Ka’nikonhrí:yo Gatherings – Native Women in the Arts

Ka’nikonhrí:yo Gatherings: Sundance Teachings with Harry & Juliana Snowboy

We are pleased to announce the next speakers for the Ka’nikonhrí:yo Gatherings, in partnership with the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto:

The Ka’nikonhrí:yo Gatherings connects cultural leaders to the Indigenous community in Toronto. Leaders who discuss identity, wellness, language revitalization, traditional arts, ceremony, and history, as well as issues that face our communities such as climate change and the environment, decolonization, reconciliation, and sovereignty. Through monthly presentations, based on each leader’s own distinct nation and culture, the gatherings strengthen, empower, and support our community members.

The next speakers in the series are:

Harry and Juliana Snowboy, will discuss Sundance teachings and answer questions with respect to the spirit, history, and origins of Sundance ceremonies, and the importance of gaining spiritual sovereignty, and the reclamation of our sacred culture and traditions. Harry and Juliana are the Sundance leaders of the annual Rattlechild Sundance ceremony situated in the traditional territory of the Anishnawbe of Henvey Inlet, First Nation. Both Harry and Juliana are the keepers of various sacred ceremonies and are regarded as Elders and Healers in their community. Both are well-known across the country for the healing and cultural work they have been doing for over 25 years. We are very happy to be hosting them and providing this opportunity to share their wisdom with us. Please join us for this important and inspiring discussion.

Friday, August 11, 2017 | 3pm – 5pm
Auditorium, Native Canadian Centre of Toronto, 16 Spadina Rd, Toronto
For more info: events@nwia.ca
FB Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/452218155159860/

Harry & Juliana Snowboy

About Harry Snowboy:

Harry Snowboy (James Bay Cree), is an author, public speaker, cultural advisor, and a traditional healer to numerous Native communities. A former Director of an Aboriginal Police Force, Harry provides information sessions and guidance on leadership, team-work, and lateral violence in the workplace, as well as reviewing and assessing projects involving programs focused on community well-being. His extensive experience in crisis response has provided him with insight on managing both short and long-term crises. He has also provided guidance to organizations seeking to incorporate holistic approaches on problematic issues facing many Native communities. These discussions are geared towards fostering understanding and bridging the gap between traditional and non-Indigenous belief systems (Languages – English, Cree).

About Juliana Matoush-Snowboy:

Juliana Matoush-Snowboy (James Bay Cree), holds a B.A. in Psychology from Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario. She is trained in suicide intervention (ASSIST, 2002), spent six years as the Social and Health Planning and Programming Officer for CBHSSJB in Chisasibi, Quebec, and worked as an interviewer for Health Canada in Eeyou Astchee. She works closely with her husband, Harry Snowboy, in running various traditional and healing gatherings both in Cree and urban communities, as well as offering drug and alcohol awareness seminars. She also facilitates training and coaching for women’s sweat lodge ceremonials. (Languages – English, French, Cree.)

Rattlechild Sundance

About the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto:

The Native Canadian Centre of Toronto is a membership-based, charitable organization located in the heart of downtown Toronto in a beautifully renovated heritage building. Since 1962 the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto has been a key meeting place for all people, of all nations, from across Canada and all over the world. As Toronto’s oldest Indigenous community organization and one of the original Friendship Centres in Canada, the NCCT provides social, recreational, cultural and spiritual services for the Indigenous community and visitors alike.

Ka’nikonhrí:yo Gatherings: Alan Corbiere and Katsitsionni Fox

We are pleased to announce the next two speakers for the Ka’nikonhrí:yo Gatherings:

This Month’s Gathering:

Anishinaabe Wampum and Treaty Teachings with Alan Ojiig Corbiere.

Wednesday, April 26, 2017 | 7pm – 9pm
CSI Annex, The Garage, 720 Bathurst St, Toronto
FB Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/277082162742712/

Cultural Leader

Alan Ojiig Corbiere, Bne doodem (Ruffed Grouse clan), is an Anishinaabe from M’Chigeeng First Nation on Manitoulin Island. He was educated on the reserve and then attended the University of Toronto for a Bachelor of Science, he then entered York University and earned his Masters of Environmental Studies. During his masters studies he focused on Anishinaabe narrative and Anishinaabe language revitalization. For five years he served as the Executive Director at the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation (OCF) in M’Chigeeng, a position which also encompassed the roles of curator and historian. Currently he is the Anishinaabemowin Revitalization Program Coordinator at Lakeview School, M’Chigeeng First Nation, where he and his team are working on a culturally based second language program that focuses on using Anishinaabe stories to teach language.

