Canadian Canoe Museum Board of Director Appointed the Order of Canada

Victoria Grant of the Canadian Canoe Museum’s Chair of the Board of Directors has received the highest honour of Canada as she was appointed the Order of Canada by Gov. Gen. Mary Simon on Thursday.

Grant is a member of the Teme-Augama Anishinabai Kwe, Loon Clan. Photo courtesy of the Canadian Canoe Museum.

Grant received the honour for her work on bridging the gap between Indigenous, non-Indigenous culture, business and communities through her facilitation and mediation.

She became involved with the Canadian Canoe Museum through the National Council in 2017. She joined the board in 2018 and became the Chair of the Board of Directors in 2020.

“I cannot think of anyone who deserves this high recognition as much as Victoria,” said Carolyn Hyslop, the Canadian Canoe Museum’s Executive Director. “Her contribution to this country has been immeasurable. The museum is so proud and fortunate to have her leadership and knowledge. She has been such a valuable asset to us, especially during those turbulent pandemic times, as we continued to forge ahead with our plans to create our new home in the community.”

Grant co-founded the Temagami Community Foundation in 2000. She helped create the Indigenous Peoples Resilience Fund. Both foundations have raised and disbursed millions of dollars through resiliency grants.

The newly appointed recipient has served on numerous boards including being a member of the Ontario Trillium Foundation, Vice-Chair of the Ontario Health Quality Council, Chair of the Circle on Philanthropy and Aboriginal Peoples in Canada, Director of the Counselling Foundation of Canada and a member of the Advisory Committee of the Governor General’s Caring Canadian Award.  

Created in 1967, the Order of Canada is one of our country’s highest civilian honours, recognizing outstanding achievement and dedication to the community and service to the nation.

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$1 Million Estate Gift Supports Indigenous Graduate Student Scholarship at Trent University

A generous $1 million estate gift from philanthropist Bill Reid will provide opportunities for Indigenous graduate student scholarship at Trent University.

Photo courtesy of Trent University.

This is the largest gift of its kind in the University’s history.

The gift will help endow the William B. Reid Scholarship, first established at Trent in 2016, providing more than $30,000 in annual funding to support Indigenous graduate students at Trent.

The scholarship will fund research expenses of Trent graduate students in Canada or abroad, hands-on training opportunities related to the thesis or major research project, and opportunities to engage with specialists in the field, through attending international conferences

“After the recent inaugural Truth and Reconciliation Day, more and more Canadians are asking themselves how they can best support Indigenous peoples,” said Sherry Booth associate vice president of Philanthropy and Alumni Engagement at Trent. “Bill was a passionate individual who listened to Indigenous people’s stories, wanted to make a difference, and created a fund that encourages many young Indigenous students in their pursuit of higher education so that they, in turn, can better support their communities.”

Trent’s Indigenous Studies Ph.D. program is a first-of-its-kind in Canada, and offers students an opportunity to engage in advanced learning experiences grounded in Indigenous cultures and reflecting on the interaction between traditional and contemporary Indigenous knowledges. The University’s deep roots in reconciliation date back more than 50 years.

Reid became involved in Indigenous issues through reading, personal friendships with Indigenous people, and a hobby of collecting and restoring Indigenous beadwork, says his long-time partner, Bob Seabourn. Before his death in 2019, he donated nearly 400 pieces of beadwork to the Art Gallery of Guelph.

Reid was a long-time supporter of Trent with a legacy of giving over more than 20 years.

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The Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival is Accepting Applications for Next Year's Event

Applications are now being accepted by Indigenous artists in all genres to perform in the Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival (NIFF).

File Photo.

NIFF is an unjuried, uncensored festival for independent indigenous performers.

Unlike the fringe movement, NIFF focuses specifically on local and regional Indigenous artists, mentorship, collaborative learning, knowledge sharing and skill development.

Performers are chosen by lottery and receive 100% of the box office proceeds.

The deadline to apply is Dec. 17.

Artists are chosen in January and selected artists perform at Trent University from June 21-26, 2022.

For more information on the Nogojiwanong Indigenous Fringe Festival, click here.

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Trent University Honours Local Michi Saagiig on National Truth and Reconciliation Day

To mark the inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Trent University unveiled new installations paying tribute to the Michi Saagiig Anishnaabeg, on Thursday.

Treaty Rock unveiling on Thursday. Photo courtesy of Trent University.

The tribute highlights the importance of the original treaties pertaining to the land upon which the two campuses are built and honouring the original signatories of the Michi Saagiig Anishnaabeg.

