Cha Nimke Nagwagin Kwe, also known as Jasmin Glaw, is an Indigenous artist and youth advocate working in the city of Hamilton. Most of Glaw’s design work centralizes around themes of identity, belonging and teachings of the strawberry, or heart berry, the plant representation of woman.
As a child, Glaw spent time between her home in Hamilton and her mother’s home community of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation. From an early age, Glaw was intrigued by the process of laying out designs and bringing them to life, altering thrift shop finds and restoring something old into something new.
As a member of a generation of children who were not raised on reserve, thus lacking exposure to traditional knowledge, Glaw was motivated to become the self-driven artist and advocate that she is today.
Today, Glaw uses her work as a platform for advocacy and education, creating pieces that hold traditional meaning and resonate with audiences of all backgrounds.
“When creating a design I really try to think about the purpose behind its creation. Much like the rest of the population, I seek purpose in myself, my work and my relationships,” said Glaw.
“How will this piece convey purpose? With this active application of mindfulness, I try to connect my pieces to the world we live in and challenges that we face every day.”
“When creating a design I really try to think about the purpose behind its creation. Much like the rest of the population, I seek purpose in myself, my work, and my relationships,"
Jasmin Glaw
Indigenous artist
This past Supercrawl, Glaw designed the “Missing Heart Berry,” a textile design/artistic advocacy piece that uses Traditional Jingle Dress Regalia in order to create a platform for awareness of the current crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada.
The strawberry, or heart berry, serves as the plant representation of a woman. Similar to the plant, women create life, unapologetically hold a host of emotions, model the ability to forgive and stands as a symbol of reconciliation. As this piece was created for women, Glaw thought it to be appropriate to acknowledge the strawberry.
The design also attributes similarities to the red coat worn by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The long history of colonialism, oppression, discrimination and assimilation of Indigenous people, enforced by the RCMP, proved to be a fitting factor as to why the dress mocks the red coat. This aspect of the design is meant to represent the abuse of power and lack of support that has been demonstrated by the Canadian government.
Glaw stresses that there have been some respectful allies within the RCMP and Canadian government who seek to support the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, but still believes there is a steep mountain to climb.
“Since I dreamt of this piece, it has been my hope that it would impress the importance of a well-intentioned national inquiry so that the families of the [Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada] are met with peace and that the spirits of their lost ones are no longer wandering, but rather found and guided to the Creator,” said Glaw.
Glaw often finds herself turning to art or design to decompress or to find peace of mind. Basic design practices, including beading, helps Glaw to clear the mind of obstacles faced and to make space for creative exploration within herself.
Using creative freedom to craft projects with meaning and purpose, one of Glaw’s hopes is to help promote reconciliation and create unique opportunities for learning more about Indigenous people in Canada.
“The Missing Heart Berry project’s purpose was to bring awareness to the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (#MMIWG) in Canada,” said Glaw. “This issue is something that has been affecting our communities for years, but somehow hasn’t resonated with the rest of Canada. Therefore, by giving a design purpose I can use it as a vehicle for sharing a message or for promoting awareness around a certain topic.”
Established in early 2017 by Glaw and Jessica Lea Fleming, The Sweetgrass Sisters Collective seeks to empower and strengthen the local Indigenous community via traditional and contemporary programming, networking and performance opportunities.
One of the major goals for the collective is to preserve knowledge and culture with three guiding, interwoven pieces.
Another major goal is to connect Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in order to create space for dialogue surrounding key issues, including Indigenous representation in the media, access to cultural opportunities outside of the GTA and to create a cross cultural platform for community players to learn and share from one another.
With support from the Ontario Arts Council and the City of Hamilton Canada 150 Fund, the first organized event for The Sweetgrass Sisters Collective entitled Howling Moons: A Celebration of Indigenous Performance and Culture takes place Sept. 30 at the Art Gallery of Hamilton and Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts.