Next Month’s Gathering:

In partnership with imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts we will present the film Ohero:kon – Under the Husk, followed by a Q&A with director and producer Katsitsionni Fox.

Saturday, May 20, 2017 | 2pm – 4pm
Jackman Hall, AGO, 317 Dundas Street West, Toronto
FB Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/140348039831108/

Ohero:kon – Under the Husk

“Ohero:kon – Under the Husk” is a documentary following the journey of two Mohawk girls as they take part in their traditional passage rites to becoming Mohawk Women. Kaienkwinehtha and Kasennakohe are childhood friends from traditional families living in the Mohawk Community of Akwesasne that straddles the U.S. / Canada border. They both take part in a four- year adolescent passage rites ceremony called Oheró:kon “Under the Husk” that has been revived in their community. This ceremony challenges them spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically. It shapes the women they become.

Director and Producer

Katsitsionni Fox, (Writer/Director/Producer) has been making films since 2003 in the Mohawk Territory of Akwesasne, where she resides. Her credits include: Sacredly Stoked, a short drama related to the traditional uses of tobacco. This film was distributed across Ontario and partially funded by Cancer Care Ontario. She has also produced several short films that relate to domestic violence awareness and environmental awareness. Katsitsionni directed and produced the film “Ohero:kon – Under the Husk” a documentary following the journey of two Mohawk girls as they take part in their traditional passage rites to becoming Mohawk Women. Katsitsionni received the Jane Glassco Award for Emerging Filmmaker at the imagineNATIVE Film Fesitival in 2016 as well as the Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking Award at LA Skins Fest in 2016.

imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts

imagineNATIVE is the world’s largest presenter of Indigenous screen content. The organisation is recognised locally, nationally, and internationally for excellence and innovation in programming and as the global centre for Indigenous media arts. imagineNATIVE (legal entity: The Centre for Aboriginal Media) is a registered charity committed to creating a greater understanding of Indigenous peoples and cultures through the presentation of contemporary Indigenous-made media art (film, video, audio and digital media).

Ka’nikonhrí:yo Gatherings: A new series

Native Women in the Arts is pleased to announce the Ka’nikonhrí:yo Gatherings: A new series starting with a hand drum making workshop on March 5, 2017.

The Ka’nikonhrí:yo Gatherings will connect cultural leaders to the Indigenous community in Toronto and will strengthen, empower, and support our community members through monthly lectures, discussions, and workshops. As an Indigenous arts and cultural organization, we are dedicated to supporting our community by offering programming that is rich in cultural content and that contributes to the process of reclaiming culture.

In the Ka’nikonhrí:yo Gatherings, we will present leaders who can discuss identity, wellness, language revitalization, traditional arts, ceremony, and history, as well as issues that face our communities such as climate change and the environment, decolonization, reconciliation, and sovereignty. These discussions will be through teachings within an Indigenous context, and based on each leader’s own distinct nation and culture. Ka’nikonhrí:yo means to have a good mind in Kanien’kéha (Mohawk).

We are pleased to present the first three speakers in the series:

Hand Drum Making with Clayton Samuel King, March 2017
Wampum and Treaties with Alan Corbiere, April 2017
Under the Husk Film and Rights of Passage with Katsitsionni Fox, May 2017

Clayton Samuel King “Waab-Shki-Makoons” will present a hand drum making workshop at the Centre for Social Innovation, with discussions about traditional and modern Anishinaabe life. He will guide each participant as they create their own hand drum,discuss Anishinaabe teachings sounding the drum, and answer questions.

Workshop: Sunday, March 5, 12-5pm
Centre for Social Innovation, 4th Floor – Innovation Lab, 215 Spadina Ave, Toronto
For more info: events@nwia.ca

Clayton Samuel King “Waab-Shki-Makoons” is a professional artist who graduated in April 2010 with a Fine Art Advanced Diploma from Fanshawe College in London, Ontario. Clayton has painted predominantly with acrylics, but works with other mediums like photography, sculpture, graphite, traditional First Nation’s crafts, and he also performs as a Northern Traditional Pow Wow Dancer. He has displayed his art in four solo exhibitions and 22 selected group exhibitions since his studies. Clayton contributes in the education sector in Simcoe County by doing First Nations painting and cultural interpretive workshops that help bridge an understanding of First Nations art and history to native and non-native students alike. Born and raised in St.Catharines, Ontario, Clayton has been a resident of Barrie, Ontario, since the fall of 2011. He has also run his business White Bear Art since that time as well. Clayton Samuel King is of Potawatomi descent and is a member of Beausoleil First Nation.