Edmonton Briefs - December

Photo caption: Jason Goodstriker, former chief of the Kainai First Nation, addressed a panel on citizenship issues, talking about the challenges communities faced to elect strong leaders and to maintain safety.

Photo: Shari Narine

National forum on citizenship addresses complex issue

First Nations leaders from across the country gathered at the River Cree, on Enoch First Nation, for a two-day forum on citizenship hosted by the Assembly of First Nations. Speakers urged leaders to address the issue of citizenship. “Some of our nations are sitting at tables negotiating with big corporations or governments or really charting their future, and they must be concerned about the integrity of their communities and citizenship is key. So I think the demand, the urgency has increased and it will continue to increase and so the sooner we get on with this task the better,” said guest speaker Roberta Jamieson. Jamieson was the AFNs ex-officio representative on the Penner committee, which tabled a report in 1983 recommending that each First Nation determine membership according to their own criteria. Jamieson said 60 per cent of First Nations remain under the Indian Act, which establishes a definition of membership.

Violence Reduction Action plan engages homeless
The City of Edmonton is providing $360,000 to Boyle Street Community Services to expand outreach to homeless with intensive needs. The funding will provide for coordinated outreach to individuals who due to mental illness or substance abuse are especially marginalized from society and susceptible to being either victims or criminals. The funding will enhance Boyle Street’s outreach, providing more resources to assist individuals who are surviving on the street, appear in distress and may be mentally ill, drug-dependent or otherwise economically and socially disadvantaged. Outreach workers will engage and build trust with these individuals to address emergency needs and connect them to supports and services. “Expanding our support for homeless Edmontonians, working to get them off the street, is a critical step in building community safety,” said Mayor Stephen Mandel in a news release.

Memorial sculpture dedicated
On Dec. 1, the Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness dedicated a monument to honour the lives of people who died because of homelessness. The sculpture is located in a small park on 103A Avenue, north of City Hall, between 99 and 100sStreets. It was created by local sculptors Keith Turnbull and Ritchie Velthius, with the help of a number of artists who know the experience of homelessness. The design is a large doorway with a homeless person sitting in front of it. Small tiles mounted around the edges of the door represent ideas by the participating artists about why having a home is important. “It was a powerful experience to work with the artists and hear their stories and passions as they created their tiles,” said Turnbull. The sculpture cost $40,000, with the majority of the cost covered through an Edmonton Arts Council’s Community Public Arts program grant, with additional costs picked up by ECOHH and other supporters of the project.

Art exhibit in Ledcor Theatre Lobby
A travelling exhibit in the lower level lobby of the Ledcor Theatre is a “unique opportunity to see cutting edge contemporary Aboriginal nature art of a new movement of art that is building in the art scene,” said Heather Shillinglaw, curator of “Our wilderness is wisdom …” The exhibit, organized by the Art Gallery of Alberta, will display the work of artists Alex Janvier, Curtis Johnson, and Tanya Harrnett until Jan. 2, 2012. “This is a powerful exhibition with exciting work that focuses on environmental concerns in the reserves and restoring the beauty observations of our natural beauty Mother Earth,” said Shillinglaw. The exhibit opened Dec. 3.

Blackstone back for a second season
The second season of the Gemini Award-winning dramatic television series Blackstone will premiere on APTN Jan. 11, 2012.  “Blackstone gets under your skin; it makes you think, feel and want more,” said Ron E. Scott, executive producer, writer and director of Blackstone. “I am humbled to have this opportunity to be involved in a show that has reached into lives and has spoken into subjects that have not been presented on Canadian television.” The first season of Blackstone won two Gemini Awards,  two  2011 Leo Awards and three 2011 Alberta Film and Television Awards. Blackstone is an unmuted exploration of First Nations’ power and politics on the fictional Blackstone First Nation. Blackstone is produced by Edmonton’s Prairie Dog Film + Television, which is an independent film and television production company founded in 1993 by Scott, a  Métis.

Compiled by Shari Narine