Author Archives: slerch

This is an online petition opposing the Enbridge pipeline. I am not sure who put this website up, but it claims to have the backing of over 100 First nations groups and allows them to have a strong online presence and solidarity against companies like Enbridge. It asks you to sign, I was the 26, 248^th signature, then immediately asks you to spread the word via Facebook, Twitter, or using your email. I also received an email asking me to forward the information to others. This is as good a way as any to get the word out, and it demonstrates that BC First nations are on the cutting edge of online activism. You could also use this in your class to discuss citizenship, activism, the power of people, First Nations issues or environmentalism.

http://savethefraser.ca/

This website summarises BC First Nations’ resistance to the Enbridge proposal for a pipeline through Alberta and British Columbia. It describes the pipeline proposal using an interactive Google map, environmental impacts such as oil spills and increased tanker traffic on BC’s West Coast, the history of the movement against Enbridge, and exposes Enbridge’s notorious history. This website is well-put together using easy to use features such as interactive timelines and videos. The message is clear and convincing and they provide many ways to support them through events, social media, petitions and donations. They also managed to get high up in Google’s search list when you search Enbridge.

http://pipeupagainstenbridge.ca/

This is a CBC radio podcast called Unreserved that I found from listening to other CBC podcasts. It is about indigenous community, culture and conversation and is full of topics that resonate with today’s Aboriginal youth. Just on the most recent podcast they interviewed the recent Polaris Prize winner and long time Cree First Nations singer Buffy Saint Marie for her album, “Power in the Blood”. Many topics in this podcast have the potential to boost pride and hope for First Nations youth. Another story discussed a successful program where First Nations students go to a Boarding school in Manitoba called Southeast Collegiate for ten months a year. This high tech, modern way of reaching First nations youth has the potential to do a lot of real good as well as keeping the general public informed about positive First Nations issues.

http://www.cbc.ca/radio/unreserved

This is CBC’s news section on aboriginal issues. This is a space where people can share First Nations Art, Culture and news. As always with CBC, there is a comments section so that readers can interact with each other. Topics include, First Nations politics, alerts and news about missing persons, updates on activism, and an arts section. This professional site is valuable because it is updated regularly with issues that matter to Aboriginal people and it carries weight because it is part of the CBC. It also provides a data base to search through if you are researching an issue. Although I am not sure how much control First Nations people have over the content.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/aboriginal

This is the sister to the Native drum site and focuses on dancing. It claims to have over 100 videos of dancing and interviews, all of which need converting in order to play, due to their age. There are samples of at least nine different tribes’ styles of dancing. It includes a teacher’s resource kit and a curriculum correlation guide to help connect to your provinces mandated learning objectives.

Home

This website is dedicated to First nations culture and Music in Canada. There are sections teaching about drums, masks, stories, and myths. The website seems very extensive, but it is also very text-heavy. Most of the pages are crammed with words, very few pictures and the links to sounds and music are dead. I managed to download a great movie describing all the aspects around drumming and dancing, but the format was older and needed to be converted before watching. The information is well sourced with long list of resources.

Home

This is a website about the Blackfoot people of south-eastern British Columbia and south-western Alberta. It claims to be an ethno ecological study and an attempt to preserve traditional knowledge online. There is an interactive flash game, which links to audio clips, its purpose is a little confusing, but it has some useful information. This website, contains some interesting videos of elders speaking about their experiences in residential schools and knowledge about local traditions, but it feels like it hasn’t been updated for awhile.

http://www.galileo.org/initiatives/moka-meyo/english/index.html

This is an educational resource, created by the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History about the American Indians of the northern Plains, which focuses around a painting on a Buffalo hide. As your mouse hovers over a section of the painting it lights up and you can link to information on it.

The theme of the website focuses on the many uses of the buffalo hide and how these people’s lives centered on it. There are many questions encouraging inquiry and emphasizing historical significance. The website uses pictures of original artifacts stored in the museum’s archives next to quotes, all primary source evidence adding to its legitimacy. There are also teachers’ guides with worksheets making it easy for a teacher to use. The only criticism that I would have is that it still uses the word “Indian” something that is politically incorrect in Canada, but might be an identifier for them.

http://americanhistory.si.edu/buffalo/

This website includes a series of videos and narrations that begin by describing the First Nations point of view of the world and their creation story. After the introduction, the website allows the user to choose between 5 different Aboriginal groups in North America. Within each group’s section the user can learn about the philosophies, history and traditions of that tribe. You can see the theme of interconnectedness throughout all the groups, which helps give the user a better perspective and compare several major tribes within one website.

As a teacher, I would use this website for student projects during a First Nations unit in Social Studies. It is easy to navigate and the animations are eye catching, entertaining and informative. The information on the site was obtained through oral history told by elders in each community, as stated in their “about section”, so in a way you are dealing with primary sources.

http://www.fourdirectionsteachings.com/