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"New totem pole is raised in honor of slain carver John T. Williams"

Guiding Question:  What was the cause AND effect of the unlawful shooting of woodcarver, John T Williams, by officer Ian Birk of the Seattle Police Force?

Taken from a 2016 edition of The Seattle Times, this article highlights the reaction of the community to the unlawful shooting of woodcarver, John T. Williams.

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The downtown Seattle intersection where John T. Williams was killed by a Seattle police officer in 2010 is now adorned with paintings of white deer to honor the memory of the First Nations woodcarver.

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Seattle officials and members of John T. Williams' family unveiled a crosswalk painted with white deer Sunday to honor the memory of the First Nations woodcarver who was fatally shot by a police officer six years ago.

The crosswalk, at Boren Avenue and Howell Street, will honor the memory of Williams and underscore the healing relations between police and communities of color, organizers of the ceremony said.

Williams, 50, a member of the Nuu-chah-nulth First Nations in British Columbia, was shot and killed by Seattle police Officer Ian Birk in August 2010 after Birk spotted Williams carrying a knife while crossing Howell. Williams used the knife for carving, his family later said.

An investigation revealed that about four seconds elapsed between the time Birk first ordered Williams to drop the knife and when the officer opened fire.

The Police Department's Firearms Review Board found the shooting was not justified, but Birk was not criminally charged. He later resigned from the Seattle Police Department.

The incident was one of several that prompted a 2011 Department of Justice investigation that found Seattle Police had engaged in a "pattern and practice" of excessive force, and uncovered troubling evidence of biased policing.

During Sunday's ceremony, representatives from Seattle Police and the city's Department of Neighborhoods joined members of the Seattle Indian Health Board and the John T. Williams Organizing Committee in a dedication ceremony near the crosswalk.

At one point, Williams' brother Rick Williams invited Detective Denise "Cookie" Bouldin into the circle. She responded to the gesture by kissing his hand.

Bouldin, who works in special projects, including community outreach, said it was an emotional moment for her. "It meant a lot," she said. "He doesn't show any ill will toward all the police force for what one police officer had done."

Members of the organizing committee are pushing to change a state law that makes it difficult to criminally charge police for questionable uses of deadly force. The law was the subject of a Seattle Times special project, "Shielded by the Law," which found Washington has the most restrictive statute in the nation.

John T. Williams committee members are gathering signatures to put Initiative 873 on the ballot next year.

Mayor Ed Murray, speaking at Sunday's ceremony, noted the nation's heightened awareness of police shootings in communities of color. Several officer-involved shootings, especially those of black men, have caused outrage and protests throughout the U.S.

"We know that what happened just the last few months in this country, we have to find a way to heal," Murray said, referring to changes within the Police Department after the Department of Justice investigation. "We need to acknowledge that we are making progress. We have a long way to go, but we are making progress."

Organizers read the story of the White Deer, the inspiration for the deer painted on the crosswalk. The Nuu-Chah-Nulth story emphasizes walking through life peacefully and the ritual of repeating acts time and again to fully learn them.

Seattle police Capt. John F. Hayes Jr. said it was important for the department to be at the ceremony.

"In order to grow and make it so that we build bridges and we're able to hold hands in time of tragedy, it starts long before a tragedy happens," he said. "It's important that we're all here."

Rick Williams said he has seen some positive changes in the Police Department and hopes to see more as groups continue working peacefully together.

Speaking after Sunday's ceremony, he recalled he frequently found himself fixing things for his little brother while he was alive, and indicated he needed to do something after his death.

"I fixed everything for him all my life but this," he said, adding, "He left me quite a big one to fix."

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Seattle crosswalk dedicated to memory of woodcarver killed by police in 2010

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The downtown Seattle intersection where John T. Williams was killed by a Seattle police officer in 2010 is now adorned with paintings of white deer to honor the memory of the First Nations woodcarver. Share story Seattle officials and members of John T.

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"How Chanie Wenjack chose Jospeh Boyden",  by Joseph Boyden
Guiding Question:   Boyden refers to Canada as a haunted house.   Explain the efforts of artists such as Boyden, Jeff Lemire, and Gord Downie to "exorcise demons" so we don't have to live in a haunted house any more.
From Maclean's magazine, an article written by Boyden himself that describes and explains the artistic explosion surrounding last year's  50th anniversary of Chanie Wenjack's death.

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The story has all the hallmarks of great tragedy: an innocent boy lost in the vast wilds of northern Ontario in late October. He's desperately trying to make his way home as the weather begins its brutal turn. Underdressed for these harsh wilds and with nothing but a few matches in his pocket, he's starved and shivering. He's driven by the simple desire to be back home with his parents and sisters and two beloved dogs. But what's most frightening is that the boy is pursued by a dark and sick menace even as his illness-wracked body begins to weaken. What this poor child doesn't understand as he limps along a lonely stretch of railroad tracks, night falling and a hard sleet pelting his wretched form, is that home is an impossible 600 km away.

What makes this story even more tragic is that it's true. The boy's name was Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old Ojibwe boy who was found dead beside that lonely stretch of railroad tracks 50 years ago, on Oct. 22, 1966. He'd run away from Cecelia Jeffreys Industrial Indian School a number of days before, on Oct. 16, a Sunday, with two friends who were brothers. None of them had planned this escape on that unseasonably warm autumn afternoon, scrambling over a chain link fence and then following a secret path so many of the schoolchildren had used before to skirt around the town of Kenora and into the bush in their attempts to just get home. All to this point had returned voluntarily or had been caught, but Chanie and the two brothers were especially driven.

