of the IDFC 500 Indigenous Studies Field Course class. The course “provides an opportunity for Social Work, Law, Medicine and Anthropology students to learn about Haudenosaunee cultures and worldviews, with particular emphasis on linkages to students’ practice areas.” Watch the video here:

Incoming McGill history professor and Director of the Indigenous Studies program, Noelani Arista, was awarded the Best 2019 First Book in Native American and Indigenous Studies Prize earlier this year for her book, The Kingdom and the Republic: Sovereign Hawai’i and the Early United States (University of Pennsylvania Press). Professor Arista discusses her book in a recent article in the University of Hawai’i News:

Noted were her use of previously unused written historical records in the Hawaiian language, and her ability to contextualize Hawaiian history in “Hawaiian understandings of the past.” David Chang, of the University of Minnesota, says that with this book, Arista “transforms the way we understand Hawai’i in the crucial decades between 1820 and 1840. She upends a simplistic colonial historiography that makes American missionaries the dominant forces in the period.”

Our congratulations to Noelani – we’re looking forward to working with you at McGill!

This week, Anishinaabe professor Aaron Mills was featured in the ‘Teaching for Learning McGill’ blog. He shared the core pedagogical practices of his class (Indigenous Constitutionalism, LAWG 508) that he “designed to introduce students to some foundations for understanding Anishinaabe law in particular.” This includes teaching, learning, and contributing in circle, a practice he became knowledgeable about through his grandmother, in his community, Couchiching First Nation.

Thank you, Aaron, for sharing your experience and knowledge with the McGill community. We wish you well in your online teaching this semester!