Happy Holidays!

I will be back to regular postings after the holidays. In the meantime, stay safe, strong and keep on keeping on!

Chi miigwetch to all my readers and supporters.


Christine

Please Help Support this Important Campaign!

Book Review: For King and Kanata

For King and Kanata: Canadian Indians and the First World War

Reviewed by: Christine Smith (McFarlane)

Published By: University of Manitoba Press

Pages: 224

In “King and Kanata: Canadian Indians and the First World War” author Timothy C. Winegard takes a comprehensive look at the history of First Nations people and their experience on the battlefield and home front during the First World War.

Winegard speaks about the Indians and the Settler-State experience and states early on that “warfare played an important role in the political, social, cultural, and genetic frameworks of Indian nations,” and “in pre-contact warfare, raiding parties which were led by proven war chiefs and usually numbered less than 200 warriors, were sent to settle scores, to acquire provisions, or to avenge the deaths of or replace deceased clan members (known as mourning wars).

But despite earlier warfare that was noted within First Nations, and First Nations pledging to the Crown, that their men would fight to honour their long standing tradition of forming military alliances with the Europeans during times of war, the Canadian government was of the opinion that “status Indians were unsuited to modern, civilized warfare.”

The Canadian government believed this because it was under the British North America Act and the Indian Act that Canadian Indians did not have the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, and the government of Canada did not expect or need Canadian Indians to take up arms in what they saw as a foreign war. Another apprehension that the Canadian government had was that including Indians in “an expeditionary force could violate treaties, as evidenced by the position of the government during the Boer War.”

Canada’s stance of how First Nations soldiers could be involved in the First World War changed when Britain intervened in 1915. Britain demanded Canada to actively recruit First Nations soldiers to meet the increasing need for more manpower on the battlefields. It is interesting to note just how many First Nations participated in the First World War because the numbers of how many First Nations soldiers participated have never really been fully disclosed. This is due to the fact that “there were undoubtedly cases of Indian enlistment which were not reported to the department,” and most “status Indians were not recorded as such upon enlistment, as attestation papers did not record race.”

After Britain intervened and demanded that First Nations Indians become a part of the First World War, complications arose between the national and international forces that influenced the more than 4,000 status Indians who served in the First World War. Winegard relays that subsequent administrative policies affected First Nations soldiers at home, the battlefield and as returning veterans.

  

For history buffs, the account of just how much Canadian First Nations participated in the First World War, why they participated and what happened to them after the war, this book is a must read for scholars, students, and the general public when it comes to understanding First Nations participation in the First World War and the major Canadian policies that forever changed the Canadian landscape.

 (previously published in Windspeaker)

Event Listings for Week of December 16, 2013

December 16, 2013-5:30pm-7:30pm- An Evening of Letters Lived with Leah Lakshmi and Rozena Mozart. Please join Three O’Clock Press for a very special evening with two incredible and inspiring contributors to Letters Lived: Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha and Rozena Maart!

Leah and Rozena will be reading from their contributions to Letters Lived and sharing conversation with Editor Sheila Sampath. Taking place at the Lula Lounge, 1585 Dundas St. West.

December 18, 2013-10am-4pm- Supporters for Sexual Assault Victim Cheyenne Fox. A preliminary trial is set for Dec 18th at old city hall in T.O. (60 Queens St W). 10 a.m. This is a preliminary trial to see if there enough evidence for a 'full trial' against the person who sexually assaulted Cheyenne Fox. We hope supporters, family and friends will attend and listen in. Pls pass this information to your contacts. @Old City Hall, 60 Queen Street West.

December 19, 2013- 1pm-5pm-Students for Barrier Free Access Holiday Party (SBA) To kick off the holidays SBA will be hosting a Holiday Party. Come by for some good food, yummy treats and great company to celebrate the end of exam season and beginning of the holiday break! Hope to see you all there.