A few years ago now, Mike Downie, the brother of the Tragically Hip's singer Gord Downie, found an article written in this very magazine way back in 1967; he introduced it to Gord, and then Gord to me. The author, Ian Adams, deftly recounts Chanie's escape and sad demise, as well as the ensuing public inquiry into his death, the first that I am aware of in Canada in regards to these schools. The all-white jury came to a number of conclusions, including this: "The Indian education system causes tremendous emotional and adjustment problems." The jury also requested that "a study be made of the present Indian education and philosophy," asking, simply, "Is it right?" I'm not sure who in provincial or federal government ever read any of these findings. I assume it didn't make its way up many chains of command at all. It took 30 years after Chanie's death for the last residential school in this country to close its doors, in 1996.

MORE: Read the story that inspired it all

I don't want to assume much on Gord's behalf, but I think it's safe to say that the image of this little boy just trying to get home haunted him as much as it did me. Mike and Gord and I bandied about a few ideas for a short time, a possible collaboration of some kind-maybe a small book followed by a film-but ultimately we ended up going into our own creative corners to work individually, keeping each other abreast of what we were doing. It was Gord who was first struck by the idea of creating something that could be released on the 50th anniversary of Chanie's passing. Gord, along with powerhouse musicians Kevin Drew, Kevin Hearn and others went into the studio and created Secret Path, a sparse and gorgeous 10-song record encompassing poems Gord had written about Chanie. Gord then asked the acclaimed graphic novelist and artist Jeff Lemire to create a book in images, telling the story on the page that acts as a beautiful new dimension while listening to the record.

In my own corner, I'd been working on a novel called Seven Matches I hoped to finish in time for an October 2016 release date. I got so close, but realized that if I pushed too hard and too fast it wasn't going to work. Once you put a novel into the world, you can't just clear your throat and excuse yourself and ask for it back so you can make it better. After months of rushing to try and finish it, with nights of lost sleep and worrying my fingernails to the quick as my deadline approached, my brilliant friend and publisher, Nicole Winstanley at Penguin, sat down with me and gently urged me to take a breath and a step back. She knows me well. She could feel my stress.

She understood the conundrum: not only were Gord and artistic company putting out Secret Path in the coming October, but I had asked a few amazing Indigenous friends if they'd create their own pieces as well. The Metis filmmaker Terril Calder was hard at work on her haunting stop motion film called Keewaydeh, and the DJ collective and genius music makers A Tribe Called Red had also come on board and included some spoken word tracks on their album We Are The Halluci Nation, dedicated to the young boy. And here I was, lamely about to tell everyone that I just couldn't get that novel done in time.

The idea of a number of artists of different backgrounds releasing their works into the world on the 50th anniversary of that boy's passing, was too important to give up on.

We'd all agreed to release our creations unannounced near Chanie's anniversary, maybe create a ripple effect as we got most Canadians to hear his name from many different quarters and for the first time, a name so familiar and yet so foreign on an English tongue. Wenjack? Wenjack. What does it mean? Who is he? All involved and toiling on our projects want Canadians to feel our gathered breath as each of us, in our own small way, try to breathe back life into a child who died so unnecessarily, so tragically, and almost, almost forgotten.

Nicole suggested I write a long story, a novella, in commemoration instead. Nicole's never steered me wrong. And the act of being channeled by the boy named Chanie Wenjack and by the manitous, the spirits of the forest who follow him and comment upon his plight, made me fall back in love with the act of writing again.

But why this particular boy? Why did we all choose to make Chanie Wenjack our focus when the brutal fact of the matter is that we had literally thousands of Indigenous children who also perished in residential schools we might have morbidly considered? I'm being asked this a lot this last week or so. I can only answer this question for myself. All I can say is this: I believe that Chanie Wenjack chose me, and not me him. Only a single photo of Chanie exists, a photo that his sister Pearl was kind enough and tough enough and giving enough to share. A sepia-toned and worn print of a young Ojibwe boy with black, tussled hair, the boy leaning slightly on a pine wall outside somewhere north, with one skinny leg crossed over the other all casual, his rubber boots too big for him and his hands held together in the slight grip we all sometimes do that betrays a bit of nervousness, possibly, at being photographed. But what's most striking in the photo is his face. Sweetness is the word that comes to me when I stare at it. His eyes are slightly narrowed and his round cheeks highlight a smile that tells you everything you need to know. He's good. He's kind. He's shy. He's going to be something great one day. He already is, and I can just bet that he makes every one of his family feel a tinge of warmth, of happiness, when he walks into a room. Chanie's smile chose me. It dared me to try and decipher him. Chanie Wenjack's cruel and unnecessary death 50 years ago, I realize, isn't a story of innocence lost. It is Canada's story of innocence violently taken.

MORE: Chanie Wenjack wasn't the only runaway. Read the stories of two more boys.

Why Chanie Wenjack, you might still ask? Because Canada is a haunted house. A really smart man I know named Stephen Marche dropped that line on me one day awhile back. It felt like he'd pulled the pin from a grenade and casually dropped it in my lap. Canada is a haunted house. He didn't explain anything else or ask me for anything in return, just said this and left it for me to either defuse or let explode. I've been thinking about this a lot the last while.