Daytime programming will take place at the Fischer Gallery at the AGH and will feature teachings from local Knowledge Keepers and Hoop Dance performers in addition to a talking circle with award winning dancer Nimkii Osawamick from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory.
Evening programming will follow at the HCA Recital Hall. The event will be hosted by Jessie Goyette (Algonquin/Métis) and will feature live performances by hip hop artist chllly (Mohawk / Jamaican) and celebrated headliner, Iskwé (Cree / Dené / Irish). The evening will conclude with a one-hour set by DJ Ariel (Blackfoot/Cree/Ojibway).
Following Howling Moons, Glaw also plans to delve further into leatherwork to incorporate into her designs.
Glaw’s work ultimately encompasses teaching and advocacy into traditional Indigenous designs and pave the way towards her long term goals, which include to help motivate and encourage Indigenous youth to invest more time in learning about culture and language, to empower mixed-race Indigenous peoples to stand proud of their identity and to seek more strawberry teachings from her elders to apply to future design work.
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By: Abeera Shahid
Oct. 24 marked the 71st anniversary of the United Nations. With this milestone in mind, The Hamilton branch of the United Nations of Association in Canada and the First Unitarian Church of Hamilton held a panel to create a space for conversation on Canada’s engagement with the UN, specifically in the context of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The event featured panelists including Stacey LaForme, Chief of the Mississaugas of the New Credit First Nation, Pete Doolittle, Community Relations Administrator for Brantford Native Housing, Sarah Dover, a lawyer who represents and works with Indigenous people, and Hannah Martin, a Mi’kmaq Indigenous Studies student at McMaster.
The discussion centered around Canada’s official adoption of UNDRIP as announced in May 2016, nine years after the declaration was passed by the General Assembly.
“When the UN formally published their report, Canada voted no, as well as the U.S, Australia and New Zealand… all of those countries have a large Indigenous population. So there were obviously political reasons why those governments said no, we are not going to support this even though majority of the UN did,” said Doolittle.
Panelists provided insight as to why Canada was against the declaration and expressed their reservations about the UNDRIP announcement considering its provisions are challenging to implement and conflict with current legislation.
“Canada was saying we like our native people, we are proud of our Indigenous people. And so the statements they used were one of ownership and Canada doesn’t own native people but yet they treat us that way… some of that has continued on, you get the Indian Act, we are being told as native people how to behave in Canada’s house,” explained Doolittle.
The Canadian government’s historical and ongoing mistreatment of Indigenous people has resulted in a relationship tainted by mistrust. UNDRIP is designed to reconsider the power balance and provide indigenous people with a voice.
“The First Nations people could gain power [through UNDRIP] … to veto projects that the government proposes such as environmental projects ... that big corporations try to implement, that of Alton gas in Nova Scotia and the hydroelectric dam in Peace River, BC, and the Dakota Access Pipeline at Standing Rock, North Dakota,” said Martin.
Hence, consultation with indigenous people will be essential for UNDRIP to go from an aspirational vision to tangible actions.
“I believe that for something like the UNDRIP to be implemented, it needs to happen on indigenous people’s agendas and all indigenous people’s agendas, not just one group because there are many different nations,” explained Martin.
When asked about some of the pertinent Indigenous issues that need to be addressed, the panelists were passionate in sharing how the effects of colonialism still prevail today.
“The white paper, the Indian Act, is still alive and kicking… there are more [Indigenous] children in [government care] today than there were ever in residential schools,” said Doolittle.
Despite all the challenges facing Indigenous communities, all the panelists maintained a sense of hope and optimism while emphasizing the importance of supporting each other.
“We are native people of Turtle Island, we support each other. We also support people with the good, not only with the angst and having to defend ourselves but we are also there to support each other for the good too,” said Doolittle.
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Before we concluded our interview, Hannah Martin shared a poem from the late Mik’maq poet and songwriter Rita Joe.
“I am the Indian/And the burden/Lies yet with me.”
