M e d i a
By Gabbi Van Looyen, The Charlatan,聽March 24 2015
The Odawa centre
The centre is appealing, arguing they provide a culturally appropriate environment for its Aboriginal clients that will not be available at other drop-in centres.
Offering three meals a day, laundry facilities, and transition counselling, the centre provides a daytime haven during the week for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people who are homeless.
鈥淲e鈥檙e the only Aboriginal drop-in centre in Ottawa, so how can we be duplicating services?鈥� co-ordinator Carrie Diabo said.
The centre has gone up against City Hall before. When the drop-in centre was slated to apply for a re-zoning permit in 2005, many community residents petitioned against having an Aboriginal outreach centre nearby.
鈥淭heir justification was there鈥檚 going to be a lot more crime and a lot more drugs,鈥� Diabo said.
After attending a recent City Hall meeting concerning the centre鈥檚 appeal on March 11, she said she believes the city prevented media from hearing the decisions being reached.
鈥淲hen they started talking about the centre and homelessness, they switched to French,鈥� she said. 鈥淎lmost all the media there were from Ontario.鈥�
She said much of the reporting lacks enough background knowledge to be conducted fairly.
鈥淵ou can write an article, but do you really know what you鈥檙e talking about?鈥� she said.
Addressing ignorance
The event this year, Life Lived like a Story, showcased Aboriginal artists from all over North America who have found success through the arts.
Much of the underlying theme of the conference addressed stereotypes and media framing of Aboriginal peoples.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a huge amount of ignorance out there,鈥� Ryan said. 鈥淧eople are not learning about Aboriginal culture in Canada . . . apart from 鈥榶es, there were Aboriginal people here, and they helped the settlers get settled.鈥� Then somehow, they disappear from the narratives.鈥�
For the past decade, the New Sun Conference has been trying to address this on-going problem by providing these counter-narratives to bridge the gap between non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal people in Canada.
Healing narratives
鈥淚t is very important that we tell our stories,鈥� he said, adding non-Aboriginal people have been telling their stories for them for so long.
His role as a teacher and advocate resonates in his work. While explaining the meaning behind his series on residential schools, he talked a lot about his collection of family photos, many featuring his biological parents during their time at these schools. He could pick them out in the photographs but all the other children where nameless.
鈥淚 wanted to give them their dignity back,鈥� he said.
Littlechild said rediscovering Indigenous identities in Canada, along with his own, continues to inspire his art today.
As an actress, Horn is best known for her roles in the Netflix series Hemlock Grove and Defiance, and commented on a recent audition season in Los Angeles.
鈥淚鈥檓 tired of telling other people鈥檚 stories that I don鈥檛 even care about,鈥� she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 ready to tell my own stories now.鈥�
Miguel talked about her own experiences as an Indigenous woman trying to bury her identity.
鈥淚 was trying to get away from all the hurt and the pain . . . I was trying to be human,鈥� she said.
It was her daughter who taught her to embrace her culture again and tell stories through her plays.
鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 heard those drums in 25 years and that鈥檚 why I started crying,鈥� Miguel said. 鈥淎 year after that powwow, I made a trip back to my roots.鈥�
With renewed strength, Miguel has been teaching audiences the importance of Indigenous peoples telling their own stories all over New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United States, and Europe for the last 39 years.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not that they聽didn鈥檛 know how to tell stories before or that they didn鈥檛 know how to write . . . Those stories were repressed and they were told they had no value,鈥� Ryan said.
Sharing their voice
鈥淭here鈥檚 this heavy thing called oppression in my community . . . you can see it on the faces of the kids,鈥� Kanatakta said. 鈥淵ou have to have your teachings.鈥�
Digging Roots tells their stories through music, incorporating traditional Indigenous song lines that create a reflection of the landscape through music.
鈥淢usic becomes the language that we use to understand the world,鈥� Kish said.
This connection to the land is universal not only in Indigenous cultures, but for all people.
鈥淣o matter where you travel, people are connected to the land and feel that heartbeat,鈥� Kanatakta said.
Ryan remarked on the inherent power this conference has to change public perceptions about Indigenous聽peoples. He said he remembers when the late Joy Harvie Maclaren first came to the New Sun Conference.
鈥淪he walked in the room鈥攁nd she鈥檇 been about 90 per cent blind since she鈥檇 turned 70鈥攁nd said, 鈥楽omething鈥檚 happening here,鈥欌�� he said.
Much of this speaks to the atmosphere of the conference.
鈥淧eople get inspired by that conference and go home and dig things out from the basement because it鈥檚 all about creative energy,鈥� he said.
Media framing
鈥淭here鈥檚 a creative energy that non-native people had no idea was there, largely because the stories in the media are about Aboriginal victimization,鈥� Ryan explains.
He cites a recent example concerning the People鈥檚 Gathering on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls hosted at 杏吧原创.
鈥淭he Dean of Arts was invited to speak at that Friday morning and then came to the New Sun Conference on Saturday, and his blog this week contrasted the two in terms of overwhelming despair with a powerful sense of hope, as he put it,鈥� Ryan said.
Kanatakta also addressed Canadians鈥� negative perception of Aboriginal peoples.
鈥淭here鈥檚 an undertone of racism in this country and people have a tough time realizing it,鈥� Kanatakta said.
Despite this obstacle, he said non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal people can come to a common ground. He believes by trying to find commonalities instead of our differences, the gaps can start to be bridged.
Ryan remembered a student who had attended the conference in past years.
鈥淗e said, 鈥業 thought they were going to be talking about their life over there . . . and within five minutes they were talking about my life,鈥欌�� he said.
As awareness grows about media framing, Ryan said聽the next step involves sharing knowledge to prevent victimization.
鈥淚t comes back to Indigenous scholar Thomas King. . . 鈥榊ou can do what you want with these stories, but don鈥檛 say in the years to come that you would have lived your life differently if you鈥檇 heard them,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou鈥檝e heard them now.鈥欌��
A presentation of the New Sun Chair in Aboriginal Art and聽Culture
with the support of the Dean of Arts and Social Sciences and the New Sun Fund
administered by the Community Foundation of Ottawa, plus the generosity of private聽donors