For any dietary restrictions and other accommodation needs please email sba@utoronto.ca or phone us at 416-967-7322. @ 215 Huron Street

December 19, 2013- 7pm- Leanne Simpson’s Islands of Decolonial Love Peterborough Book Launch -with a set by Tara Williamson. Also appearing Sean Conway and Nick Ferrio @ Barbeside Salon 131 Hunter Street. West, Peterborough, ON

December 21, 2013-1pm-3pm- Hot Cider and Signings Part 2 at Glad Day Bookstore. Stop by Glad Day Bookshop on Saturday and get a FREE mug of warm, mulled apple cider and meet some hot local authors who will merrily (sign their books for you. Authors include: Marcus McCann, Bill Bissett, Debra Anderson, Jordaan Mason from 1-2pm and from 2-3pm: Shawn Syms, Sarah Liss, Rachel Epstein and Greg Kearney. Glad Day Bookstore is located @ 598a Yonge Street.

1-2pm-

Marcus McCann ( http://marcusmccann.wordpress.com/ )
bill bissett ( http://www.billbissett.com/ )
Debra Anderson ( http://www.debraanderson.ca/ )
Jordaan Mason ( http://magichelicopterpress.com/skinteam.htm )

2pm-3pm
Shawn Syms ( www.shawnsyms.ca)
Sarah Liss ( http://www.chbooks.com/catalogue/army-lovers)
Rachel Epstein ( http://threeoclockpress.com/titles/who’s-your-daddy )
Greg Kearney ( http://www.cbc.ca/books/canadawrites/2013/02/reader-qa-with-greg-kearney.html )

December 21, 2013- 7pm-10pm-24^th Annual Kensington Winter Solstice Parade

Celebrate the solstice community-style in a luminescent lantern-lit procession through Toronto’s Kensington Market. This event is in collaboration with local community members and performers, including the Samba Squad, Shadowland Theatre, Clay & Paper, Native Men’s Residence, the Kensington Horns, students from the Centre of Indigenous Theatre and many more.
 

For more information please contact: redpepper@bellnet.ca

Wednesday, January 8, 2013- 6:45pm-8:45pm-Climate Disaster in Bangladesh Panel. @ Centre 55-97 Main Street (south of Gerrard)

Speakers:
NASIMA AKTER, PhD., EP, is the Executive Director of the Bangladeshi-Canadian Community Services (BCS), at 2899 Danforth Ave. in Toronto. For information: www.bangladeshi.ca.

TANZIL ISLAM recently graduated from York University with a Master’s degree in Environmental Studies. She is a member of East End Against Line 9.

Everyone welcome

Organized by East End Against Line 9, eastendnotar@gmail.com

Letters Lived Launch Party An Inspiration and A Letter To Myself

 By: Christine Smith (McFarlane)

On November 26, 2013, I had the pleasure of going to the "Letters Lived: Radical reflections, revolutionary paths" Launch party at the Centre for Social Innovation at 720 Bathurst Street in Toronto, Ontario.

I went in part to support the editor of this collection Sheila Sampath, because she has always been very supportive of me and what I do. I wanted to show the same to her. Sheila is also the Editorial Director for Shameless Magazine, where I am also an editor for the column Beyond the Books.

At first, when I went I wasn't sure how I would feel about being there. I had the assumption that I would be out of my element because my career as a freelance writer has always been First Nations oriented. But the assumption I went in with, very quickly disappeared. There were other Shameless Magazine staff there and the speakers for this event in particular just blew me away.

The speakers included teens, and young adults, who read letters to themselves. In these letters, they reflected on the incredible journeys they have taken since their teens and what they wish they could have known back then. Often those who were reading their letters showed a wisdom way beyond their years-( teens reading from their perspective futures)  and that was just amazing.

The wisdom and insight I heard inspired me greatly. I left the event with a sense of optimism and hope that I definitely needed to hear and witness. It also had me seriously reflecting on what I wish I had known when I was a teenager myself and I wrote my own letter which I will include later in this post.

