Sweetgrass and CFWE news briefs - February 10, 2016

Exhibit brings attention to murdered, missing Indigenous women

February 10, 2016. Forty red dresses are hanging from trees in Edmonton's Alberta Avenue neighbourhood as part of Métis woman and Anglican priest Lori Calkins’ exhibit Ni Wapataenan. It is Michif word meaning "we see.'' The dresses encircle a bare, uncovered teepee and represent missing and murdered Indigenous women. Calkins drew inspiration for her exhibit from Jaime Black’s REDress Project a few years back. Calkins says the interactive exhibit is a community collaboration as more than 20 local writers shared their messages of reconciliation, which have been hung in the trees alongside a series of traditional teachings from Indigenous community Elders. The Bleeding Art Space helped install the display and the gallery will be hosting a series of exhibits, talks and workshops in conjunction with the tribute, including kâ-katawasisicik iskwêwak, an indoor exhibit by Lana Whiskeyjack, from Saddle Lake Cree Nation. Ni Wapataenan will remain in place until March 5.

Bennett in Enoch Cree Nation, Calgary for MMIW pre-inquiry

February 10, 2016. Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada Minister Carolyn Bennett will be in Enoch Cree Nation on Thursday and joined by Status of Women Minister Patricia Hajdu in Calgary on Friday to meet with families of murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls.  Bennett, who is accompanied sometimes by Hajdu or Justice Minister and Attorney General Jody Wilson-Raybould, is on a cross-country tour talking with victims’ families and other interested parties in order to set parameters for a national inquiry, which is expected to begin this summer. Earlier in the week, Bennett was in Winnipeg and Saskatoon.

Blood Tribe pushes for courthouse

February 10, 2016. When Blood Tribe officials met with Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley and Indigenous Affairs Minister Richard Feehan earlier this week, they asked for support for funding to help build a provincial courthouse and hire police officers. The courthouse would also house a restorative justice program and give access to traditional healing and peacemaking practises. Band councillor Billy Wadsworth said having a courthouse on reserve would save on transportation expenses as the courthouses surrounding the Kainai First Nation are often filled with members facing charges. Band officials have been working on the Kainai Peacemaking Centre, estimated in 2010 to cost $14 million, for over a decade. Ganley said she supported the project but it would have to be negotiated with the federal government and balanced against other infrastructure projects. In 2014, Statistic Canada’s crime severity index set the serious crime rate on Kainai Nation at more than triple the provincial average. 

McMaster named to prominent position with OCAD University

February 9, 2016. Curator, author, artist and educator Dr. Gerald McMaster has been named Tier 1 Canada research chair in Indigenous visual culture and curatorial practice at OCAD University (formerly the Ontario College of Art and Design). McMaster was born near North Battleford, Sask., and is Plains Cree/Blackfoot and a member of the Siksika First Nation. He studied at the Institute of American Indian Art and the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, receiving his MA in Anthropology at Carleton University, Ottawa. He completed his doctorate at the University of Amsterdam. McMaster has held prestigious curatorial positions at the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. In 2006 he was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada. "My position will enable me to be part of a uniquely vibrant community of students, researchers and creators," said McMaster. "I am looking forward to learning from and working with them as I seek to expand knowledge of the ways transnational contact has affected artistic expression among Indigenous people, as well as the influence of those expressions on non-Indigenous societies."