Edmonton Briefs - November

Aboriginal spirituality celebrated as part of Faith program
The buffalo skull, used as an altar during the Sun Dance, a ceremony practiced differently by several North American Indian Nations, helped highlight Aboriginal spiritual life as part of the Celebrating Our Faiths program which wrapped up at the end of October.  City Hall featured Celebrating Our Faiths, which highlighted 12 faiths. City Chaplain John Dowds, who oversees the program for the city, worked closely with Travis Enright on the Aboriginal component of the display. This marked the fifth anniversary of the program.

Homefest targets eradication of homelessness
Ojibway author Richard Wagamese highlighted Homefest 2011 which took place Nov. 6 at the TransAlta Arts Barns in Old Strathcona. The 9th annual Homefest, a project of the Edmonton Coalition on Housing and Homelessness, is a means of educating and mobilizing Edmontonians to get involved in demanding the human right to housing for every person. Homefest 2011 focused on the theme of “home” and highlighted the gifts of the Aboriginal community through music, spoken word, artwork, song, and agency displays. The event featured local trio Asani, drummers Lyle Tootoosis and Carol Fraser, musicians Phyllis Sinclair, Jay Gilday, and Jason Leo Tate, and displays of local artwork.

Film traces women’s journey to recover their identity
Finding Identity, a film for which producer Patrick Benson received blessings from the Nakota Sioux Nation, played Nov. 6 at the Garneau Theatre. The film is about two women born and raised in France, who are determined to recover their lost identity through tracing their ancestors who were taken to Europe during the colonization of North America. Sherry Letendre, an Elder from the Nakota Sioux Nation, said, “This story needs to get around the world.” Benson, is a former CBC and APTN journalist, who felt compelled to tell this story after gaining first hand knowledge in his work with Alberta’s First Nations.

Ethics and Aboriginal leadership
A two-day workshop Nov. 29 and 30 will examine Politics of Ethical Decision Making for Elected Leaders. The workshop is designed specifically for elected Aboriginal leaders and focuses on the vital role that ethics plays in their daily lives and the importance of ethical leadership in an Aboriginal setting. The workshop examines rights, responsibilities and ethics, how they interact, and how each influences how Aboriginal elected officials carry out their day to day jobs. It looks at common situations faced in elected positions where ethical issues are at stake, examines critical questions leaders must ask when wanting to make an ethical decision and outlines the essentials for creating an ethical work environment. The workshop will be on the Enoch First Nation at the River Cree Resort.

Poitras subject of newest Art in Profile book
Cultural Memories and Imagined Futures: The Art of Jane Ash Poitras chronicles the Edmonton artist’s career, from her emergence as an artist in the late 1980s with sweat lodge etchings to her recognition as a major player in the visual arts scene, both in Canada and abroad. The book is part of the Art in Profile series printed by the U of C Press and is written by University of Calgary English professor Pam McCallum. “I’m particularly interested in the way Jane brings contemporary post-modernistic artistic styles to very deeply felt content about First Nations communities, family, spirituality, histories,” McCallum told the Edmonton Journal. “She brings it together, she’s speaking both as a First Nations artist and a contemporary artist in the 20th and 21st centuries.”
Poitras, co-recipient of the 2011 Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Distinguished Artist award, was born on a trapline near Fort Chipewyan. Her mother died of tuberculosis and Poitras grew up in Edmonton under the guardianship of a German widow. As an adult, she rediscovered her Aboriginal identity and channelled that into her visual art.

Compiled by Shari Narine