“For more than 50 years, Trent has been committed to providing education in Indigenous history, traditions, cultures, and Indigenous knowledges for students and the broader community,” said Julie Davis, Trent University vice-president of External Relations and Development. “As we honour Truth and Reconciliation Day, recognizing the local treaties and the Michi Saagiig people is foundational.”

On the Peterborough campus outside of Bata Library, the University unveiled three limestone boulders bearing the symbols of the dodem (clan totems) carvings of the Treaty 20 Michi Saagiig signatories as well as a statement identifying the Symons Campus lands as being situated on Michi Saagiig traditional territory.

At Trent University Durham GTA, a new Treaty Wall has been installed in the front atrium of the campus featuring original signatory documents and a pre-confederation treaty map.

“Curve Lake First Nation and Trent University have a gold-standard relationship,” said Chief Emily Whetung of Curve Lake First Nation. “Trent University prioritizes hearing the teachings of our Elders and Traditional Knowledge Keepers and ensuring the teachings are respected. We are very pleased to see these installations, developed in a true partnership, come to life. The meaningful acknowledgment of our ancestral lands and the treaty in which Trent University is situated will raise awareness in all who pass through Trent University.”

The University has created a new webpage to advance the goals of education, reflection and action, and is sharing ways our communities can engage meaningfully in reconciliation and honour the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The webpage highlights important resources like the 94 Calls to Action, testimonies of residential school survivors and a list of local Indigenous businesses.

“Here at Trent, on this very important day, as we come together to remember and honour all those who were forced into the Indian residential schools, we are committing ourselves as an institution to engage in the process of reconciliation,” said Dr. Dawn Lavell-Harvard, Trent University director of the First Peoples House of Learning, on Thursday. “As a small but important first step we must acknowledge the truth of our shared history and these installations were designed to educate all those who study, work, or visit our campuses. We give these places of honour to the Michi Saagiig Anishnaabeg, the original signatories of Treaty 20 and Williams Treaty, as a sign of respect and our commitment to do better and to work together in true partnership as the original treaties intended.”

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City Bus Wrapped In Orange In Smudging Ceremony For National Day of Truth And Reconciliation

A city bus is on board for the “Every Child Matters” movement as it was wrapped in orange during a smudging ceremony to raise awareness of residential schools and encourage Indigenous reconciliation on Thursday.

Crystal Scrimshaw (pictured) was one of three people that brought the idea of the bus design to council. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

City council quickly approved the motion on Monday to have the bus covered in orange and the “Every Child Matters” wrap on it. The idea was brought forth by Crystal Scrimshaw, Kelli Marshal and Pam Goldsworthy.

Curve Lake Chief Emily Whetung, Mayor Diane Therrien, Coun. Stephen Wright and several other Indigenous supporters and representatives were in attendance.

“The most important thing is raising awareness and making sure the people know the true history of Canada so that they can learn and know what happened and make a choice to make it better,” said Chief Whetung.

“The circumstances behind it are obviously tragic but I think this is a beautiful artistic way to honour those children and to raise awareness about the fact that there’s going to be more children found,” said Therrien. “Hopefully it will educate Canadians more about the reality of residential schools and intergenerational trauma and impact its had on families.”

The bus circuited from town hall, down George Street and circled back around Water Street as a ceremonial lap. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The smudging ceremony was performed by Whetung’s father, Lorenzo Whetung. He purified the bus by waving burnt sage in an abalone shell with a feather.

The shell with the sage symbolizes a woman carrying life similar to the bus carrying and protecting people Lorenzo tells PTBOCanada.

(left to right) Coun. Stephen WriGht, Chief Emily Whetung, Mayor Diane Therrien, Crystal Scrimshaw and Pam Goldsworthy after the bus was cleansed from the smudging ceremony. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The orange wrap will remain on the bus for at least six months and then will be reevaluated for normal wear and tear after the winter.

“I think every time people are going to see this bus and that’s how you start learning and that’s what’s going to drive conversation,” explained Chief Whetung. “That’s what’s going to drive change.”

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Mayor Diane Therrien Issues Statement Regarding National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

With Canada celebrating National Day for Truth and Reconciliation for the first time following the discovery of buried childrens’ bodies at residential schools earlier this year, Mayor Diane Therrien has issued a statement regarding the day’s observance in its inaugural year.

File Photo.

This year the Federal Government announced September 30th to be National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The last several years saw September 30th become “Orange Shirt Day”, so named based on the experience of residential school survivor Phyllis (Jack) Webstad. Upon her arrival at the Mission School, she was stripped of her orange shirt and made to wear a uniform.

Orange Shirt Day became a national movement, a day to remember and reflect on the horrific treatment of Indigenous children at residential schools across Canada.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Reports consolidated the experiences of survivors and included 94 Calls to Action, covering a range of topics, and includes an entire section on “Missing Children and Burial Information”.

