Top News - June - 2003
M'Wikwedong centre purchased by locals
Native Earth theatre folks hold birthday bash
Earth Day celebrated
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M'Wikwedong centre purchased by locals
Roberta Avery, Birchbark Writer, Owen SoundIt was both one of the proudest and one of the saddest moments of Berdina Johnston's life.
Fighting back tears, the usually reticent Ojibway woman stood before a crowd of about 100 people at the dedication to the memory of her sister Rose Nadjiwon at the M'Wikwedong Native Cultural Resource Centre in Owen Sound.
The occasion was the dedication of a building on the east side of the Georgian Bay community of Owen Sound.
The community had rented it for a few years and now they own it.
"I'm so proud of my sister, she was a valiant woman who battled cancer for 12 years before she died, but she left us a legacy of our language and our culture," said Johnston on May 18, just before the ribbon was cut to mark Ojibwe ownership of the resource centre building.
Up until her death earlier this year, Nadjiwon had been a loved and respected Elder at the M'Wikwedong centre, said centre director Leanne Eamer.
Her unstinting work helped the more than 200 people who pass through the centre every week to keep their physical, spiritual and emotional lives in balance, she said.
From the centre's modest beginning three years ago when Eamer was the only paid employee, their staff has grown to seven to meet the increased demand for services.
With the help of funding from the federal and provincial governments, the Ojibwe people recently were able to purchase the $125,000 building and establish a permanent home base to serve a growing urban Aboriginal population, according to Eamer.
Flanked by two totem poles, the front door of the centre opens onto a lobby with beautiful murals depicting the clans of the area's Native people.
"It's an artistic memory of all our clans," said Eamer.
One of the murals depicts an eagle on a cliff overlooking the water.
"Last night I dreamed an eagle had crawled up my arm and sat on my shoulder,'' said Eamer.
Inside, bearskins decorate the walls of the room where Ojibwe language classes and traditional skills such as quill box making are taught.
"The centre means I can give my children and my grandchildren what I didn't have," said Eamer, who was raised off the reserve and didn't learn about her culture until she was 40 years old.
The centre, which offers services ranging from daycare for young children, to social activities for senior citizens, often has several generations of Native people from the nearby Cape Croker and Saugeen reserves working side by side.
"We often have Elders, teens, middle-aged people and young children working at a unified project," said Eamer.
The centre is not exclusively for Native people.
"We're open to whomever else wants to learn about the beauty of our culture," said Eamer.
Bernice Ellis Whitney, a Cherokee from the Montreal area who will be working at the centre as an Elder, offered an opening prayer before local officials and politicians cut the ribbon to open the place.
Noting the work of the centre helps people keep their lives in balance, Ellis Whitney prayed for peace.
"I dream of world peace and let it begin with me," she said.
Following the ribbon-cutting ceremony, each guest was given a tiny red tobacco tie and was invited to offer prayers for the centre by throwing the tie on a sacred fire with the accompaniment of drummers nearby.
Native Earth theatre folks hold birthday bash
Julie Adam, Birchbark Writer, TorontoOn May 30, Native Earth Performing Arts-Canada's oldest professional Aboriginal theatre company-celebrated its twentieth birthday with "Best of," a fundraising evening featuring scenes from Native Earth's best-known plays, as well as a book launch. The celebration took place at the Harbourfront Centre in Toronto. A silent auction of donated packages and First Nations' artwork was also held.
"We're thrilled and honored to be able to bring together so many of the artists who originally created these roles," said Yvette Nolan, the award-winning theatre company's artistic director.
The evening began with a reception and music by Tamara Podemski (Rent, Ready or Not). Next, Monique Mojica (author of Princess Pocahontas and the Blue Spots and member of the Turtle Gals Performance Ensemble) launched Staging Coyote's Dream, a collection of plays by Native playwrights, published by Playwrights Canada Press.
The volume was edited by Mojica and Ric Knowles (Guelph University professor and editor of Canadian Theatre Review and Modern Drama) and includes plays by Gloria and Muriel Miguel, Daniel David Moses and Drew Hayden Taylor. Mojica presented many of the contributors who were there that night with a copy of the book.
For the rest of the evening, Gary Farmer (of Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, Buffalo Tracks, Powwow Highway and Smoke Signals fame) hosted the event, introducing scenes from Tomson Highway's The Rez Sisters and Rose, Tina Mason's Diva Ojibway, Daniel David Moses' Almighty Voice and His Wife and Red River, John MacLeod's Diary of a Crazy Boy, Billy Merasty's Fireweed, an Indigeni Fairy Tale, Drew Hayden Taylor's Only Drunks and Children Tell the Truth, Yvette Nolan's Annie Mae's Movement and the Turtle Gals' the Scrubbing Project.
