Tag Archives: Indigenous

The River, The People and The Industry: The damming history of the Ottawa River Watershed BY LEVELLER WEB PUBLISHER ⋅ NOVEMBER 17, 2015 ⋅

This article found in the Leveller discusses the public educational event where Peter Di Gangi told the story of the Ottawa River Watershed. Peter Di Gangi is the Research Director for Algonquin Nations Secretariat.  The story explains how Di Gangi shared the long history of development along the Ottawa river and describes how native communities have been profoundly affected.  Development decisions have altered the landscape, have had environmental impacts and forced communities to change their way of life.  The discussion of pending wind turbine projects in Ontario lead Di Gangi to explain how Aboriginal communities are not in agreement in whether they support the projects and conversations between communities are ongoing.  He reinforces the point that Aboriginal views on ecological matters are too often assumed to be homogenous.

 

http://www.leveller.ca/2015/11/ottawa-river-watershed/

Module 4 Entry 1
Brendan Clark

4.3: 8th Fire Dispatches

Website: 8th Fire Dispatches 

8th Fire is a four-part mini-series from CBC that examines the past, present, and future of Canada’s relationship to its indigenous peoples. The mini-series’ website includes many resources relevant to indigenous knowledge. Two that I want to highlight are “Maps” and “Aboriginal Filmmakers”.

The “Maps” section includes a series of thematic maps that can be layered over the map of Canada. One map is a Stories Map, which includes dispatches from different First Nation voices across Canada. These dispatches focus on a variety of topics including history and culture to economic development projects. The Treaties and Land Claims map provides a visual overview of historic treaties, Peace and Friendship Treaties, settled land claims areas, and unsettled land claims areas.

The “Aboriginal Filmmakers” section profiles a handful of Aboriginal filmmakers. Profiles are linked to “dispatches” that the filmmakers have created for CBC as part of the 8th Fire Series. Most of these dispatches are short documentaries. I feel this dispatch from Jessie Fraser is timely with our recent discussions around Inuit in Nunavut: An Inuk Reporter in Iqaluit

4.2: Agreements, Treaties, and Negotiated Settlements Project

Website: Agreements, Treaties, and Negotiated Settlements Project 

http://www.atns.net.au/

This organization began as an Australia Research Council (ARC) Linkage Project, and has to date conducted three major research projects. These projects focus primarily on the relationship between the Australian government and indigenous Australians. The projects are:

2002- Agreements, Treaties and Negotiated Settlements with Indigenous Peoples in Settler States; their Role and Relevance.

2006- The Implementation of Agreements and Treaties with Indigenous and Local Peoples in Postcolonial States.

2010 – Poverty in the Midst of Plenty: Economic Empowerment, Wealth Creation and Institutional Reform for Sustainable Indigenous and Local Communities.

In addition to this research, the site includes a plethora of information relating to agreements that have been made between indigenous peoples and governments in Australia and globally. One particularly useful feature is a Latest News feed, which provides “land-claim” related stories from around the world. This feature is useful because in addition to the link, it provides background context and a short summation.  ATNS also hosted a major symposium in June of 2013 focusing on indigenous and land claims issues in Australia. Many of the conference sessions are available for online streaming. Topics include “Co-management: agreement making for Cultural and Economic Sustainability” and “Getting the Benefit from Delivering Benefits: Relationship Building in Native Title Negotiations”.

Two Row Times

Two Row Times: The Spirit of all Nations

Two Row Times is an Ontario based weekly print and online newspaper which covers Indigenous issues. Local, regional, national and international news stories are featured, as well  arts, sports and health & wellness. There is quite a variety of topics which are covered. For people like me, who have never attended a pow-wow, there is a useful article on the Do’s and Don’t of attending pow-wows.

I was also impressed at the number of social media outlets utilized.

social media links

3.5: Indigenous Maps, Films, and Land Claims Certificate

Indigenous Maps, Films, and Land Claims Certificate

In my research on indigenous film, I stumbled upon this intriguing certificate offered by the University of Fraser Valley. The three-course certificate aims to provide learners with a deeper understanding of the land claims process. In the first course, students study the practical challenges of creating maps to support land claims. In the second course, students study how film, other forms of representational media, and direct action can bring attention to land claims issues. In the third course, students embed themselves in Stó:lõ culture to study the Stó:lõ Nation’s legal, political, and economic land struggles.

Centre for Social Justice – Aboriginal Issues

Social JusticeResearching both our module on discrimination and in conjunction with my research topic, I came across the Centre for Social Justice webpage.  This organization’s aim is to fight inequalities in income, wealth and power.  Within this website is a section on Aboriginal issues.  The organization focuses on a historical context, healthcare inequalities, employment barriers and educational issues.  This website is a good resource for statistics and building a general understanding of  potential inequalities which could be fueling stereotypes of Indigenous people.

To view this website: http://www.socialjustice.org/index.php?page=aboriginal-issues

Ronaye Kooperberg (Module 2 – Post 5)

IC Magazine – A Publication of the Center for World Indigenous Studies

Module 1 – Post 2

https://intercontinentalcry.org/about/

This online magazine that has been around for the past 10 years, includes over 3000 articles that cater to the world’s Indigenous Peoples. Some of the articles outline their rights, interests, needs, hopes and contemporary challenges. The magazine’s motto reads, “To educate, inform, challenge and inspire the international community.”

1.1: TEBTEBBA (Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy Research and Education)

Website: TEBTEBBA

Tebtebba  is an indigenous word from northern Phillipines that can be roughly translated to mean addressing issues of concern through the discussion of diverse viewpoints, with the aim of reaching common positions and focused actions. This organization is also known as The Indigenous Peoples’ International Centre for Policy Research and Education, and the organizations holds consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC)  

Indigenous communities across the globe are often isolated minorities who are subjected to government and corporate abuses, which can lead to a sense of powerlessness. Tebtebba’s mandate is to bring representatives of diverse indigenous peoples’ organizations and communities together to advocate for indigenous groups facing injustices worldwide. On the main page, there is a plethora of resources available for community leaders. For example, there is a curriculum entitled “Indigenous Peoples Sustainable, Self-Determine Development: A Training Course for Community Trainers” which includes modules on human rights, the global struggles of indigenous peoples, and building sustainable indigenous economies. The site also includes an online database of Tebtebba research and articles and links to other indigenous peoples’ organizations and networks, which are very useful for learning more about the struggles of specific indigenous groups worldwide.

Digital Technology for Indigenous Empowerment – Christensen Fund.org

I’m posting a link to a site that was really interesting not only for my research but because of our readings and discussion in the last couple of weeks.  This is a blog post from 2012 that contains three ways Indigenous cultures in different places in the world have used different kinds of technology.

In one part called “Preserving, Celebrating and Transmitting Culture” the blogger talks about the Mursi tribe in Ethiopia, they use digital cameras to shoot film footage documenting the “richness of their tribe and their struggles.” They are using this technology to give their people a voice and represent themselves to the outside world. In this case study they also mention Isuma TV which Zacharias Kunuk created in 2008 which is described as an “Indigenous YouTube channel for Inuit and other Aboriginal Peoples.”

https://www.christensenfund.org/2012/09/05/digital-technology-for-indigenous-empowerment/

The Christensen Fund itself is an organization that supports biological and cultural diversity and believe in their interdependence. They have a long mission statement if you care to follow the link.