The staggering death rates of Indigenous children at residential schools, and the callous disregard for their bodies has been known in Indigenous communities for generations. Parents were often given no information about why their children didn’t return home.

With the discovery of 215 children’s bodies in unmarked graves at the former Kamloops Residential School, the reality of Canada’s horrific past became a national discussion.

Additional bodies have been found since May and will continue to be found as communities conduct ground penetrating radar searches to find their children and bring them home.

It is incumbent upon all of us to contribute to the truth, reconciliation, and healing process. There are numerous resources online to help you understand the true history of this country. As has often been said, we cannot have reconciliation without first having truth. It will be uncomfortable. Imagine how uncomfortable it was for the children taken from their families, their home, their lands, and forced to assimilate to Euro-Christian ways of living.

Imagine it was your children, your grandchildren, your nieces, and nephews. Taken by force (parents who fought to keep their children were arrested or threatened with arrest by the RCMP), to institutions that were designed to strip them of their language, culture, and ties to land and family.

John A Macdonald said “that Indian children should be withdrawn as much as possible from the parental influence, and the only way to do that would be to put them in central training industrial schools where they will acquire the habits and modes of thought of white men”. Imagine that happening to your family.

Read, at the very least, the Executive Summary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the 94 Calls to Action.

Read the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Read the Ipperwash Inquiry.

Read the Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.

Support Indigenous people and communities. Not just on September 30th, but year-round. Attend events organized by Indigenous communities and organizations.

You are on Treaty Land. That comes with rights and responsibilities on both sides. Learn about the Williams Treaty (or the Treaty that covers the area you live). Do as much research as you can. Follow Indigenous scholars, artists, lawyers, activists on social media. Read their posts. Donate to them and Indigenous organizations if you can.

The City of Peterborough has raised the Every Child Matters flag alongside the City flag, which has been at half mast since the discovery of the first 215 children. The City commits to Call to Action #57, “to provide education to our public servants on the history of Aboriginal peoples, including the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties, and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal-Crown relations [through] skills-based training in intercultural competency, conflict resolution, human rights, and anti-racism.”

The City, and I as Mayor, will continue to work with partners at Curve Lake First Nation, Hiawatha First Nation, Nogojiwanong Friendship Centre, and the urban Indigenous communities to chart a good path forward. We will remember these children, their families, and their communities, and we will honour them.

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Peterborough Museum Exhibit Highlights Inuit Role in Search for the Franklin Exhibition

A new exhibit, The Ones We Met – Inuit Traditional Knowledge and the Franklin Expedition, will occupy the Peterborough Museum & Archives for three months announced on Monday.

Photo courtesy of the City of Peterborough.

The exhibition features photographs, illustrations and an animated map of routes charted by Europeans looking for a Northwest Passage in the 350 years before Franklin’s expedition.

The Franklin Expedition was a voyage of Arctic exploration led by Captain Sir John Franklin that departed from England in 1845 aboard two ships, the HMS Erebus and HMS Terror.

Visitors can hear stories of Inuit encounters with Franklin and his men and of Martin Frobisher’s voyages to Baffin Island in the 1570s.

The expedition ended in disaster after both ships and their crews, a total of 128 officers and men, became icebound in what is now Nunavut.

“This exhibit is a great opportunity for visitors to learn about an important perspective surrounding the account of the Franklin Expedition. From the time HMS Erebus and Terror got trapped in the icy north, Inuit have been a part of the story. When that chapter came to a close, they continued to share their experience to younger generations, of the crewmen they met, and of ships stuck in ice,” said Dustin McIlwain, Peterborough Museum and Archives Community Engagement Coordinator.

Presented in Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, English and French — the four official languages of Nunavut — the travelling exhibition will be on display at the Peterborough Museum & Archives from Sept. 18 to Dec. 5.

“This tradition of sharing oral histories was a key component to the discovery of these wrecks. To this day, the Inuit continue their key role in sharing this story, as well as the preservation of this historical site. The narrative will continue to evolve with time, as we embrace the concept of storytelling as a way to keep our history alive,” said McIlwain.

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New Canadian Canoe Museum to Feature Languages and Voices from Indigenous Communities

Visitors to the new Canadian Canoe Museum (CCM) will see and hear languages and voices from Indigenous communities the moment they step into the museum.

Kokomis Tchiman, a 26-foot long birchbark canoe built by Marcel Labelle, Métis elder and canoe-builder from the Mattawa Ontario region, sits on display in the Canadian Canoe Museum’s collection storage centre. Photo by Fusionriver Photography.

