Inuit knowledge and climate change

This prophecy was recited by White Feather of the Hopi Bear Clan to Reverend David Young in 1948.

"'I am White Feather, a Hopi of the ancient Bear Clan. In my long life I have traveled through this land, seeking out my brothers, and learning from them many things filled with wisdom. I have followed the sacred paths of my people, who inhabit the forests and many lakes in the east, the land of ice and long nights in the north, and the places of holy altars of stone built many years ago by my brothers' fathers in the south. From all these I have heard the stories of the past, and the prophecies of the future. Today, many of the prophecies have turned to stories, and few are left -- the past grows longer, and the future grows shorter."

"'And now White Feather is dying. His sons have all joined his ancestors, and soon he too shall be with them. But there is no one left, no one to recite and pass on the ancient wisdom. My people have tired of the old ways -- the great ceremonies that tell of our origins, of our emergence into the Fourth World, are almost all abandoned, forgotten, yet even this has been foretold. The time grows short."

"'My people await Pahana, the lost White Brother, as do all our brothers in the land. He will not be like the white men we know now, who are cruel and greedy. We were told of their coming long ago. But still we await Pahana."

"'He will bring with him the symbols, and the missing piece of that sacred tablet now kept by the elders, given to him when he left, that shall identify him as our True White Brother."

"'The Fourth World shall end soon, and the Fifth World will begin. This the elders everywhere know. The Signs over many years have been fulfilled, and so few are left."

"'This is the First Sign: We are told of the coming of the white-skinned men, like Pahana, but not living like Pahana -- men who took the land that was not theirs. And men who struck their enemies with thunder." [First sign of guns.]

"'This is the Second Sign: Our lands will see the coming of spinning wheels filled with voices. In his youth, my father saw this prophecy come true with his eyes -- the white men bringing their families in wagons across the prairies."

"'This is the Third Sign: A strange beast like a buffalo but with great long horns will overrun the land in large numbers. These White Feather saw with his eyes --the coming of the white men's cattle."

"'This is the Fourth Sign: The land will be crossed by snakes of iron." [Railroad tracks]

"'This is the Fifth Sign: The land shall be crisscrossed by a giant spider's web." [Electric power and telephone lines]

"'This is the Sixth Sign: The land shall be crisscrossed with rivers of stone that make pictures in the sun." [Highways and their mirage-producing effects]

"'This is the Seventh Sign: You will hear of the sea turning black, and many living things dying because of it." [Oil spills in the oceans]

"'This is the Eighth Sign: You will see many youth, who wear their hair long like my people, come and join the tribal nations, to learn their ways and wisdom." ["Hippie Movement" and Rainbow Warriors]

"'And this is the Ninth and Last Sign: You will hear of a dwelling-place in the heavens, above the earth, that shall fall with a great crash. It will appear as a blue star. Very soon after this, the ceremonies of my people will cease." [The Ninth Sign could be about a satellite or the International Space Station falling to Earth.]

"'These are the Signs that great destruction is coming. The world shall rock to and fro. The white man will battle against other people in other lands -- with those who possessed the first light of wisdom [Middle East]. There will be many columns of smoke and fire such as White Feather has seen the white man make in the deserts not far from here." [Atomic Bomb]

"Only those which come will cause disease and a great dying. Many of my people, understanding the prophecies, shall be safe. Those who stay and live in the places of my people also shall be safe. Then there will be much to rebuild. And soon -- very soon afterward -- Pahana will return. He shall bring with him the dawn of the Fifth World. He shall plant the seeds of his wisdom in their hearts. Even now the seeds are being planted. These shall smooth the way to the Emergence into the Fifth World."

"'But White Feather shall not see it. I am old and dying. Perhaps you will see it. In time, in time..."

2eme colloque-forum d'Artial

Objet : Invitation au 2d colloque-forum d'Artial du 26 au 28 octobre 2011 - Invitation to the 2d colloquium-forum of Artial from October 26 to October 28th 

Hi, English follows

Bonjour,

Nous sommes heureux de vous inviter à notre second colloque-forum qui aura lieu du 26 au 28 octobre 2011.  Comme vous le constaterez dans notre horaire préliminaire mis en pièce jointe, les activités proposées sont diversifiéesallant des conférences aux causeries et aux ateliers.  Vous pourrez ainsi découvrir la diversité des formes artistiques autochtones et comment les artistes autochtones utilisent l'oralité pour créer aujourd’hui.