Another friend, the Kwagiulth artist Carey Newman, challenged me further to explore this. This is what I feel: we Canadians have a lot of bones in our basements. Secrets in our attics. Stains on our bedsheets that we've carelessly flung into the hamper and left to fester. The sepia glimpse of a sullen Cree child's face at her school desk when we walk our own kid to school on a brilliant autumn morning. The flash of an Inuit boy dead by his own hand forcing us to close our closet door too fast. The weeping of a young Sto:lo girl left raped and bleeding by her teacher chasing us up from our darkened laundry room.

Maybe the statement needs to become a question: do we want to live in a haunted house for the rest of our lives?

The time for a national reckoning has arrived. The original peoples of Canada have suffered through a multi-generational cultural genocide. We have experienced genocide as if it's a tsunami in slow motion. We have witnessed a brutal tide rise up for seven generations, destroying homes, swallowing families, drowning our children.

But the Indigenous people of our country are nothing if not resilient. And patient. And tough. This tsunami has reached its high-water mark. It finally recedes. It is up to all of those who are brave enough, resourceful enough, kind enough, tough enough; it is up to the artists, but also the construction workers and doctors and cab drivers and lawyers and the unemployed, the cops and baristas and housewives and fathers-to-be, to become the beachcombers of this nation, to wander the wrecked shorelines and gather the remnants, the glittering detritus of so many destroyed lives and begin to help in patching it back together again. We all know that it won't be as it once was. We can't go home that way again.

Maybe, though, maybe, something like the many retellings of Chanie Wenjack's life, or the gorgeously subversive paintings of Kent Monkman, or Carey Newman's Witness Blanket Project, or Gord Downie's Secret Path, or Katherine Vermette's The Break will show all of us not just what was lost but also what hasn't been lost. Can't be taken away. Perhaps there is such a thing as an exorcism through art.

The great tragedy, the great stain of our country, is that Chanie's story is shared by thousands of Indigenous families across our country. Thousands of children were forcefully ripped from their homes and their parents and their languages and religions and songs and siblings and cultures, only to die while in the custody of strangers sworn to their care. Chanie Wenjack isn't alone. This needs repeating: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has collected the names of thousands of children who perished while in these schools and never returned home. The TRC fears the number may be as high as 30,000.

Please, I ask you, dear reader, don't skip over that number. Please contemplate it. Take the time and effort to count out 1,000 pennies and then toss them onto the floor of your kitchen. Then do it many more times. On the next clear night, sit with your own child under the dizzying array of stars and begin counting till you both become too tired. And do this every clear evening for a whole summer. Pick up where you left off and continue it the next summers again. Perhaps sit down one day soon and begin to read the names of the children the TRC has collected so far. Whisper them, shout them, absorb them. Just don't let them be forgotten. Think of them as your own children. But for Chanie's sake, and the sakes of so many thousands more, let's all decide not to live in a haunted house any longer.
Chanie Wenjack wasn't alone. We've told the tragic and forgotten stories of two more boys escaping residential school. With your help, we can tell more. Find out how, here.

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How Chanie Wenjack chose Joseph Boyden - Macleans.ca

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The story has all the hallmarks of great tragedy: an innocent boy lost in the vast wilds of northern Ontario in late October. He's desperately trying to make his way home as the weather begins its brutal turn. Underdressed for these harsh wilds and with nothing but a few matches in his pocket, he's starved and shivering.

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Document 7a:  Video interview with Joseph Boyden, author of novella, Wenjack

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Document 7a:  Video interview with Joseph Boyden, author of novella, Wenjack

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Part 1: 0:00 to 10:18   TRUTH
Boyden speaks of he legacy of residential schools and intergenerational trauma  Guiding Question:  How does the telling of the Chanie Wenjack story through this novella help expose the reality of intergenerational trauma?

Part 2:  11:00 to  21:00  RECONCILIATION
Boyden suggests how to heal the wounds of the past and to move forward as a nation.... a real nation.
Guiding Question:   How does Camp Onakawana help heal the wounds of intergenerational trauma?

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"Woodcarver", by A Tribe Called Red

Guiding Question:   Describe the mood of this video clip AND what techniques did A Tribe Called Red use to achieve that mood in their song and clip?
Taken from their 2012 self-titled album, this song and video clip retells the shooting of the homeless woodcarver named John T Williams.   Read the following document for more information on the event showcased in this protest song.

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The Halluci Nation - Woodcarver (Official Video)

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"Toronto’s Indigenous activists raise awareness at Canada Day picnic" by  Julien Giguac of the Toronto Star

Guiding Question:   What are the demands of the Idle No More activists?

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Some celebrated 150 years since Canadian Confederation; others raised clenched fists.

Saturday morning, the Spadina Museum in Toronto saw both.

Dozens of Indigenous activists waited outside the gates of the museum in Toronto, where Carolyn Bennett, Canada's Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister, was preparing to host a noon picnic to celebrate Canada's birthday.

Bennett was summoned to speak with them. Activists uttered strong words in booming voices. Tension was high.

Inside, on the grounds of the manor, a different scene played out: a smattering of people in red and white shirts fired up barbecues and milled around chatting.

This continued while the crowd - and pressure - swelled outside.

"This government hasn't done a good job for the last 150 years," Crystal Sinclair told Bennett. Sinclair leads Toronto's branch of Idle No More, the movement to honour Indigenous sovereignty. "You have to at least acknowledge it, and we have to work under the recommendations of the (Truth and Reconciliation Commission). Our communities are in crisis. No more empty words."