The new home for the CCM, set to break ground this fall and open in 2023, will feature a 17,000 square foot exhibition gallery that will share the history and enduring relevance of the canoe and kayak.

With a significant gift of $500,000 over five years from TD the Museum will work directly with individuals in eight Indigenous communities. The funding also enables the CCM to hire an emerging Indigenous museum professional.

These actions will help ensure that knowledges, perspectives and voices from Indigenous communities are directly represented in the exhibitions and educational programming.

“The CCM has a deep commitment to collaborative relations with the Indigenous communities of origin across Turtle Island (Canada) for the watercraft in the Museum’s collection,” said curator Jeremy Ward.

Building outwards from relations with Curve Lake, Hiawatha, Alderville and Scugog ­– local Michi Saagig First Nations on whose territory the CCM resides ­– the Museum will work with Inuit communities in northern Labrador and Nunavik, Mi’kmaq in the east and the Haida Gwaii Museum in the west.

In each community, the Museum’s team will gather knowledge about canoes and kayaks, their roles in resource harvesting, changes caused by settlement, and the resurgence of Indigenous watercraft-making and use as part of community healing.

“All work supports languages from Indigenous communities, whether by recording vocabulary about canoes in Anishnaabemowin, interviews conducted by fluent Haida speakers with language learners, or translating conversations from Michif or Inuktitut, ensuring Indigenous People can speak their truths in their own language and voice,” said Ward.

The Michi Saagig dialect of Anishnaabemowin will be used throughout the Museum and within its exhibits alongside English and French, and other languages from Indigenous communities will feature in relation to specific watercraft.

Funding for the CCM’s Indigenous Languages Program marks the largest investment made to date by TD Bank Group through TD Ready Commitment program in the Peterborough region.

For more information about the new museum or the CCM’s collaborative relations work with Indigenous communities visit canoemuseum.ca/collaborative-relations.

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Fleming Congratulates Students That Completed their Indigenous Perspectives Designation

Fleming College along with members of the Indigenous community hosted a special event to recognize students who completed an Indigenous Perspectives Designation (IPD) on July 9.

Aerial shot of Fleming Sutherland Campus. Photo Courtesy of Fleming College.

The IPD gives students the chance to learn about Indigenous perspectives, peoples, cultures, histories, traditions and contributions to our shared society. To graduate with an IPD it is required that they take discipline-specific Indigenous curriculum in each semester, beyond what is already required in the two mandatory Indigenous Studies courses, as well as experiential Indigenous activities.

“Very proud of the IPD graduates and faculty who work hard each year to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and pedagogy into their learning,” said Elizabeteh Stone, Academic Chair for Indigenous Studies at Fleming. “This is reconcili-action! As described by the Downie Wenjack Foundation: ‘A ReconciliACTION is a meaningful action that moves reconciliation forward. ReconciliACTIONs aim to bring Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together in the spirit of reconciliation to create awareness, share and learn.’ Nishin Graduates.”

The IPD is available to students enrolled in certain programs. For more information click here.

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Local Peterborough Businesses Donate Canada Day Sales For Indigenous Issues

Peterborough businesses have donated proceeds during Canada Day and the following weekend in support of Indigenous causes.

Mohawk children cheering for Team Haudenosaunee at the 2019 World U19 Women's Field Lacrosse Championships at Justin Chiu Stadium at Trent University in Peterborough. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

The Planet, Silver Bean Café, KitCoffee, The Night Kitchen, Le Petit Bar and St. Veronus were participating restaurants that have donated a portion of their earnings made on Canada Day or the following weekend.

The inspiration came after the trending hashtag #CancelCanadaDay surfaced as a part of truth and reconciliation for Indigenous people. Community members would not celebrate the country’s anniversary and reflected Canada’s involvement of Residental Schools’ treatment towards Indigenous people until the 1980’s.

The Planet and Silver Bean Café have donated 25 per cent of their Canada Day proceeds to Legacy of Hope Foundation; an Indigenous charity to educate and create awareness and understanding about the Residental School System according to their website.

“The recent news of more mass graves being discovered at residential schools is so upsetting,” said The Planet on a Facebook post. “We can't change the past but we can work towards a better future.”

Mohawk children ran across the stands flying the Six Nations flag after every Team Haudenosaunee goal. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

KitCoffee is donating all its Canada Day profits to the Indian Residential School Survivor Society (IRSSS); an organization that provides services to Indian Residental School Survivors.

Le Petit Bar and St. Veronus are donating 15 percent of all their weekend sales towards IRSSS. In addition to them, The Night Kitchen donated all their Tuesday proceeds to Mnoominkewin festival held in Curve Lake during the month of September.

Donations to Legacy of Hope Foundation and IRSSS can be made on their official websites.

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