Performers included Monique Mojica, Herbie Barnes, Jennifer Podemski, Billy Merasty, Lorne Cardinal, Rose Stella, Jani Lauzon, Carol Greyeyes, Michelle St. John and the impressive Muriel Miguel and Gloria Miguel. The Miguel sisters, together with their third sister Lisa Mayo, founded New York's Spiderwoman Theatre--not only the oldest Aboriginal theatre but also the longest continually running women's theatre company in North America. As actors and directors, they have played a key role in many Native Earth productions, from The Rez Sisters to The Scrubbing Project.
Some of the very short play scenes in "Best of" were probably more meaningful for those in the audience who had been directly involved in their creation. The event had the feel of a birthday party for family and friends, and the occasional theatre supporter, rather than of a public performance. But this is the case with so many theatrical get-togethers in Toronto.
Billy Merasty brought touching hilarity to the event with his comically sizzling drag performance from his play Fireweed. The Miguel sisters were powerful, as was to be expected. There were many other good performances; the venue unfortunately didn't do the event justice. York Quay Centre's Lakeside Terrace is a noisy and distracting environment, with its open patio doors and in-and-out traffic, and non-stop clinking from the bar at the back of the room. A birthday bash of this significance deserves better than a dressed up café space.
As the nurturer of First Nations' theatrical talent, Native Earth has much to be proud of. Over the years, it has produced some of Canada's best-known stage plays and featured a veritable Who's Who of Native performers. In the early 1980s, Native Earth was developing collective works on a project basis, which were performed at the Theatre Centre and the Native Canadian Centre in Toronto, and toured First Nations' territories.
The opening of The Rez Sisters in 1986 marked a turning point for the company. Tomson Highway's play went on to become the first North American, Aboriginal-written-and-performed production at Scotland's Edinburgh International Theatre Festival, one of the most prestigious contemporary theatre festivals in the world.
The play "changed the way the world looked at Native theatre," said Gary Farmer. Appropriately, scenes from it opened and closed the evening.
In 1989, Native Earth launched its annual "Weesageechak Begins to Dance" festival, which develops new plays and dance performances to offer emerging Native talent the opportunity to be produced and published. Weesageechak continues to dance, thanks to the dedication of Native Earth artists and their supporters.
There was much to see and experience at "Best of," an evening of celebration. "I feel like a kid in a candy shop," said Nolan.
Earth Day celebrated
Ellie Big Canoe, Birchbark Writer, Georgina IslandThe Chippewas of Georgina Island celebrated Earth Day a little late this year because ice conditions delayed spring, but that didn't stop more than 100 people who showed up for the celebration.
Fun was had by all on April 30, as community members and the Georgina Island band staff split into groups to clean around their community buildings and along the ditches of the island road.
Community member Lenora Charles was one of the workers who showed up to help. "I think it's excellent to see everyone here, and everybody is doing such a wonderful job," Charles said.
Georgina Island's environmental co-ordinator, Rachel Fournier, thought the turnout was great. "It's super seeing everyone show up this year, compared to last year's total of around 30 people."
The clean up began around nine o'clock in the morning, so the volunteers were good and hungry by noon, when they were treated to a hot-off-the-grill, hotdog and hamburger lunch.
A small Eco-fair was arranged too. Participants included Hospice Georgina, the provincial Ministry of Natural Resources, Windfall Eco-works out of Newmarket, the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch, and the Lake Simcoe Fisheries Assessment Unit. The Island Daycare and Georgina Island School made bird feeders and "trash art" out of recyclable items to contribute to the fair.
Hospice Georgina sold flowers, and cottager Nena Wilcox gave gardening tips.
First Nations and Inuit Health Branch's environmental officer, George Chenyetski, came out to explain how to avoid the West Nile Virus on Georgina Island.
The Ministry of Natural Resources' fish and wildlife technical specialist. John Almond, brought a wild turkey display to Earth Day celebrations. At least 20 wild turkeys were released on Georgina Island two years ago, and the population has grown to around 50.
"I think the first wild turkey hunt over here on the island will probably be next spring," Chenyetski said.
The school children ended the day with poetry and songs about Earth Day. They had also purchased a few trees which they planted in their schoolyard.
