Calgary Briefs - May 2012

A young Aboriginal drummer from Piitoayis Family School was one of many to take part in Aboriginal Youth Explosion.

Aboriginal Youth Explosion

On March 18, Aboriginal Youth gathered at Mount Royal University to share their stories in poetry, spoken word, dancing, drumming, song and videos and give expression to their personal voices. Many of the youth aged 10-26 had worked with Bridges for Social Development throughout the year, either participating in a full Unveiling Youth Potential Program or an adaptation of it through an after-school or lunch-hour program. Working in partnership with Pathways Community Service at the Boys and Girls Club, many participated in an evening program talking circle, creating materials to express their personal wisdom.  A lunch group at Pittaoyis Elementary School met weekly and over a few months learned rap and hip hop which they performed. Founded by Donna Kennedy-Glans, Bridges works by invitation through various community partners to help young people tell their stories and undertakes community mapping work that explores challenges and opportunities within their communities. Young people acquire a vision of themselves as leaders to bring about change. Bridges hopes to host the event again next year, seeking community partnerships from those interested in participating.

How bison impacted the City of Calgary

As part of Calgary’s Cultural Capital 2012 celebration, from June 1-Oct. 7, Fort Calgary is presenting “Before the Stampede: Calgary’s Cultural Context,” a temporary exhibition that tells the early history of the City of Calgary through the lens of its changing relationship with bison. With Blackfoot artist Adrian Stimson, the exhibit offers a discussion on buffalo culture pre-1875. Through contemporary art and firsthand accounts of the North West Mounted Police stationed at Fort Calgary, the exhibit will examine the disappearance of the Plains Bison. Key to the exhibition is Stimson’s Re-herd 2 art installation, inviting Fort Calgary visitors to paint one of 4,000 miniature cast bison and place it on a map of Alberta, symbolically repopulating the bison.  A member of the Sisksika Nation, Stimson is an interdisciplinary artist who acquired a BFA with distinction from the Alberta College of Art and Design and MFA from the University of Saskatchewan.

New generation trained to teach Tsuu T’ina langage

With only about 50 Native speakers of Tsuu T’ina left teacher Ellison Bruisedhead is helping to preserve the language of her people. Last year, the Tsuu T’ina Gunah Institute worked with the University of Calgary to revive the language, training a new generation to integrate the Tsuu T’ina language into their educational system. Bruisedhead learned to speak the language from her grandparents. “We were only taught a few common words,” she said. Building on this foundation, today, at the age of 24, she can speak conversationally. With this knowledge, she is able to teach Tsuu T’ina as part of the curriculum. Bruce Starlight, a linguist and director of the institute, was instrumental in getting the program started. Throughout his lifetime, he witnessed the ongoing loss of his band’s culture. “My mom and dad, they start making us speak English because they were beat up in school to speak English,” said Starlight. Bruisedhead is proud to save the threatened language. “If you check the Alberta map or even the Calgary map, this city is pretty much surrounding us. We’re trying so hard to fight for our land, fight for our language, fight for our children, fight for our rights, but most of the time the language is the hardest to fight for.”

7 Cities on Housing and Homelessness

7 Cities on Housing & Homelessness, together with Alberta Human Services and the Alberta Secretariat for Action on Homelessness, hosted a Leadership Summit in Calgary April 16-18. The summit was designed to foster learning and networking between Aboriginal, provincial, federal and community leaders on housing and homelessness provincially and across Canada. The Leadership Summit brought together senior executives and managers from the ministries of Justice, Solicitor General and Public Security, Health and Wellness, and Human Services and leaders in the province’s housing and homelessness sector. Represented by Alberta’s seven major urban centres, the collaborative forums addressed issues common to individual community plans to end homelessness in the province. Discussion topics included identifying successful social policy strategies and learning opportunities through a systemic and holistic approach. At the summit, 7 Cities launched a new website to provide further information on additional successes the seven major urban cities are achieving.

Compiled by Darlene Chrapko