 

Thèmes abordés

À l’heure des médias sociaux, la parole n’a jamais été autant mise de l’avant. Cependant, qu’en est-il du côté de la scène artistique? Parole et oralité, est-ce la même chose? Comment la narration prend-elle forme aujourd’hui ? Comment l’oralité est-elle traduite et transformée par les arts visuels ? Quelles sont les conditions qui permettent aux traditions orales autochtones de reprendre de la vigueur ?

 

À qui s’adresse ce colloque?

À toutes les personnes (étudiants, professeurs, curieux) autochtones ou non qui s’intéressent aux arts des Premières Nations.

À toutes les personnes qui souhaitent en apprendre davantage sur la place de l’oralité dans notre société actuelle.

 

Informations

Pour plus d’information téléphonez au 514-736-0318 ou 514-506-4382, demandez Anaïs Janin ou par courriel à info@artial.qc.ca oukwe@artial.qc.ca .

Le prix est le suivant (toutes les activités sontincluses dans ce prix): 10$ pour les étudiants et les ainés de plus de 65 ans, ou 20$ pour le public en général.  Inscriptions ouvertes dés à présent. Vous pouvez transmettre l’information aux personnes qui seraient intéressées par un tel évènement.

 

Nous remercions nos partenaires principaux : Le Conseil des arts de Montréal et le Festival interculturel du conte du Québec.

Au plaisir de vous compter parmi nous fin octobre!

L’équipe d’Artial

 

Hello,

Artial is pleased to invite you to the second edition of its colloquium-forum, which will take place from October 26 to 28 in Montréal. Artial seeks to continue its research into what makescontemporary Native art practices original by adopting the theme of orality, and how orality is reflected in Native art. The theme of this year’s colloquium is thus: “Orality in Contemporary Native Artistic Practices”. On this occasion you will have the pleasure of learning from and exchanging with Native artists and practitioners.

 

Themes Addressed

In this era of social media, speech has never been more prominent. But when is speech part of the artistic scene?  Are talking and orality the same?  What form does narration take in the present ? How is orality transformed and translated by the visual arts?  Under what conditions will Native oral traditions be renewed and reinforced?

 

Who should participate in the colloquium?

Everyone (students, teachers and curious), Native or non-Native, who is interested in contemporary Aboriginal art, Professionals in the art scene.

Everyone interested in learning more about orality’s place in contemporary society..

 

Information

For more information contact us at : 514-736-0318 or 514-506-4382 or by email at info@artial.qc.ca or kwe@artial.qc.ca.

The registration price is the following (all the activities are included in the price): 10$ for students and seniors, 20$ for the general public. Registration is now open. Please share this information with anyone who may be interested.

 

We gratefully acknowledge the support of our main partners: The Montreal Arts Council and the Festival Interculturel du Conte du Québec.

We look forward to seeing you at the end of October!

 Artial’s Team.  

On June 21, 2011, Walk4Justice began their long walk from Vancouver, Coast Salish Territory to Ottawa, Algonquin Territory to raise awareness about the plight of the far too many (over 3000) missing and murdered Indigenous women across Turtle Island (Canada). On Monday, September 19, they will be ending their walk at Parliament Hill where they will continue demanding justice for these women and their families. 

Please come out and show your support for the walkers. Bring your banners, signs or placards and good spirit to the rally!

March & Rally
Monday, September 19
9am at Minwaashin Lodge (424 Catherine St), 10am Parliament Hill

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=112167435552467

Please join the walkers at Minwaashin Lodge at 9am and walk with them to Parliament Hill.  If you can’t make it then, please come to the rally on Parliament Hill at 10am.

Feast and Fund-raiser 
Monday, September 19
5:30pm at Mac Hall on 211 Bronson Ave.

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=242669869108872

Community celebration, feast, entertainment, and fundraiser! Featuring Walk4Justice co-founders Gladys Radek & Bernie Williams and Beverley Jacobs from Families of Sisters in Spirit.  Headliners for the performance: Elaine Kicknosway, Nancy Myatt, Vera Wabegijig, Sandy Scofield, Elizabeth Riley Band and Jamie Koebel!