"Letters Lived: Radical reflections, revolutionary paths" is a new collection that is edited by Sheila Sampath and features a foreword by Grace Lee Boggs, and includes chapters from Victoria B. Robinson, Shea Howell, Juliet Jacques, Selma James, Elisha Lim, Rozena Maart, Lee Maracle, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, Nina Power, Coco Guzman, Cristy C. Road, Rae Spoon and Kit Wilson-Yang.


It is a book that in the words of Grace Lee Boggs " is an effort to reach across one of the most destructive divides in our culture: the isolation of one generation from another. It is a reminder of how much we have to learn from lives committed to advancing our humanity." 

And its a book that gives a voice of inspiration and hope. This book is published by Three O' Clock Press. It is 131 pages and sells for $14.95.

Below is the letter that I wrote to myself after reading Letters Lived!.


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Letters Lived: A Letter to Myself

Dear Christine, or is it Chris or Chrissy?

I don’t know what you go by these days. I know if I were to say “Christina,” you would get mad and turn all silent before sternly saying “I hate being called that, don’t ever call me that!”

I can see it now, your eyes would squint behind your coke bottle glasses (aren’t you glad glasses are so much nicer these days?) and your mouth would turn upside down into a huge frown. I would have to apologize profusely and swear, “I won’t do it again,” before you looked me square in the eye again.

In all seriousness though Christine, the first word I would want to say to you is WOW! Then I would reach over and clap you on the back because damn it girl! You reached 40 this year. Did you ever think that would happen? Did you ever think that you would graduate with an Honours Bachelor of Arts from the University of Toronto or that in your final year you would get all A’s (you nerd!) and win the President’s Award for the Outstanding Native Student of the Year for 2010-2011.

What about writing for as many places as you are and being able to keep your head on straight? You’re doing a lot and I want to tell you “I’m so proud of you. You’re kicking ass!” So much for those naysayers who always put you down and said “you’ll never amount to much!”

Your childhood was really rough Christine. You were a part of  Canadian history that was called the Sixties Scoop. This was where First Nations children were taken from their birth families and communities and adopted into a non-native families. The children were effectively cut off from their cultures, traditions and languages, and it took you years to get it back. You were also adopted into a family that did almost everything to try and destroy you. But you fought back, even though it meant they gave you up and you lost any sense of family when you were a mere child.

Remember when you were ten years old, and you were told “You’re going to boarding school?” and you got all excited because your imagination ran wild and you thought it was some place exotic? You told your classmates and they seemed happy for you. You later found out, it wasn’t a boarding school you were going to, but a school for troubled kids. Shortly after getting there, your adoptive parents gave you up, and cut you off from the last link to your real family for the next seven years-your sister.

I remember, Christine. You tried so hard to be brave and tried to nonchalantly tell your grade six teacher’s assistant that “I don’t care that my parents don’t want me,” when really you were aching so much inside that you would cry yourself to sleep at night and wonder “why, don’t my parents want me, what is wrong with me?”

You ran away so many times Christine, yet you always survived those times. Every time the police brought you back to your place, the person taking you back, though they were angry, would give you a hug. You just wanted to tell them “please just love me, because I don’t dare love myself. I'm afraid.”

You drove some people away because you were so needy. You didn’t recognize this until years later after a few years of being in therapy.  But you did recognize that if it wasn’t for those teachers, social workers, and later on nurses who took the time to try and understand you, you wouldn’t be here today. They took the time to sit with you, listen to you and showed you someone cared, when there was no one else around for you. They gave you the loving and caring human contact that you needed in order to tell yourself that you needed to survive.

Christine, I always admired that you loved to read and write. Your head was always buried in a book, and if you weren’t reading you were writing. Others would tease you mercilessly for that, but I would tell you “don’t give that up, because your thirst for knowledge and other experiences is what will get you through your toughest times.”