Bennett listened attentively before chiming in, conceding that the past 150 years since Confederation have been particularly ugly for Indigenous people.

"You know that I marched with Idle No More," Bennett responded, her back to the wrought iron gate, "you know that I've been fighting to make sure that the next 150 years are a lot better than the last. We're closing the gaps, in terms of third-world conditions in too many communities, treating one another with a recognition of rights, respect and co-operation and the third, self-determination. We need to learn from our mistakes and from the misguided policies of the past."

The museum's gates were opened and the activists were welcomed inside.

Placards and a Haudenosaunee flag were laid out across the grass - one Canadian flag bore the words, "150 plus years of settler colonialism" - while about 10 police officers were posted on the property.

The day before the picnic, Russell Diabo, a First Nations policy analyst and one of the organizers behind UNsettling Canada 150, said Canadians must know the dark annals of the country.

The campaign is a series of events designed by Indigenous people to run alongside Canada's birthday celebrations to raise awareness about issues afflicting their communities, including rights infringement and inadequate government consultation.

"We're celebrating, alternatively, our survival of racist, colonial policies, and we want to educate Canadians at the same time that colonialism isn't a thing of the past, it's ongoing," said Diabo over the phone.

Its national day of action, jointly organized by Idle No More and Defenders of the Land, also honours the late Arthur Manuel, a renowned First Nations leader and writer who promulgated the economic necessity of returning lands to Indigenous people for their benefit.

The main driver of the campaign involves three demands: the right to self-determination, a full implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action and UNDRIP, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

"For Indigenous people, it's celebrating 150 years of theft," said Diabo. "Canadians are having barbecues and shooting off fireworks, and I think it's embarrassing for Indigenous people who are trying to hold onto their lands and life. That's why you see so much resistance. It's an opportunity to push back against both the narrative of Canada itself and ongoing dispossession."

Tori Cress, a community organizer for Idle No More Ontario, was at the picnic. Reconciliation is not for Canadians to absolve themselves, she said, adding that she wants Bennett's "audience" to know that "everything is not OK."

"She's shelling to Canadians that there's this Nation-to-Nation relationship happening, which is such a lie, a myth," said Cress. "My news feed is full of Indigenous children being taken and Indigenous women dying. Nothing is getting better in my circle. Nobody cares about us. I know because I live it.

"Unless there's actual land reform, Indigenous people aren't going to have equal rights as Canadians. We have to fight for these rights. No one's going to give them back to us."

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Toronto's Indigenous activists raise awareness at Canada Day picnic | The Star

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Some celebrated 150 years since Canadian Confederation; others raised clenched fists. Saturday morning, the Spadina Museum in Toronto saw both. Dozens of Indigenous activists waited outside the gates of the museum in Toronto, where Carolyn Bennett, Canada's Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister, was preparing to host a noon picnic to celebrate Canada's birthday.

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VIDEO

'This is what we lost': Alberta artist honours missing, murdered Indigenous women and girls", by Gareth Hampshire of CBC News

Guiding Question:  Explain the role of artists, Jaime Black and Terry McCue, in the movement to raise public awareness about Indigenous issues.

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Alberta artist Terry McCue was so moved the first time he heard about the REDress movement, he was inspired to come up with his own tribute to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

A year and a half later, the Ojibway painter has a series of 16 works, making up the exhibit Ripples of Loss, on display at the Art Gallery of St. Albert.

"This is the most important work in my career," said McCue, 72.

The REDress Project was based on Métis artist Jaime Black's response to the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women. Black's idea was to collect 600 red dresses and install them in public spaces across Canada, including at the University of Alberta in 2012.

Edmonton photographer Mufty Mathewson later started the REDress Photography Project. Mathewson and other photographers set out to take striking photos of red dresses in unexpected places in honour of each of Canada's missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.

Touched by the impact of the REDress movement, McCue created paintings depicting women wearing red dresses.

But there's a sinister feel to each piece, because the women are portrayed as ghostly skeletons.

The paintings represent the overwhelming sense of loss that ripples through Indigenous families and communities.

"This is what we lost," explained McCue. "These are all about interrupted stories - stories that will never be told because someone stopped it, someone killed them, murdered them in a painful, horrible way."

Artist hopes work keeps issue on people's minds

McCue said inspiration came to him after he met Mathewson at an art show.

"I spoke with her for a few minutes and then I got up and started to go home," he said. "Walking to my car I saw the show, I saw the skeletons walking in the red dresses."

The women in the paintings are not taken from actual cases but from McCue's imagination. He chose to depict his subjects as women who were on their way to promising careers before their dreams were taken away.

When the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls held hearings in Edmonton recently, McCue attended.

"They had the hearings here for the missing and murdered women last week, so that conversation is happening. This is my part of that, this is what I can do," he said.

Nobody from McCue's family has gone missing or been murdered but after losing his sister, two brothers and both parents to drinking, loss has been a part of his life.

His show is his own creative plea to try to focus attention on the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous women.

"I have a lot of friends that I care very deeply about and I would never want this to happen to them so it has to be stopped," he said.

Originally from Curve Lake First Nation in Ontario, McCue now makes his home near Devon, Alta., where he crafted his series of paintings in his home studio.

Self-taught, he only started painting at the age of 48. He has since made a name for himself painting animals in their natural habitats.

He's never done a project like Ripples of Loss but felt a calling to take it on.