Please spread the word! Check out our awesome performers athttp://www.ipsmo.org<http://www.ipsmo.org/> .
 

These 2 events are part of the 30 Days of Justice organized by the Families of Sisters in Spirit and their allies. “30 Days of Justice” brings together families of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and the wider Ottawa communities to raise critical awareness on the violence against Indigenous women and demand justice and accountability for the disappeared and murdered women. For more details and other events during the 30 Days of Justice:http://30daysofjustice.wordpress.com<http://30daysofjustice.wordpress.com/> 

About Walk4Justice

The Walk4Justice is a nonprofit organization that was created by donation and volunteer since January 2008. Gladys Radek and Bernie Williams co-founded this group to raise awareness about the plight of the far too many missing and murdered women across Canada. Their supporters consist of family members who have lost their loved ones across the nation and grassroots women and men from all walks of life. Together with their supporters, the Walk4Justice demands justice, closure, equality and accountability.

Gladys’s niece, Tamara Lynn Chipman disappeared off Highway 16 out of Prince Rupert, BC, now dubbed the Highway of Tears in northern British Columbia. She vanished without a trace on September 21, 2005. Bernie is a long time advocate and voice for the women who have been forced to live on the streets of Canada’s poorest postal code, the DTES. She has been a frontline worker in the DTES for 25 years. Her mother and two sisters were also victims of violence who were murdered in the DTES over the years.

For more info: http://fnbc.info/walk4justice

About Families of Sisters in Spirit (FSIS)

FSIS is a volunteer grassroots non-profit organization led by families of missing and murdered Indigenous women in Canada with the support of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities. FSIS was the vision of one family member named Bridget Tolley, an Algonquin grandmother and activist from the Kitigan Zibi First Nation whose mother was killed by a Quebec provincial (SQ) police car in 2001 with the ongoing support of Beverley Jacobs, Mohawk grandmother from Grand-River Territory, whose cousin Tashina General, pregnant with her son Tucker, was murdered in 2008, and non-Aboriginal student and activist Kristen Gilchrist. Together we are working to end violence, challenge interconnected inequalities in Canadian society, and transform ourselves and the world around us.

Visit their FB page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Families-of-Sisters-in-Spirit/169989823049052

See you there!!

DAY OF ACTION TO SUPPORT THE ALGONQUINS OF BARRIERE LAKE

DAY OF ACTION TO SUPPORT THE ALGONQUINS OF BARRIERE LAKE!

DEMAND THAT CANADA RESPECT BARRIERE LAKE'S TRADITIONAL GOVERNMENT AND TRAILBLAZING ENVIRONMENTAL AGREEMENTS

MONDAY DECEMBER 13,
MARCH STARTS AT NOON, PARLIAMENT HILL, ENDS AT THE OFFICE OF THE MINISTER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, CONFEDERATION BUILDING (BANK AND WELLINGTON)

Supported by: Canadian Union of Postal Workers, Canadian Union of Public Employees, Public Service Alliance of Canada, Council of Canadians, KAIROS, the New Democratic Party, Green Party, Christian Peacemaker Teams, Mining Watch, Indigenous Peoples Solidarity Movement-Ottawa, Barriere Lake Solidarity-Toronto, Barriere Lake Solidarity-Montreal

For more info and to download flyers: www.barrierelakesolidarity.org, www.ipsmo.org

What if a foreign regime was destroying your system of government, so it could then steal your resources and prevent you from environmentally protecting your homeland? This is what the Harper Government and federal bureaucrats are doing to the First Nation of Barriere Lake.

For more than two decades, the Algonquins of Barriere Lake have been demonstrating environmental leadership to the rest of Canada, campaigning to stop destructive clear-cut logging and to implement a sustainable development plan in their homeland in north-western Quebec.

But multi-national forestry corporations and government bureaucrats have refused to honour any of the agreements signed with Barriere Lake. They have tried at every turn to undermine the small community, one of the poorest in the country, and prevent them from implementing and realizing their vision for the protection and stewardship of the forests.

The David-vs-Goliath story now has a dark new twist: the Conservative government and bureaucrats in Indian and Northern Affairs Canada are interfering in Barriere Lake’s internal affairs, using section 74 of the Indian Act to forcibly assimilate and destroy the community's traditional government -- a traditional government the community has used for countless generations and which maintains their hunting way of life and respect for the environment. 