I admired that you saw nothing in picking up a book, getting lost in a characters life, analyzing it and saying, “hey, I can identify with that!” It didn’t matter if the book was fact or fiction, you saw something in everything, and would try to relay it to your life and see if you could apply it to your life in one way or another. You did and do the same thing with music. You listen to the lyrics in a song, and apply them to your life too.

I loved it and still do when you listen to ABBA and their song “I Have A Dream.” The song speaks of how you have a song to sing, and when you’re ready, you’ll cross the street because you have a dream.

Your dream in life was to overcome the trauma in your childhood, and work your hardest to overcome the mental health issues that continue to plague you-depression, anxiety etc. You became a role model for CAMH and mental health when you won the Transforming Lives Award from Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in 2012. Your motto, as you stood in front of 900 people accepting your award was

“Obstacles can be overcome.”

Christine, you are always working towards overcoming obstacles that pop up in your life, and I must say, “Keep at it!”

Years ago, you only wanted to get better for somebody else, and never for yourself. Struggles ensued with your therapists or the groups that you went to.  But that all changed when your niece was born, and you struggled through her first few years. At first you said, “ I’ll get better for her.”

But slowly you realized in your recovery that in order to be the best that you could be, you had to be better for you too. Your recovery has meant encompassing a strength and courage that encompasses everything you touch in life. You learned to stand up for what you believed in, and went after it. You have an important message to give people, so keep it up.

If you get discouraged and feel like giving up, remind yourself of the many people who are in your life that love you and support you. Remember your sister, and your nieces, and the generations behind that can benefit from someone with your story, and who has turned things around for the better. You are a survivor, and your people need to become survivors too, and not let anything destroy them no matter what happens.

There’s so much more I could say, but then this letter might turn into a book. So, lastly, remember this- you’re 40 years old, and though you are a late starter in life in many ways, you are a trailblazer in your own right. Continue to read and write what drives the passion in your life- knowing your truth and letting others know it is okay for them to have a voice too.

Love,

Christine

P.S. save this letter, don’t destroy it and don’t be ashamed that you wrote it. After all, its all good, it’s all good!

Event Postings for Week of December 9-15, 2013

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Events:

Monday, December 9, 2013-6pm-9pm- Shameless Magazine Presents: Second Annual Silent Auction Fundraiser Gala - We hope you can join us for an amazing evening in support of Shameless, an award-winning progressive magazine for teen girls and trans youth.

Come bid on some incredible items, enjoy excellent music (featuring DJ Betti Forde), food (courtesy of the Afghan Women’s Catering Group) and drinks (with thanks to Black Oak Beer) and help support our volunteer-run magazine for teen girls and trans youth.

Taking place at Centre for Social Innovation, Annex (720 Bathurst Street) Toronto

Tuesday December 10, 2013-11AM-3PM- #NoWayFNEA-Idle No More Ontario- Victoria Island to Parliament. The Federal Government of Canada has had their chance to educate First Nations peoples. They did a horrible job, nearly decimating our languages and cultures in the process. Now the Harper government wants to impose a new First Nations Education Act. We are stopping the FNEA!

Listen to what key people have to say about this. Learn how you can help. Rise! CHECK OUT FACEBOOK FOR MORE INFO

Tuesday December 10, 2013- 5pm-8pm- CIG Community Resurgence Speaker Series: Raising Up Good Minds. The Centre for Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University, in collaboration with the Ryerson Aboriginal Education Council, is launching a four-part speakers series on "Community Resurgence" - discussions on the myriad ways Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee, Mushkego peoples (among others) are revitalizing nationhood though (re)building healthy families and communities. Taking Place at the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto.

The event features three amazing speakers:

Louise MacDonald, Bear Clan Mother of the Mohawk Nation Council of Chiefs

Jessica Danforth, Executive Director, Native Youth Sexual Health Network (NYSHN)

Vanessa Watts-Powless, Assistant Professor, Indigenous Studies at McMaster University.