The exhibit, which opened Nov 2, is already proving to be popular for the gallery.

"People are really relating to the images and the figures in the images and the individual stories of each painting," said director and curator Jenny Willson-McGrath. "We've had people coming in and spending two hours in the gallery space."

The powerful messages in the exhibit are leading people to ask more questions and look for more information, said Willson-McGrath.

School groups in St. Albert and Edmonton have been struck by McCue's work, she said, adding art can help people understand things in ways no other medium can.

"We've had people that are deeply saddened and we've also had people who have felt ignited by the issue," she said.

Ripples of Loss isat the Art Gallery of St. Albert until Dec. 2.

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'This is what we lost': Alberta artist honours missing, murdered Indigenous women and girls | CBC News

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Alberta artist Terry McCue was so moved the first time he heard about the REDress movement, he was inspired to come up with his own tribute to missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls. A year and a half later, the Ojibway painter has a series of 16 works, making up the exhibit Ripples of Loss, on display at the Art Gallery of St.

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"9 Questions about Idle No More" from CBC News
Guiding Question:  Explain 2 problems that the Idle No More protest movement was targeting in 2012 and 2013.

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It dates back just two months, but the Idle No More movement to raise awareness of native issues has gained a serious following and significant media attention through rallies, teach-ins and social media.

A good amount of the attention has been focused on Theresa Spence, chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario, who concluded a six-week hunger strike on Jan. 24. The aim of Spence's protest was to gain a meeting with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Governor-General David Johnston to discuss how to improve the conditions on native reserves.

Here are answers to some questions about Idle No More.

What's the goal of the Idle No More protests?

The movement says it wants to "stop the Harper government from passing more laws and legislation that will further erode treaty and indigenous rights and the rights of all Canadians."

The mission statement reads, "Idle No More calls on all people to join in a revolution which honors and fulfils Indigenous sovereignty which protects the land and water."

The Idle No More Facebook group, which has about 45,000 members, says its purpose is "to support and encourage grassroots to create their own forums to learn more about Indigenous rights and our responsibilities to our Nationhood via teach-ins, rallies and social media."

How did Idle No More get started?

In late October, four women in Saskatchewan began exchanging emails about Bill C-45, which had just been introduced in Ottawa. Jessica Gordon, Sheelah McLean, Sylvia McAdam and Nina Wilson were concerned the bill would erode indigenous rights.

They decided to organize an event in Saskatoon, set for Nov. 10, and to help spread the word they turned to Facebook. They chose to call the page "Idle No More" as a motivational slogan.

A week after that small meeting, there were events in Regina, Prince Albert and North Battleford, Sask., and Winnipeg.

A movement was born. Exactly one month after that first meeting Idle No More held a National Day of Action in locations across the country.

What is Bill C-45?

That's the number of the bill introduced by the Harper government on Oct. 18 with the title, "A second Act to implement certain provisions of the budget tabled in Parliament on March 29, 2012, and other measures."

The bill passed and then received royal assent on Dec. 14 and is now known as the "Jobs and Growth Act, 2012."

That doesn't sound like something that would spark a protest movement, especially an aboriginal rights movement. What's the issue?

C-45 is better known as the second omnibus budget bill. The act changes the legislation contained in 64 acts or regulations. The act itself runs over more than 400 pages.

The changes that most concern the Idle No More movement are the ones to these acts:

Indian Act.

Navigation Protection Act (former Navigable Waters Protection Act).

Environmental Assessment Act.

In addition to the changes, those involved in the movement were angered by what they call a lack of consultation with indigenous peoples. The movement has also expressed concern about other acts and bills from the Harper government.

What are some of the movement's key objections to the changes to those 3 acts?

Indian Act: First Nations communities can now lease designated reserve lands if a majority attending a meeting called for that purpose vote to do so, regardless of how many people show up. Previously, approval required the support of a majority of eligible voters.

The Aboriginal Affairs minister can call the meeting to consider surrendering band territory. The minister can choose to ignore a resolution from the band council that's in opposition to a decision at the meeting.

Idle No More says these changes allow "for easier opening of treaty lands and territory."

Navigation Protection Act: Under the act, major pipeline and power line project advocates aren't required to prove their project won't damage or destroy a navigable waterway it crosses, unless the waterway is on a list prepared by the transportation minister. Idle No More claims the amendments remove that protection for 99.9 per cent of lakes and rivers in Canada.

Environmental Assessment Act: The first omnibus budget bill had already overhauled the assessment process and the second one reduces further the number of projects that would require assessment under the old provisions. Idle No More objects to the faster approval process.

What's the connection between the hunger strike by Chief Theresa Spence and Idle No More?

It was on that National Day of Action that Spence, chief of the troubled Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario, announced in Ottawa that she would start a hunger strike the next day.

Her 43-day hunger strike, which ended on Jan. 24, helped generate media attention for Idle No More and she has become an icon for Idle No More activists.

Substandard living conditions in Attawapiskat attracted widespread media coverage after Spence declared a state of emergency in late 2011 due to a housing crisis in the community.

What is #IdleNoMore?

That's the Twitter hashtag being used to spread information about the movement and to organize its actions. Twitter users add "#IdleNoMore" (upper or lower case) to their tweets and others follow or search for that hashtag.

The first tweet with that hashtag was sent Nov. 4 by co-founder Jessica Gordon, whose Twitter handle is @JessicaPGordon.

