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Writer's pictureThe WASM Blog

Honouring Indigenous Peoples

Music:


Tara-Louise Montour, Vanier College Music Graduate: North America’s foremost Aboriginal classical violinist, Mohawk roots, classical style. Violinist Tara-Louise Montour arrived at the restaurant just after noon. She'd already done three media interviews and she had about an hour for lunch before she had to be at the CBC television studios nearby. After that it was more media and then rehearsals in preparation for her guest appearance with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra on March 13.



Tara-Louise Montour was interviewed by Nantali Indongo on CBC's The Bridge. Link to come when available.

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Angel Baribeau has been song writing for as long as they can remember and credits their family for the influence. From the Cree Nation of Mistissini in northern Quebec, Baribeau said there was always music in the house growing up.


Singer-songwriter Angel Baribeau released a new EP this past year and is part of an online concert this coming week for Indigenous History Month. Baribeau grew up in the Cree community of Mistissini in Eeyou Istchee and that’s where the queer non-binary youth got their start as a recording artist, when the traveling studio and music mentorship program, N'we Jinan, helped them find their voice. Now they’re helping other youth do the same.


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More performances by very talented indigenous musicians:

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Film and Photography:


How One Man Used Photography to Give Back to His Navajo Community

Photographer Mylo Fowler was raised in a small home on the Navajo Reservation of Northern Arizona. In the latest film from director Chris Burkard, Fowler describes his upbringing as “growing up in a 600 square foot home with a 30 square mile backyard.”

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Through telling the story of renowned Innu poet Joséphine Bacon with her documentary Call Me Human (Je m’appelle humain in the original French), Abenaki filmmaker Kim O’Bomsawin is actually telling a very personal story to her. That’s not just because she adores Bacon and her work, an affection we instantly share as soon as we meet Bacon in the film. It’s because, like Bacon, O’Bomsawin’s sense of identity is split between two places: Montreal, where she lives, and her home territory. While Bacon was divorced from her land, her language, and her family because she spent fourteen years in a residential school, O’Bomsawin shares similar intergenerational scars because, as a Residential School Survivor, her grandfather never shared his culture with her, including the language. (Seventh Row.

Joséphine Bacon (right) and a friend in Call Me Human (Je m’appelle humain), directed by Kim O’Bomsawin.

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Inspired by Chanie’s story and Gord’s call to build a better Canada, the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund aims to build cultural understanding and create a path toward reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Our goal is to improve the lives of Indigenous people by building awareness, education, and connections between all Canadians.


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Science:


We're accustomed to the Greek and Roman constellations, but Canada's Indigenous Peoples have a rich history of sky stories, and we can all learn a lot from them. Indigenous constellations; part-science, part-art, all-important.

Star maps from Dakota/Lakota and Ininew/Cree First Nations. Credit: Annette S. Lee, William P. Wilson, Carl Gawboy, © 2012, Annette S. Lee & Jim Rock © 2012, and Annette Lee, William Wilson


There are certainly many ways to learn and experience the arts and sciences that comprise Indigenous sky stories. Ayayqwayaksheelth, and the ROM Learning Department, directed us to the knowledgeable and engaging Wilfred Buck. Buck has live virtual events, but his stories are also accessible on YouTube.


There are also books that share the sky stories of a particular Indigenous group. For example, this Ojibwe Sky Star Map.

Overall, Canada is lucky to be composed of rich cultural and biological diversity. Indigenous star stories teach us about Canada's heritage and suggest ways to connnect with our environment to move into a stronger future.

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