Top News - October - 2003
Olympic athletes visit First Nations schools
Art gallery displays unique photos
Powwow held in centre of city of Toronto
This is only a partial listing of the stories featured in the October 2003 issue of Birchbark. If you are not receiving your own copy of Birchbark, then you have missed out on a lot.Click here for Birchbark subscription information.
Olympic athletes visit First Nations schools
Margo Little, Birchbark Writer, Wikwemikong
A group of Canadian Olympic athletes received a very warm reception on the Wikwemikong Unceded Indian Reserve Sept. 15 to 19. They visited Manitoulin Island as part of Act Now, a wellness promotion program.
The Act Now contingent included downhill skier Kate Pace Lindsay, canoeist Larry Cain, relay runner Desai Williams, and synchronized swimmer Kristin Normand. They were accompanied by chiropractor Dwight Chapin, dietitian Heidi Smith and psychiatrist Cornelia Wieman.
The health promotion project focuses on three main fronts: activity, appetite and attitude. The main goal of Act Now is to educate Canadians about the positive effect of healthy lifestyle decisions on personal and professional achievement.
For Larry Cain, a member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame since 1997, the trip to Wikwemikong was educational on a number of levels. As winner of seven gold, three silver and one bronze medal in world canoeing competitions, he enjoyed team-building activities with both elementary and secondary school students during his visit.
"This is the second year I have done the First Nations program," he said during a break from young autograph seekers.
In his view, encountering Aboriginal culture through the Act Now outreach has many benefits for all involved.
"In Indian culture there is a strong connection to the environment and a tradition of treating nature with respect. There's also a real strong sense of community. In the city we sometimes lose that sense of sharing, so it is nice to be able to take that message back home to the city with us."
"It has been an excellent experience," proclaimed Desai Williams, surrounded by enthusiastic students at a community barbecue. "It is great to be here in a totally different environment; you get to see a different side to Canada. You have a chance to see how the Aboriginal people do things. The people are beautiful and the community is lovely."
To create a bond with the Northern Ontario youngsters, Williams shared some of his struggles growing up. "I came to Canada in the 70s," he said. "I had my share of trials and tribulations. Our message is to work hard and to never give up on following your dreams. Any kid can feel down at times or go to one side or the other. We're here because we believe positive influences make a difference."
Kate Pace Lindsay, Canada's female athlete of the year in 1993, agreed that sharing personal experiences helps to encourage youth to set their sights high. "We tell our Olympic stories and the lessons we learned growing up in the playgrounds and school yards of our youth. Our program is built on the idea that whatever you choose to be involved in, be the best you can be."
The athletes led the students through group sessions on goal setting, peer pressure and developing a positive attitude. Special emphasis is placed on bolstering self-confidence, Lindsay said.
For Marcel Recollet, a math and healthy active living teacher, the Act Now approach gave him a boost and helped to confirm that he is on the right track. "I am inspired to keep on doing what I am doing," he said. "I run every morning already. And the program has motivated me to avoid soft drinks and drink more water."
He feels the students responded positively to the Act Now messengers.
"Sometimes it is better to hear a different voice," he said. "The way the athletes say the message might be a little different and it might get the students thinking about changing their lifestyles. It could just be the shot in the arm they need."
Wikwemikong Chief Walter Manitowabi was also very gratified with the Act Now presentations. "Many of our youth are in awe of our visitors," he observed during a community volleyball match. "We consider ourselves very fortunate to have some of the world's best athletes come to visit us."
He pointed out that many of the athletes were raised in smaller communities so are familiar with the struggles of youth in the North.
"They are role models for all of us," he said. "They are promoting what we all promote in our communities, and that is to live a healthy lifestyle and don't be afraid to follow your dreams."
Student Sheena Wassegijig was equally appreciative of the program.
"They were effective in the way they could accentuate the message and get it out to the crowd," she said. "They made us take a second look at what we are doing to our bodies. Because they are professional athletes, they know how to get the message across. It is pretty great to have them in Wiky because we don't often get such top athletes to come here."
"The students are able to pick up on the good positive energy from the presence of the athletes in the school," according to Wasse-Abin principal Neil Debassige. "You can really see the potential of the school when you see the kids in action. It is real, actual potential, not just theoretical. The workshops have been a great motivator for both the staff and the students. The program helps to create a bond between the staff and the students. It also gets the community involved."