For the record, here's the text of her tweet:

Within weeks #IdleNoMore was trending on Twitter.

What's the connection between the Assembly of First Nations and the Idle No More movement?

The movement is grassroots. "It's all volunteer and we have no finances," according to Gordon.

It has been compared to the Occupy movement that began in 2011.

So there is no formal connection between the AFN, which represents First Nations citizens in Canada, and Idle No More.

AFN National Chief Shawn Atleo has publicly expressed support for Idle No More.

"Through the 'Idle No More' movement, we have seen a tremendous outpouring of energy, pride and determination by our peoples in recent weeks," Atleo said in a Jan. 3 media release. "This level of citizen and community engagement is absolutely essential to achieve the change we all want," he added.

What has been Prime Minister Stephen Harper's response to the Idle No More movement?

While Harper met with an AFN delegation on Jan. 11, that was a demand from Chief Spence in connection with her hunger strike rather than a demand from Idle No More.

Harper was asked at a press conference on Jan. 18 in Oakville, Ont., if he was worried whether the movement will snowball similar to the Occupy movement. He responded, "People have the right in our country to demonstrate and express their points of view peacefully as long as they obey the law, but I think the Canadian population expects everyone will obey the law in holding such protests."

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9 questions about Idle No More | CBC News

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It dates back just two months, but the Idle No More movement to raise awareness of native issues has gained a serious following and significant media attention through rallies, teach-ins and social media. A good amount of the attention has been focused on Theresa Spence, chief of the Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario, who concluded a six-week hunger strike on Jan.

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"Headdress", by JJ Neepan
Guiding Question:  Why was making this film both "exciting and terrifying" for Ms. Neepan?
Taken from the CBC Short Docs series, this film demonstrates the importance of claiming and reclaiming cultural symbols through a very personal story of awakening.

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Headdress: A filmmaker recreates her great-grandfather’s portrait | Short Docs

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"Just another reminder that Native American headdresses shouldn't be worn to Coachella"
Guiding Question:   Why are headdresses inappropriate ways to make fashion statements?
Taken from the Hello Giggles fashion blog, this post by blogger Stacy Pratt summarizes the controversy surrounding Indigenous headdresses appearing in the media as fashion statements.
There is also a link to another blog on cultural misappropriation

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When people didn't understand that they shouldn't wear Native American headdresses on Halloween, many outlets created content to teach them about cultural appropriation. Optimistically, one hoped they'd understand that meant they shouldn't wear headdresses to music festivals either. After all, so many articles have been written about the cultural significance of headdresses, which are only to be worn by certain people at certain times.

Some of the best articles on the subject are by Adrienne Keene, the Cherokee scholar who founded the blog Native Appropriations to call out and combat appropriation of Native culture. Her post "But Why Can't I Wear A Hipster Headdress? " from way back in 2010 lays it all out in easy-to-understand language. That one circulated all over the internet and resurfaces every festival season, but this week, Keene still found herself having to tweet the following:

People who hadn't read her articles (or any others on the subject) suggested that maybe the wearers were Native themselves, to which Keene responded:

If you want to read the ensuing conversation on why it's not appropriate for anyone of any ethnicity to practice cultural appropriation, you'll have to visit @NativeApprops because it's long. But among the respondents was Minh-Ha T. Pham, author of Asians Wear Clothes on the Internet, who wrote:

However, for once, this oft-repeated story has a somewhat happy ending that gives us a glimmer of hope.

Later in the evening, Keene tweeted that one of the offenders had apologized and taken down her pictures. Keene posted the apology on her Twitter:

"It's not easy to get called out, so many props to her," tweeted Keene.

The fact that we're encouraged by the sincere apology of just one person in an inappropriate headdress goes to show what a long way we have to go, but we hope that one person admitting she was wrong and vowing to do better will inspire others to do the same.

So when you're coming up with your fabulous festival outfits this summer (and we can't wait to see them!), please remember to be conscious of your choices. If you really love Native designs, check out this post by Jessica Metcalfe, founder of the Native fashion blog Beyond Buckskin about how to wear them without being offensive.

If you've already made a mistake, learn from it, apologize, and remember what it felt like to be called out when it's your turn to teach someone else.

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Just another reminder that Native American headdresses shouldn't be worn to Coachella

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When people didn't understand that they shouldn't wear Native American headdresses on Halloween, many outlets created content to teach them about cultural appropriation. Optimistically, one hoped they'd understand that meant they shouldn't wear headdresses to music festivals either. After all,

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Document 5b: Image with title and sub-title

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Document 5b: Image with title and sub-title

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Guiding Question:   What is cultural appropriation and why is it a problem?

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"Shelley Niro, visual artist and 2017 Canada Council laureate"   a film by Karen Chapman

Guiding Question:  Explain why Ms. Niro chooses to use photography and film as a medium for her art.

This short video showcases the career and activism of Shelly Niro.

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Shelley Niro, visual artist and 2017 Canada Council laureate - a film by Karen Chapman

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"How Shelly Niro fought back against First Nations shaming... ", a conversation between CBC radio host Tom Power and indigenous artist/activist Shelly Niro.

Guiding Question:  According to Ms. Niro, how has the public portrayal of modern indigenous life changed over the past few decades?

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On Tuesday night, the seventh annual Scotiabank Photography Award was handed out in Toronto. The trophy went to Mohawk multimedia artist Shelley Niro, for a career-spanning three decades of work that's political, bold, but always thoughtful and, quite frequently, laugh-out-loud funny.