All our events are free, children and families are always encouraged to come, and we'll even feed you, too!

Thursday December 12, 20123-7pm-10pm- Radioactive Colonialism: Uranium and the Dispossession of Nehithaw Cree and Denesuline Peoples. Radioactive Colonialism: Uranium and the Dispossession of Nehithaw Cree and Denesuline Peoples: an evening with honoured guest Kirstin Scansen!
A call to RESPONSIBILITY
BEIT ZATOUN 612 Markham Street Toronto

Event will be livestreamed at http://bambuser.com/channel/Cuzdcrow

Friday December 13, 2013-5:30pm-The indigiFLIX Community Screening Series closes its 2013 season with the all-ages feature film "Wapos Bay: Long Goodbyes," directed by Dennis Jackson. Presented by the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in conjunction with U of T's Native Students' Association and First Nations House Holiday Party. It’s a FREE Screening, so everyone is welcome!

Friday December 13, 2013-8pm- Tomson Highway’s Concert and CD Release: Songs from the (Post) Mistress. Doors open at 7:30 PM - at the Isabel Bader Theatre, 93 Charles St West Toronto, ON.

Event is FREE and CDs can be purchased for $ 20.00

Celebrate this spectacular evening with host Tantoo Cardinal honouring the creative brilliance of performer, playwright, composer and novelist, Tomson Highway.

Performing Songs from The (Post) Mistress, a collection of stories of a resident post mistress through lyrics and music, Highway will be joined on stage by the incomparable songstress Patricia Cano and musicians David Restivo (piano), Ted Quinlan (guitar) George Koller (bass), Daniel Barnes (drums), Jeremy Ledbetter (harmonica), Gord Sheard (accordion) and Marcus Ali (saxophone & clarinet).

Sunday December 15, 2013-12pm-Flash Mob Meditation@ the Eaton Centre Tis the season for buying things we don't really need in the hopes to find happiness. Lets bring stillness to the high church of consumerism, the Eaton center, and make this an annual tradition!

First Nation Reading Week Exchange-University College

During Reading Week 2014, the Health Studies Students' Union will be offering a seven day exchange in conjunction with Canadian Roots. Canadian Roots organizes experiential educational programs and field schools in indigenous host communities across Canada. The programming emphasizes personal growth and leadership development through group learning and personal reflection, which is facilitated by exchange coordinators and educators from each community.

The exchange will offer participants an in-depth and hands-on opportunity to learn about Aboriginal worldview and how it relates to the concept of health. Learning will occur in both formal and informal settings; participants will visit community leaders, organizations, schools, etc.

Date: Location: Cost: Spaces Available: Included:

February 15-21, 2014 Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve $600.00 (subject to change, limited bursaries available) 12 (subject to change) All meals, transportation, and accommodations

Applications are due by December 15, 2013.

Event Posting: Tomson Highway- Concert and CD Release "Songs from The (Post) Mistress

Come to Shameless Magazine's 2nd Annual Silent Auction-Monday December 9, 2013

Monday, December 9, 2013-6pm-9pm- Shameless Magazine Presents: Second Annual Silent Auction Fundraiser Gala

We hope you can join us for an amazing evening in support of Shameless, an award-winning progressive magazine for teen girls and trans youth.

Come bid on some incredible items, enjoy excellent music (featuring DJ Betti Forde), food (courtesy of the Afghan Women’s Catering Group) and drinks (with thanks to Black Oak Beer) and help support our volunteer-run magazine for teen girls and trans youth.

Taking place at Centre for Social Innovation, Annex (720 Bathurst Street) Toronto

Event Postings from December 3, 2013-December 13, 2013

Events:

Tuesday, December 3, 2013- 8pm-2am-OPEN MIC at Ciros with Dave DeLeary and Glen Gould. Come out of the cold, keep warm and join us for live music, food & a beverage or two! Bring your guitar and share your talents; spoken word, performance or a few tunes!

