Top News - January - 2002 Published January 20, 2003 Glen Little Wolf puts the finishing touches on his sculpture, Mother and Child Reunion, by covering it with a layer of melted wax. Little Wolf took up carving only four months ago, under the instruction of Onion Lake Artist in Residence Darren Gowan. A story about Gowan and the Artist in Residence program can be found here. Photo by Matt Ross Red Pheasant First Nation gets an urban reserve Language centre announced Program brings arts to Onion Lake This is only a partial listing of the stories featured in the January 2003 issue of Saskatchewan Sage. If you are not receiving your own copy of Sage, then you have missed out on a lot. Click here for Saskatchewan Sage subscription information. Red Pheasant First Nation gets an urban reserve Cheryl Petten, Sage Writer, North Battleford The total of urban reserves in Saskatchewan grew to 21 on Dec. 12, as a parcel of land on the outskirts of North Battleford was designated as part of Red Pheasant First Nation's reserve lands. The 347-acre parcel of land is located on the edge of North Battleford, and is currently zoned for agricultural use. The land was purchased by the band under the Treaty Land Entitlement (TLE) Framework Agreement, which provides funds for First Nations to buy land in order to bring their land base in line with what was guaranteed them under their treaty agreements. According to Red Pheasant band councillor Harry Nicotine, the band has no immediate plans to use the newly designated reserve land for anything other than agriculture, adding that any future plans will involve conducting a community planning study. "We have to know the City, what are their long range plans, and we also have to know what our long range plans are with that land," he said. With this recent designation, North Battleford now has two urban reserves within its municipal boundaries. The other reserve, a section of commercial property that is home to the Gold Eagle Casino, became a reserve of the Mosquito, Grizzly Bear's Head, Lean Man First Nation in January 2002. The provinces' first urban reserve was created in Prince Albert in 1982. Since then, urban reserves have been created in Yorkton, Saskatoon, Meadow Lake, Fort Qu'Appelle, and in other smaller communities throughout the province. Top Language centre announced Yvonne Irene Gladue, Sage Writer, Winnipeg Minister of Canadian Heritage Sheila Copps announced Dec. 19, 2002 that $172.5 million in funding will be available for an 11-year project geared towards retaining and revitalizing First Nations, Métis and Inuit languages and culture in Canada. During her opening comments in a media teleconference, Copps said the announcement was the beginning of a process for reconciliation, that Aboriginal stories were absent from the pages of Canadian history books. "It is not just about language and culture retention, it is about affirmation and reconciliation. Aboriginal languages, stories and heritage are the foundation of Canada's diversity. These languages must be cherished because they are unique on the face of the globe. They help shape the identity and the meaning of Canada. "Canadian history now is a reflection of European-based heritage. That has to change if we are to truly reflect a Canada of all cultures and languages, and one of the ways of changing it is by investing in language and culture," she said. Initially the announcement stated that a centre for language was going to be established, but callers during the teleconference wanted to know where the centre would be located. Copps said that a location for the centre was not going to be a major goal for the project at this time. "At this point we are not focusing on bricks and mortar. We are actually focusing on communities, and on capabilities developed through technology. So the physical centre certainly won't be the focus of the initiative. Hopefully it will be the communities," she said. The project will involve three phases. The first phase will be to extend the current languages initiative, which will be $5 million for 2003 and 2004. The second phase will be to establish a predominantly Aboriginal taskforce reporting to the Minister of Canadian Heritage. For two years Canada's Aboriginal languages initiative will allow the taskforce to complete its work and make recommendations based on community needs. The taskforce would be composed of Aboriginal people who are experienced in language and culture at a community level. The third and final phase will create an Aboriginal Languages and Cultural Centre, a not-for-profit corporation under the stewardship of Aboriginal people, to begin in 2004-2005. "It will address issues of the loss of knowledge of traditional languages and cultures by Aboriginal people, including those who attended residential schools. The intention will be to actually work with programs in the education system and also in the child care level. We are very keen on working with the target age of children from zero to 5. They are very, very open to language learning. We are also hoping to bring to the table some cultural partners that will see Aboriginal stories brought to life," said Copps. Copps said quoted Statistics Canada research that reports that close to half of the Aboriginal languages in Canada are near extinction or endangered and 10 once flourishing languages have become extinct over the last 100 years. "There are allegations that there was