On top of that prestigeous prize, Niro has two exhibitions on the go for the Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival. They're public installations at Fort York and Ryerson University, places that have pointed meanings for Indigenous communities in Canada.

Today, Niro joins Tom Power on the show to discuss her recent award, her work and portrayals of contemporary Indigenous life in Canadian art and culture.

Below are some examples of Niro's work:

- Produced by Ashley Mak

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How Shelley Niro fought back against First Nations shaming with her photography | CBC Radio

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On Tuesday night, the seventh annual Scotiabank Photography Award was handed out in Toronto. The trophy went to Mohawk multimedia artist Shelley Niro, for a career-spanning three decades of work that's political, bold, but always thoughtful and, quite frequently, laugh-out-loud funny.

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"Shelly Niro wins $50,000 Scotiabank Photography award", by Murray Whyte

Guiding Question:  What do you think is the message behind Niro's most famous work, "The Shirt"?
Taken from the Toronto Star website, this article highlights the work of an indigenous artist and activist named Shelly Niro.

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Shelley Niro, a Toronto-based indigenous artist whose long career has deeply engaged both the presence and conspicuous absence of First Nations peoples here and in the United States, is the winner of the 2017 Scotiabank Photography Award.

The award, which carries a $50,000 prize, also includes a career survey exhibition at the Ryerson Image Centre during next year's Contact Photography Festival, and a monograph published by prestigious German art book publisher Steidl.

Niro, a member of the Six Nations Reserve, Bay of Quinte Kanien'kehaka (Mohawk) Nation, Turtle Clan, is enjoying an uptick in profile recently. She has work on view in two separate exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Ontario and National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, and the Scotiabank prize is her second major accolade in a short span: in February, she was among the winners of the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts.

Wanda Nanibush, the AGO's assistant curator of Canadian and indigenous art, calls the laurels "long overdue."

"She's always been very subtle, very funny," says Nanibush. "She has very serious political streams to her work - these monuments to our erasure - but her use of irony and humour invite you in and give you some hard truths."

Indeed, Niro, who lives near Brantford, has long used her quietly absurd sense of humour to underscore the vast inequities between First Nations and the European settlers who long ago claimed their lands.

The Shirt, a signature piece from 2003 currently installed at the AGO, shows an indigenous woman in a landscape of rolling hills wearing sunglasses, her head swathed in a stars-and-stripes bandana.

Over nine individual images, her white T-shirt tells a story of colonial incursion: "My ancestors were annihilated exterminated murdered and massacred," reads the first; "They were lied to cheated tricked and deceived," it continues, until it concludes with "And all's I get is this shirt." The next frame shows the woman, stripped of her shirt, naked from the waist up, and concludes with a blown-dry white woman, in full makeup, wearing it in her place.

For this year's Contact Festival, Niro took on the heavily loaded colonial symbolism of Fort York - a British garrison built to counter American aggression from the south, at the exclusion of the native peoples on whose land it was built - with her ongoing photographic series Battlefields of My Ancestors, a series of images of monuments to historic battles where indigenous settlements were wiped out by colonial invaders.

See scotiabankcontactphoto.com for more information on Shelley Niro's current exhibitions for Contact.

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Shelley Niro wins $50,000 Scotiabank Photography Award | The Star

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Shelley Niro, a Toronto-based indigenous artist whose long career has deeply engaged both the presence and conspicuous absence of First Nations peoples here and in the United States, is the winner of the 2017 Scotiabank Photography Award.

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"Karihawanoron: Precious Things", by Roxann Whitebean
Guiding Question:  Explain the cause-and-effect relationship between this current Mohawk immersion school and the old residential schools that existed decades ago.
From CBC Short Docs series, the story of the Dione family and their inspiring work to support the Mohawk Immersion School in Kahnawake, QC.

http://watch.cbc.ca/short-docs/-/karihawanoron--precious-things/38e815a-00c19162dbd

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"WHY KARIHWANORON, A MOHAWK IMMERSION SCHOOL, IS SO IMPORTANT' By Roxann Whitebean
Guiding Question:  Explain 3 reasons why Ms. Whitebean made this documentary film.
From CBC.ca. writer and filmmaker Roxann Whitebean explains her inspiration to produce the documentary, "Karihawanorn: Precious Things"

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By Roxann Whitebean
Writer, Director, Producer, Karihwanoron: Precious Things

My language is among many endangered Indigenous languages. I, like many others in my community, am not a fluent speaker of Kanien'keha.

This is largely due to the fact that my great-grandmother was a residential school survivor and the majority of my grandparents attended Indian day schools on the reserve, where the language was stripped from them.

"I have always felt as though a part of me was missing - it's hard to articulate at times, because it's so visceral."

Because my family was disconnected from the language, I have always felt as though a part of me was missing - it's hard to articulate at times, because it's so visceral.

I can't fathom what my great-grandmother went through. She died at the age of 33 with breast cancer, and her life was anything but pleasant.

I'm sure that many Indigenous people can relate to me. Language revitalization is a big topic for many of us.

Collectively, Indigenous people have come to realize that cultural deprivation has taken a toll on our people. But we are now moving forward. We know that healing will not happen overnight, but we fight to continue on with the reclamation of what the settlers tried so hard to eradicate from us.

"Sometimes, resistance is as simple as deciding to leave your comfort zone in order to make sacrifices for the future generations to come."