Martin, too, is Mik’maq. As a First Nations person, and a member of the McMaster Indigenous Student Community Alliance, she personally identified that burden as a distinct responsibility to educate, and to make real the long history of the overlooked injustices of indigenous people across Canada.
The federal government’s work in addressing the issues faced by Indigenous communities across Canada has largely been seen as inadequate. The 2015 Truth and Reconciliation commission pointed out the failure to meet proper Indigenous curriculum standards throughout the country. Education on Indigenous culture, as well as the historical atrocities committed against Indigenous peoples, is only recommended and not mandatory in the public education system, even in a time where residential school survivors and victims of the Sixties Scoop — the practice of taking Indigenous children from their families and putting them in the foster care system — are still facing the repercussions of these tragedies.
Martin and her colleagues are frustrated, but also deeply driven to promote dialogue around MISCA’s latest initiative: mandatory Indigenous courses at McMaster University.
The petition
The Change.org petition was drafted by the student community association as a means of addressing the gaps in Indigenous awareness and education. Similar student movements have been successful at implementing an undergraduate Indigenous studies credit requirement at both Lakehead University and the University of Winnipeg. Preliminary discussions among the faculty of Indigenous studies have already begun taking place.
“I think a lot of what is wrong with Indigenous relations in this country is that it has been simplified for people.”
MISCA’s petition is calling for the implementation of mandatory Indigenous courses in recognition of the University’s location on historical Haudenosaunee land. The association also considers it an integral part of the reconciliation process recommended by the Truth and Reconciliation Council’s Calls to Action.
Educational structure
The logistics of implementing a required Indigenous studies credit have yet to be worked out by the University, the Faculty of Indigenous studies and MISCA’s members. While the latter two are looking to the University of Winnipeg and Lakehead University for guidance, the requirement will only begin for students enrolling in the 2016 fall school year, so the results remain to be seen.
In Winnipeg, students will be able to choose from a list of three-credit courses spanning across departments that will fulfill the requirement. Lakehead has offered a similarly flexible approach, as there is a significant number of pre-existing courses that have a minimum of 18 hours of content related to Indigenous issues ranging across different departments. Lakehead has explicitly committed to adding no additional costs for the students that need to fulfill this requirement.
Both universities have pushed themselves away from the implementation of a mass, one-size-fits-all course, and similar attitudes have been shared by members of MISCA and the Faculty of Indigenous studies.
McMaster’s Indigenous Studies’ Academic Director Dr. Rick Monture identified several concerns with the implementation of mandatory Indigenous courses. Monture said that the discussions have only begun to take place, and it is too early to tell where the additional resources needed to provide a greater range of Indigenous courses for different faculties could come from. Furthermore, the faculty is weary of potential tensions that could arise by making Indigenous studies a mandatory academic components, and wants to avoid creating potentially detrimental learning environments. While Monture and his colleagues are happy to be discussing the possibilities of this initiative with the University, he personally recognizes the difficulty of working with professors’ academic freedom and the limited scope of their own expertise.
“I think that sort of points to a big issue of people thinking that teaching Indigenous stuff is simple and that it’s kind of an easy fix to a big, big problem that’s been festering or has been in process for several decades now. How do you untangle all of that complex history, Canadian history and political history and social history, again, into a three unit course? Yeah, any little bit would help but I don’t want people who would be leaving that course to think that they understand these things now because I think a lot of what is wrong with Indigenous relations in this country is that it has been simplified for people,” stated Monture.
“The media has simplified things, elementary and secondary and post-secondary curriculum pays very little attention to Indigenous stuff so people don’t think that there is anything they really need to know … When you present them with something more complex, it confuses people, so we need to be very thoughtful of how we move forward with this.”
Despite the pragmatic difficulties, members of MISCA are still confident that Indigenous applications have the potential to be valuable for a wide range of disciplines under a more faculty-oriented model.
Last week, the Global Engineering Conference included a presentation from MISCA with a guest speaker that addressed the need for developers to speak with Indigenous peoples across the world about matters of land. Earlier this year, an Indigenous Health Conference united Health Sciences students and professionals to discuss some of the unique health challenges that face Indigenous communities.
