Please keep checking http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=170827162936733 as details may change. This was all part of the 2nd annual Indigenous Sovereignty week in Toronto.
Schedule of Events:
Friday Nov. 26, 2010
4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
The Aboriginal City – panel discussion
University College Room 179, 15 Kings College Circle
What does it mean to work with, for and/or in the Aboriginal city? What would a decolonizing city look like? How do we get there?
Panelists:
Shane Belcourt (Director, ‘Tkaronto’), Heather Howard (University of Michigan), Evelyn Peters (University of Winnipeg), Lee Maracle (University of Toronto
Moderator: Shiri Pasternak (University of Toronto)
Light refreshments will be provided.
Sponsored by the departments of Canadian Studies and Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto.
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7:00 – 9:00 p.m.
Indigenous Law, Justice, Governance
Wilson Hall 1016, New College, University of Toronto
Speakers: Toby Decoursay, elder, Algonquins of Barriere Lake; others TBA
Aaaron Mills, (Anishnabe – Couchiching First Nation)
Moderator: Dawnis Kennedy (Anishinaabe – Roseau River)
Join us for an evening of learning about the legal, constitutional, and justice systems of Indigenous peoples. While some of these customary traditions were buried throughout periods of colonial repression, unbroken lines of knowledge continue to pass along between generations and continue to govern the social orders of communities across this land.
Sponsored by Indigenous Law Journal, University of Toronto Initiative on Indigenous Governance, Aboriginal Law Students Association, Barriere Lake Solidarity
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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27
11 – 2 p.m.
Arthur Manuel speaking on the Conservative push to privatize reserve lands, and on Canada’s endorsement of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Where: Friends House, 60 Lowther Ave.
Canada has just decided to endorse the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, after playing a role of obstruction and sabotage over recent years. What does Canada’s endorsement really mean? Learn about the international Indigenous Peoples’ movement, Canada’s role, and the road ahead.
Arthur Manuel (Secwepemc), has long been a leader in the struggle for Indigenous rights in Canada and internationally, carrying on the work of his late father George Manuel. Arthur has been involved in grassroots struggles for land rights on his people’s territory, and has supported grassroots Indigenous struggles across B.C., Canada, and internationally. He has been chief of his band and is currently a spokesperson for Defenders of the Land and the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade.
Arthur will also speak about the Canadian government’s push to privatize reserve lands.
Since the 1800s, Canada has been seeking to terminate Indigenous Peoples and extinguish their title to their lands. From the 1850s on, a favoured strategy has been the conversion of reserve lands into “fee simple” lands that can be bought and sold like other lands — including to non-Native people. This idea was most clearly put forward in the infamous White Paper of 1969, and the Buffalo Jump memo of the 1980s, a cabinet memo that described how “fee simple”, among other policy tools, would channel Indigenous Peoples to voluntary termination and extinguishment. Today, in a massive push by the Department of Indian Affairs and high-powered Conservative thinkers close to Stephen Harper — including the Fraser Institute and Harper’s mentor Tom Flanagan — the idea of fee simple is again being peddled to Indians as a panacea.
Despite the legacy of colonialism and racism surrounding the creation of reserve lands, reserve lands have served to anchor Indigenous Peoples in their traditional territories. Fee simple has only one goal — the alienation of reserve lands, the extinguishment of Aboriginal title, and the termination of Indigenous Peoples. Hear how the government is trying to roll out this policy, and how it can be stopped.
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2pm-5pm
Great Indian Bus Tour
The Native Canadian Centre
16 Spadina Road – north of Bloor
Get on the bus! A real tour of the Indigenous history of Toronto!
HOSTED BY THE TORONTO NATIVE HISTORY PROJECT
The Toronto Native History Project at The Native Canadian Centre in partnership with Indigenous Sovereignty Week is proud to present The Great Indian Bus Tour.
2:00 to 5:00 p.m. (Arrive 10 minutes early to get seated)
The Bus tour will depart from and return to The Native Canadian Centre (NCC) on Saturday Nov. 27 located at 16 Spadina ROAD, north of Bloor.
Seating must be reserved and paid in advance by contacting Tannis Nielson at the NCC 416-964-9087 ext. 326. We recommend booking and paying for your seat early to guarantee your spot. Payment must be made to Tannis no later than Thursday Nov. 25.
Ticket cost is $20 per person
Cash payment only
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=148694568510339&num_event_invites=0
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7 -10 p.m.
MUSKRAT magazine Launch & Creation Tales
Walnut Studios, 83 Walnut Avenue (near Bathurst and King)
With Special Guest Storytellers:
Come sit around the fire and listen to The Anishinabek Creation Story (inspired by Muskrat) and told by Mnijikining storyteller, Mark Douglas
Witness Creation, a Video Performance by Métis Visual Artist, Tannis Neilson
New Works showcase by:
Visual Artist Travis Shilling & Filmmaker & Photographer Keesic Douglas
The MUSKRAT is an on-line Indigenous arts, culture, and living magazine that honours the connection between humans and our traditional ecological knowledge by exhibiting original works and critical commentary. MUSKRAT embraces both rural and urban settings and uses media arts, the Internet, and wireless technology to investigate and disseminate traditional knowledges in ways that inspire their reclamation.
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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28
9:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Symposium on building new relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples, and working in solidarity, including:
–Canada’s termination policy – an overview by Roger Obonsawin (Abenaki)
–Building Indigenous unity -a workshop with Roger Obonsawin
–Learning lessons from the past and present of solidarity organizing with Ed Bianchi (KAIROS)
–Indigenous Solidarity for people of colour
–Closing debrief circle
Further details TBA
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