I think that resistance comes in many forms. Sometimes, resistance is as simple as deciding to leave your comfort zone in order to make sacrifices for the future generations to come - and that's exactly what Karihwanoron epitomizes: a plan for the future; a stepping-stone to reclaim our language.

Karihwanoron: A school where students learn Mohawk language and culture in a setting that's structured to our traditional ways of learning

Karihwanoron is a Mohawk immersion program where students study the language and culture in a home-like environment in an effort to revitalize the language. It was founded by mothers from the community in 1988 and has been operating for nearly three decades.

"It's allowing us to recover from colonization in real-time."

As Kanien'kehá:ka people, we are a distinct Nation that has the right to determine if reconciliation has occurred, or if adjustments are needed to the initial "reconciliation plan" based on our needs.

The school is a positive initiative that fits within our parameters of what reconciliation should be: it's allowing us to recover from colonization in real-time, by learning our language and culture in a setting that's structured to our traditional ways of learning.

"I realized that Canada's dark past with my people was covert."

Long before Stephen Harper apologized in 2008 for Canada's role in the residential school legacy, Karihwanoron had already been running for 20 years, and it still did not receive adequate funding for its programming - because it didn't conform to Canada's education model.

The first time I attended school outside of Kahnawà:ke (a Mohawk community outside Montreal) was in 1997. I was enrolled in high school in one of our neighbouring communities. I remember sharing first-hand accounts I had heard from residential school survivors with my class, and my English teacher outright rejecting the information. He claimed to know "everything about Canadian history and that is not true."

"Most Canadians may not even realise that my people are clinging to the remnants of our language and culture due to colonization."

I felt confused. The shame I felt from my peers' exasperated stares made me begin to question the information I shared, until another Kanien'kehá:ka student whispered to me that she too had heard about the abuse in residential schools.

It was then that I realized that Canada's dark past with my people was covert, and that not every Canadian was aware of the atrocities inflicted on my people for generations and generations upon European contact. This knowledge is now something that I carry with me into every project with a political backbone that I work on. I now realize that most Canadians may not even realise that my people are clinging to the remnants of our language and culture due to colonization.

My personal connection to Karihwanoron

Directing the Karihwanoron documentary was an amazing experience for me. The projects I produce reflect issues that I'm empathetic towards and one of them is language revitalization; it pulls at my heartstrings.

My children are enrolled at Karihwanoron. Seeing them excel in the language and converse with their peers is so rewarding, because it's something I've always aspired to do. In fact, I have been considering putting my career on hold for two years to enroll in an adult immersion program. As a filmmaker, I naturally wanted to document this compelling story. Having a relationship with the subjects made it that much more meaningful to me, especially because I was able to bring my work home and contribute to the school.

I hope that you will join in on our battle by simply watching this film and sharing its content with those you know. The more people know about my culture, the easier it will be for my people to attain true reconciliation.

The subjects are also charming, and the story shares how one family's resilience inspired three generations of Kanien'kehá:ka speakers to undertake the reclamation of our language through Karihwanoron.

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Why Karihwanoron, a Mohawk immersion school, is so important: Roxann Whitebean - Short Docs

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By Roxann Whitebean Writer, Director, Producer, Karihwanoron: Precious Things My language is among many endangered Indigenous languages. I, like many others in my community, am not a fluent speaker of Kanien'keha. This is largely due to the fact that my great-grandmother was a residential school survivor and the majority of my grandparents attended Indian day schools on the reserve, where the language was stripped from them.

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Document 1a:  Video of a live concert with an interview.   

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Document 1a:  Video of a live concert with an interview.   

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House of Strombo, episode 1:  A Tribe Called Red
Guiding Question 1:   George Strombo and DJ Bear Witness (seated in the middle) make reference to an international movement that is currently taking place in Canada AND the outside world.  What is this movement that is "exploding across the world"?
Guiding Question 2:  What do these 3 DJs actually DO in their sets and their concerts to promote change and act as role models?

Episode 1 of the music program on iTunes, The House of Strombo, features the DJ collective from Ottawa, A Tribe Called Red.  This show includes a mix of musical performance and interviews.
To launch this project and to answer the guiding question above, pay particular attention to what the DJs say in the interview segments.

The full episode is 30 minutes.   However, for our English class, we will only view these clips:
0:00 to 6:00:  Introduction and opening song.
6:00 to 8:17:  Interview part 1
17:40 to 19:50: Interview Part 2
22:32 to 23:44:  Interview Part 3

Of course, feel free to watch the full episode at home.   Enjoy the great music... and the great message!

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"Decline in Nunavut's suicide rate sparks hope"
Guiding Question:  How does this article demonstrate the role of education in making concrete changes to the serious social problems facing Indigenous communities?
Taken from the Montreal Gazette (Jan 29, 2018), this article explains how proactive, forward-thinking mental health programs in Nunavut are making a positive difference.

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Document 6a:  Video biography and interview with Wab Kinew

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Document 6a:  Video biography and interview with Wab Kinew

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Wab Kinew talks about the Idle No More movement
Guiding Question: What is Wab Kinew's opinion on Chief Teresa Spence's hunger strike?
Taken from the CBC show called George Stroumboolopoulos Tonight, an interview with hip-hop artist, journalist, writer and recently elected leader of the Manitoba NDP party, Mr. Wab Kinew.

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Wab Kinew on George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight: BIO and Interview