Wednesday, December 4, 2013- 10am-Sixties Scoop Hearing- Canada’s Leave to Appeal. The hearing is to decide whether or not permission should be granted to Canada to appeal (and likely involve the case in another 2-3 years of legal wrangling) at Osgoode Hall, 130 Queen Street West. It is a hearing that is open to the public. ALL INTERESTED PERSONS SHOULD ATTEND SO THAT THE VOICE OF CULTURAL-GENOICDE HURT HAS A FACE.

Wednesday, December 4, 2013- 10:30am- AIAI Peaceful Rally to Reject ‘A Proposal for a Bill on First Nations Education. This Peaceful Rally is being held to reject The Federal Government's "Proposal for a Bill on First Nation Education" at the Federal Building on St. Clair Ave East.

10:30 am - Protest Walk from Balfour Park
11:00 am - Peaceful Rally in front of the Federal Building

Bring your drums, songs and a good heart and mind.
It's time to say NO MORE

Wednesday, December 4, 2013- ProjectLiftPH-6pm-Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts and Culture and Carlos Bulosan Theatre present ProjectLiftPH
A Haiyan YolandaPH Relief Fundraiser
6pm Auction/raffle
8pm Musical performances
@ The Great Hall (1087 Queen St. West)

TICKETS
http://projectliftph.eventbrite.com/
$20 Advance (through Eventbrite, link above)
$25 Doors

HOSTED BY
TV personality Sarah Taylor

Wednesday December 4, 2013- Bump and Jump with Shameless Magazine at the Gladstone Hotel Melody Bar. This is Shameless Magazine’s 3^rd Fundraiser.

Proceeds will be going to Shameless Magazine a volunteer-run alt mag for teen girls & trans youth

As always this is a pay-what-you-can event (suggested donation $5) and is 19+

December 6, 2013-9pm- The Johnny’s at Annette Studios- Rockin' with The Johnnys at Annette Studios, 566 Annette Street, Toronto- $6
9pm - Doors
10pm - Open stage

11pm - The Johnnys
12am - UFCB's
1am - Open Jam

Sign up for Open stage is onsite! Please join us!

December 7, 2013-(8pm) December 8, 2013- (2pm)- From Rage Comes: Raging Asian Women Taiko Drummers in Concert – A full-length work rooted in Taiko drumming, FROM RAGE COMES presents the truths of diasporic Asian-Canadian women through original & traditional compositions, movement, and storytelling.

FROM RAGE COMES will bring together stories of transplantation, rituals of establishing home, chronicles of our fights and flights, and the countless movements we make and are moved by everyday. @ Betty Oliphant Theatre- 400 Jarvis Street.

TICKETS online: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/495676
OR through RAW members & apprentices

Monday, December 9, 2013-6pm-9pm- Shameless Magazine Presents: Second Annual Silent Auction Fundraiser Gala - We hope you can join us for an amazing evening in support of Shameless, an award-winning progressive magazine for teen girls and trans youth.

Come bid on some incredible items, enjoy excellent music (featuring DJ Betti Forde), food (courtesy of the Afghan Women’s Catering Group) and drinks (with thanks to Black Oak Beer) and help support our volunteer-run magazine for teen girls and trans youth.

Taking place at Centre for Social Innovation, Annex (720 Bathurst Street) Toronto

Friday December 13, 2013-5:30pm-The indigiFLIX Community Screening Series closes its 2013 season with the all-ages feature film "Wapos Bay: Long Goodbyes," directed by Dennis Jackson. Presented by the imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival in conjunction with U of T's Native Students' Association and First Nations House Holiday Party. It’s a FREE Screening, so everyone is welcome!

The Road to San Marcos-written by Tanis Desjarlais ( an amazing read!)

The Road to San Marcos