“It’s my responsibility to carry that knowledge on to make sure no one forgets that it’s happened. That’s like the greatest fear of our people … we’re not mad, we just want people to be aware of what happened, we want people to be aware of the truth.”
The petition has been received with mixed receptions from the student body, but as current MISCA Secretary Treasurer Gail Jamieson explained, the lack of knowledge that has come up time and time again in conversation has only led to the group believing more needs to be done to educate more people about these issues.
“Every city has people with addictions, but it’s funny how non-Natives will point at you, and point out everything wrong in the community, and not ask … why has this happened. I think education is a really big part of that. You can’t help anybody or support anybody unless you know why, and I think Canada really has to look at that,” explained Gail.
Three-year-long MISCA member Evan Jamieson-Eckel explained that individuals would often object to the notion of increased Indigenous education, largely pointing at a variety of real and stereotypical associations with Indigenous culture and contemporary issues. He said that the importance of this history is for all Treaty peoples, which explicitly includes non-Indigenous individuals.
“Even when treaties are being brought up, it’s not like we want these things for ourselves. The treaties are between native nations and Canada. That’s everyone, everyone is a treaty person that’s one thing you’ll hear a lot too. That’s what people need to realise too. We’re all in this together right? And that’s what we’re trying to push. We can’t get to the point of reconciliation without looking at the past and learning from it and how to best move forward with that information.”
The grade school gap
Still, the necessity of mandatory Indigenous education at the post-secondary level ultimately stems from a lack of mandatory curriculum at the grade school level. MISCA has officially supported and began to circulate a petition started by KAIROS, a human rights advocacy group, that demands more vigorous implementation of age appropriate K-12 Indigenous education in accordance to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action 63. The curriculum would include studies of residential schools, Treaties, and contemporary and historical Indigenous contributions to the country.
“Maybe eventually it wouldn’t have to be mandatory once all these ones that have been taught in public school catch up to your university grade and maybe more people would love that subject and want to learn more and want to take it when they are in university as an elective. But for now, I think it has to be mandatory because there has been a lack that the government has done, and they’ve lied about the true history of Canada,” explained Jamieson.
Encouraging dialogue
While it is highly unlikely that a single, three unit course could be a satisfactory means of implementing this mandate, advocates will need to carefully look to Lakehead University and the University of Winnipeg more integrated model in the coming school years to evaluate the pre-existing models.
Nonetheless, the logistical complications should not prevent serious consideration about the state of Indigenous education in post-secondary institutions and especially grade schools where this part of Canadian culture and history is actively overlooked.
Despite the frustration, and despite the determination to promote this initiative, time and time again, the members of MISCA showed that above all else, they want to be heard. They were ready for both constructive input, criticisms and concerns, but they are also bracing themselves for outrage, confusion and outright rejection.
Hannah Martin left with a final anecdote about the personal responsibility she feels to her people and culture, and Canadian society as a whole.
“It’s my responsibility to carry that knowledge on to make sure no one forgets that it’s happened. That’s like the greatest fear of our people … we’re not mad, we just want people to be aware of what happened, we want people to be aware of the truth. It’s a huge responsibility for us to try to educate people every single day, and that’s a responsibility I carry with me every day and I will until I die.”
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By: Rafik El Werfalli
For over 60 years, the Indigenous population of Canada has been denied the freedom of choosing where to live. Under a government-run “pass system,” Indigenous peoples were forced to live on reserves. Any who wanted to leave required written documentation — a pass — issued by their reserve’s government-appointed “Indian agent,” that outlined the reasons for and duration of the leave.
First introduced by Sir John A. Macdonald in the 1880s, the pass system restricted the rights of the Indigenous people of Canada and was implemented without going through Parliament.
Alex Williams’ new documentary film, The Pass System, explores the history of the government effort to further segregate and limit the freedoms of Indigenous communities. Williams highlights the different perspectives on the discriminatory system and includes stories of First Nation Elders from these Indigenous communities that illustrate the impact of the system on their lives.