Led by Barriere Lake youth, the overwhelming majority of the community are struggling to preserve their traditional government, so they can continue protecting the watersheds, forests, wildlife and lands for all future generations, Native and non-Native.

The Harper government is violating the Canadian Constitution, which protects the Aboriginal right to self-government. They are violating the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous peoples, even though they have now endorsed it.

Join the Algonquins of Barriere Lake on Parliament Hill as they demand the Harper government and federal bureaucrats reject the use of section 74 and respect the community's traditional government and  vision for environmental protection!

:: BACKGROUND: HOW IS THE GOVERNMENT DESTROYING BARRIERE LAKE'S TRADITIONAL GOVERNMENT? AND WHY? ::

The government has used an archaic section of the Indian Act – section 74 – to unilaterally impose a different system of government on Barriere Lake. 

Barriere Lake’s traditional government – open to community members who have connection to the land, and in which Elders guide potential leaders and safeguard their customs – ensures that community members maintain their connection to the land and their hunting way of life. The band council electoral system the Harper government has imposed destroys the sacred governance bond the community has with the land. By breaking Barriere Lake's connection to the land, the Canadian and Quebec governments hope to get away with violating trailblazing environmental agreements and with illegally clear-cutting in Barriere Lake's traditional territory.

The overwhelming majority of community members want to protect their traditional governance system, but the bureaucrats in Indian and Northern Affairs Canada are spreading the misinformation that they are only a small group.

Through the summer, the Indian and Northern Affairs Canada bureaucracy ran an illegal process, imposed by the Quebec police, to bring the new system into the community. Fewer than a dozen ballots were sent in to nominate candidates for an Indian Act Chief and Council, who where then seated by acclamation. Meanwhile, almost 200 community members had signed a resolution rejecting this process! That represents a majority of community members who are eligible to participate in their political process.

Even the acclaimed Chief resigned in protest, refusing to break ranks with the community's majority. But four rogue band councillors with no community support have been illegally making decisions on behalf of Barriere Lake ever since. Shuttled to secret meetings with forestry companies and government officials, these councilors are being used by the government to derail Barriere Lake's precedent-setting environmental agreements and to facilitate illegal clear-cut logging.

Youth in the community are leading the movement to protect their traditional government and to heal and overcome the community divisions created by the internal meddling of government bureaucrats.

They are demanding the Harper Government cancel the imposition on Barriere Lake of the section 74 Indian Act band council system and respect their right to select leaders according to their traditional system of governmen

Information pour laisser vos commentaires

Ici en bas vous trouverez les noms et courriels du président et du doyen d'arts de notre université

Président de l'université :

Allan Rock
President and Vice-Chancellor
Tabaret Hall, room 212
(613)562-5809
president@uOttawa.ca 


Doyen d'Arts:
Antoni Lewkowicz
Pav. Simard, salle113
Tél: 613-562-5705 
deanarts@uOttawa.ca

Public event: Indigenous Peoples threatened with extinction in Colombia

Last month, Colombia’s National Organization of Indigenous Peoples (ONIC) brought a devastating message to a special session of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: at least 64 of Colombia’s 102 Indigenous Peoples are at risk of physical or cultural extinction in the face of the devastating effects of an ongoing internal armed conflict and the imposition of development projects in Indigenous lands without their free, prior and informed consent. When an Indigenous people disappears, so too does its culture, spirituality, language, ancestral knowledge and traditional practices - indeed a whole world is extinguished forever. The ONIC has launched an international campaign to respond to this emergency, and is calling “on humanity to recognise the situation of risk to Indigenous Peoples as everyone’s problem”.

Come hear two leaders of the ONIC speak about this courageous Campaign for Survival and Dignity and how you can support it.

• Dora Tavera Riaño of the Pijao People is ONIC's Councillor for Women, Family and Generation
• Flaminio Onogama Gutierrez of the Embera People is ONIC’s Councillor for the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights and Peace

When: Wednesday December 8th at 7 PM

Where: Amnesty House, 312 Laurier East in Ottawa (between Russell and Chapel).

For more information or to get involved, contact pjkelsall@hotmail.com