Now that the school year is off to a positive start, he hopes the students will remain committed to healthy lifestyles.
"The Act Now team gave us the big push, but now it is up to each individual to follow through," he said.
Art gallery displays unique photos
Yvonne Irene Gladue, Birchbark Writer, Thunder Bay
Rebecca Baird and Phillip Cote have completed a cross-Canada trip to gather archive photographs of First Nation families from First Nation visual artists. The result is a touring exhibition called Everyday Light: First Nations History As Seen Through The Family Photograph Album that opened Oct. 3 at the Thunder Bay Art Gallery.
The 38 black-and-white photographs dating from the early 1900s up until the 1960s are on display until Nov. 23.
"It is called Everyday Light because it is about everyday family photos, using the light from the camera. (It is) all about how a photograph is captured.
"It was just incredible going across Canada; it was pretty fast because we had six weeks. I knew the project was good-that there were a lot of beautiful photographs hidden in boxes and in photo albums, and so on. I've been an artist since 1983, and I know a lot of the First Nations writers and artists across the country, where we've just been in shows together or where I've just seen their work. So a lot of the people (supplying) the photos, I already knew pretty well as friends or colleagues. So I just mailed invitations," Baird said.
The photos have been enlarged up to 2 feet by 3 feet and are set in laminated panels. Beside each photo panel is an abbreviated biography about the artist who submitted the photo, which includes the artist's comments about the people in the photograph and what the photograph means.
Baird and Cote are familiar names on the arts scene, having both earned numerous professional credits, commissions and awards.
Baird is a founding member of the Tecumseh Collective and a co-organizer of the Tecumseh Arts Festival. For more than 20 years she has explored Native identity themes through installation/sculpture, painting and printmaking media.
Cote is soapstone carver, a graduate of the Ontario College of Art and Design, and a co-ordinator of the Tecumseh Arts Festival.
Baird and Cote began the trip on Aug. 14, 2001, in Toronto, with stops in Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Regina, Medicine Hat, Calgary, Kamloops, Vancouver, Victoria, Whitehorse, Yellowknife, Montreal, Moncton, Halifax and points in between.
The project began, though, in 1999, when Rebecca Baird, Phillip Cote and friend Bev Koski formed the Sweet Grass Collective as a result of hearing talk of special projects being formed for the new millennium.
Funding for the project came from the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, the Ontario Arts Council, and finally in 2001, the Department of Heritage gave them travel money.
Baird said that they were lucky to acquire many other invaluable contributors to the project.
Tracey Henrikkson, curator of the Thunder Bay Art Gallery said the photos are diverse in images, striking and beautiful.
"I've seen them, and they've turned out really well. A few of them are studio portraits, but a lot of them are a lot more casual. We get a good sense of the people's personality. They are all different, about people doing everyday things. There is quite a time span ... We even have one that was taken in 1917. It was about a mother harvesting tobacco; it was quite interesting, it evoked a very specific time and place," she said.
Initially the gallery in Thunder Bay was going to be the first gallery hosting the exhibition, but because of delays and a lot of interest from Winnipeg, the exhibition made its debut in Winnipeg at the Urban Shaman gallery. The exhibit got a good response from the visiting public in the month it was in Manitoba.
On Oct. 3 and 4, the Thunder Bay gallery had an opening reception called Everyday Light Celebration, which included hand drumming by local performer Alice Sabourin-Nowegjic and storytelling by Delores Wawia, an Elder in residence and a professor at Lakehead University.
"It went really well, the speakers were great ... We had a good turnout. That was nice to see. Everyone was really interested and drawn to the exhibition. A lot of times people will spend only three seconds at a work of art and they will move on to the next one, but at this exhibition they were really taking their time and studying each image. It was really great to see that." Henrikkson said.
She hopes the exhibition will tour nationally. "What our registrar is working on is organizing bookings. We are going to be sending out information packages to different galleries and venues that might be interested in having the exhibition. Yukon has expressed an interest."
Powwow held in centre of city of Toronto
Birchbark StaffA mini powwow was held during the Bain Avenue Street Festival that was hosted by the Bain Avenue Co-op last month in Toronto.
In addition to the drumming and dancing, the event featured craft tables, and samples of bannock and strawberry juice.
Festival organizer Derrick Bressette is the co-ordinator for the Visiting Schools Program at the Native Canadian Centre in the city.