a suppression of these languages and cultures through government policies. So just as we work to promote the French and English languages when they are in minority situations, we want to promote and protect Aboriginal languages that are the most endangered languages of all in this country," she said. "Once the language is retained and if we have young people who are speakers, we'll need media, we'll need theatre, we'll need books and television shows. It is also targeting the Elders in the communities, who are still Aboriginal language speakers. We want to stop the loss of the languages and we know that they are on the verge of disappearing from this generation," the minister said. "We want to create a vehicle for retention and once we've got the retention with children, want to make sure that the children can utilize their languages. So in future cultural developments, they can tell their stories in their languages and not in a language that was imposed on them," Copps said. The minister also spoke about the expense of language materials, such as books and audiocassettes. "That is where we, the government, need to play a role. At the moment in the French and English minority language systems, we provide a top-up to cover the extra costs. That comes with doing books in a minority language. These are some of the issues that we are going to be looking at globally with the centre," she said. Top Program brings arts to Onion Lake Matt Ross, Sage Writer, Onion Lake First Nation For the past two years, Darren Gowan has been sharing his artistic talent with the people of Onion Lake, inspiring would-be artists, and giving them the skills and knowledge they need to discover their own abilities. A carver by trade, Gowan was given the chance to also become a teacher, thanks to the Saskatchewan Arts Board's Artist in Residence grant program. Through the program, Onion Lake received an annual grant of $25,000 for each of the last two years to cover supplies and salary for Gowan. The purpose of the program is to make the arts more accessible to people across the province, often in rural areas. Onion Lake is only the second First Nation in Saskatchewan to have its Artist in Residence bid approved. The first, Meadow Lake Tribal Council, received funding for a Storyteller in Residence, while the Onion Lake grant was for a Visual Residency, or in this case, a Visual Rez-idency. "I don't make a whole heap of money but it's fulfilling and it was always an adventure," said Gowan during the inaugural arts show at the reservation's youth centre on Dec. 6 to 8, held to give some of Gowan's students a chance to show off their creations, and their newly discovered talents. How an Artist in Residence fulfills his or her role is predominantly up to them, but at least 20 hours every week for the entire year has to be spent working on community projects or making appearances. This freedom was appealing to Gowan, who could also devote time to his own works when he wasn't in the public eye. Frequently, he could be found dividing his time among the community's schools, although he preferred to work with the younger students in the elementary grades. Although he's not trained as a teacher, he conducted classes, and often served as the children's first formal introduction to the arts. "Children are the most honest and their work is not diluted or perverted. The stream of consciousness between pen or pencil and paper is honest," he said. He himself had very little instruction before he found his talents as a carver, and he espouses a method of teaching where he lets his students find their own style. He shows them the basics, then stands back and lets them work. And he is never disappointed in the finished product, especially with the work produced by his younger students. One of the projects at the public schools was to create four 4 x 8 foot murals made up of individual tiles of 64 square inches, a concept thought of by a Grade 3 student. "The sheer logistics of taking all of their tiles around to the kids and making sure they weren't damaged," Gowan said, who despite the challenges still enjoyed transporting almost 300 tiles between classes. Near the end of his time as Artist in Residence, Gowan also began a program for adults wishing to learn about art. Although the response wasn't as great as he anticipated, the level of talent displayed left Gowan almost speechless. One of his students, Glen Little Wolf, had never carved before taking lessons from Gowan. During the art show, Little Wolf was putting the finishing touches on a soapstone creation representing four months of labor. The sculpture, titled Mother and Child Reunion, shows the harmonization of a baby with its mother as the child is rocked to sleep with sacred songs. "He had taught me how to look at the rock in a three-dimensional figure," Little Wolf said of Gowan's instruction. "There were some techniques that I had to overcome prior to carving, like sometimes I can't even draw." While Gowan's term of two one-year contracts has come to a close, his work in the community will not likely be forgotten. Not only has he had an impact on the people he has taught, he also believes other bands will be successful in their applications for Artist in Residence grants because of his experience. "For years in the arts board's existence, they didn't recognize Aboriginal arts, but now they realize there's a whole plethora of work in Indian Country." Top