Williams was raised in Treaty 6 territory, Saskatchewan, and grew up in a society that he saw as racist. Growing up in a low-income neighbourhood, he witnessed many people that were pushed out economically. According to Williams, “social and structural racism” was common in his hometown.
“[The pass system] was intended to keep people of colour out and control the indigenous population, restraining and confining them to reserves as much as possible,” he explained.
Ian Mosby, a Postdoctoral Fellow in the L.R. Wilson Institute for Canadian History at McMaster University added, “Canada has a problem with their attitudes towards indigenous people, not just the government, but also Canadians themselves. We need to really look deep down at dealing with this issue and dealing with the structural racism that Indigenous people faced and are currently facing.”
“Canadians in general have been taught a very selective version of their history and many historians have been working to change that.“
Williams agrees with Mosby. “Canadians in general have been taught a very selective version of their history and many historians have been working to change that,” said Williams. “I am hoping that it can be some help in understanding the roots of this very Canadian kind of racism, colonization and genocide.”
Mosby added that many Canadian aren’t aware of their past and don’t realize the true scale of racial segregation and discrimination that Indigenous people have and continue to experience.
The film has received wide coverage, including from the Toronto Star and CBC. The film has screened at numerous locations including the Toronto International Film Festival, Vancouver International Film Festival and at least 20 more screenings across Canada.
“This is a story that I think is really important for people to know, and hopefully come to this documentary, and hearing from the director, people will start to get a sense of how much they don’t know about Indigenous people” said Mosby.
The Pass System will be screened at McMaster University on Mar. 4 at 2:30 p.m. at the Michael DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery (MDCL) in room 1105.
Photo Credit: Toronto International Film Festival
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On Sept. 22, McMaster was host to a panel of Indigenous speakers and representatives as part of its continued awareness efforts through Perspectives on Peace.
The session, titled “Truth & Reconciliation Teach-In: Residential Schools in Canada,” highlighted a joint effort between the Indigenous Studies program and the Perspectives on Peace campaign to educate students about the problematic history of the residential school system in Canada.
“We wanted to give an opportunity to the university community that maybe isn’t able to take indigenous studies courses,” said Vanessa Watts, full-time lecturer with the Indigenous Studies program.
Part of the timing of the event stemmed from the recent conclusion of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Canada, which identified 94 “calls to action” to remedy the legacy of residential schools. The TRC itself lasted for over seven years and came as a result of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement in 2007, the largest class action settlement in Canadian history.
The residential school system existed in Canada from the 1830s and on, with the last federally-operated facility closing in 1996. In that time, it has been estimated that out of the 150,000 indigenous children that passed through the residential schools, at least 4,000 of them died while attending the schools.
“[The goal was] to put some context to what’s been in the media lately. It’s one thing to read recommendations or see it in the news, it’s another thing to visit an actual residential school,” said Watts. “It was an extremely successful event.”
The day before the panel, members of the university community were invited to visit the formerly-named Mohawk Institute in Brantford, which served as the first and longest-running residential school from 1831 to 1970. It now stands as the Woodland Cultural Centre, and acts as a reminder to the history of schools just like it across the country.
The panel itself consisted of survivors from the location, who shared some of their experiences at the residential school.
“To see a panel of Indigenous speakers speaking to the university community about their experiences, their personal stories, even that in and of itself without context is a feat because that doesn’t happen often,” said Watts.
“People need to learn about what happened, and to know that it’s not that far in the past,” she continued.
“What we tried to do was to talk about the knowledge that is inherent with stories of those survivors, what healing looks like, and why there is a need for reconciliation. It’s not just a policy issue, or a historical fact; it’s a lived repercussion for many people.”
Perspectives on Peace was officially launched in late 2014, with an aim to promote understanding and discourse on various issues that relate to the greater, global community.
Photo Credit: Matt Clarke
