Mi'kmaw tradition of making native ash baskets revived

Lost tradition brought back

http://www.trurodaily.com/News/Local/2014-04-16/article-3692060/Tradition-of-making-native-ash-baskets-revived/1

"Della Maguire offered a weeklong workshop, with 10 senior Mi'kmaq women participating, recently at the Glooscap Heritage Centre... Her goal is to pass the art on to other women who will keep making baskets once the workshop is done, and can then pass it on to people in their own communities... The laborious process to make a basket takes hours. The ash strips must be cut into various widths to make the base of the basket, then the walls and finally the lid. Strips can also by dyed to add some colour. Experienced basket makers can put intricate patterns into their labours of love by bending and twisting the strips."

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Resource development projects can aid First Nations: PM

PM cannot ignore underlying legal rights

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Resource+development+projects+First+Nations/9357782/story.html

[Prime Minister] Harper said resource development offers "significant economic development" in regions where aboriginal communities are dominant - and where they haven't had large-scale economic opportunities - "for the first time in Canadian history." [...] However, Edward John, Grand Chief of B.C.'s First Nations Summit, said the economic opportunities for First Nations to benefit from resource development still come from their underlying legal rights, and Harper needs to address those directly.

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"Reserve Judgement" - IDEAS podcast

Struggling in Old Massett

http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/2014/03/13/reserve-judgement/

A moving podcast that helps give context for the damage done by colonial contact and the IRS system. It highlights the difficulties faced by those trying to support and transform communities.

"Katharina and Glenn Patterson decided to get a university degree and then return to their aboriginal community. It was 1998 and they wanted to help. But when they spoke out about violence and tried to take sexual abusers to court, Katharina and Glenn were met with hostility and even rage.  IDEAS chronicled their story in Reserve Judgement -- that was in 2000. Producer Mary O'Connell recently caught up with Katharina and Glenn to discover how that experience changed their lives."

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Robert Munsch books to be translated for Mi'kmaq students

Bring a feeling of being at home into the classroom

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/robert-munsch-books-to-be-translated-for-mi-kmaq-students-1.2588511

"A team of Mi'kmaq educators in Cape Breton have translated seven Robert Munsch books into Mi'kmaq to distribute to First Nations students in the province. The seven translated books are Love You Forever, Thomas' Snowsuit, I'm so Embarrassed, Andrew's Loose Truth, A Promise is a Promise, Mud Puddle and I Have to Go. Janice Ciavaglia is a literacy consultant for Mi'kmaw Kina'matnewey, the organization that runs Mi'kmaq schools and has jurisdiction in Mi'kmaq educational matters. She said they wanted to bring a feeling of being at home into the classroom."

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Online "Idle No More" Resource

An interactive and evolving "Idle No More" textbook

http://hendersonsjr.blogspot.ca/2013/01/idle-no-more-texbook.html

Mr. Henderson: "Here is my attempt at creating an interactive and evolving Idle No More textbook for educators and students across the country. A major goal is to engage all in higher-order thinking and writing about this historic movement. As per my previous post, I find this a critical time to examine our collective history and see what we need to do to move on. With any issue, there are many perspectives and many which are ill informed. In order to think critically about any issue and to seek out what is significant, we need to have a basic understanding of the forces at work."

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Wab Kinew - 5 sterotypes

Wab Kinew on the Strombo Soapbox:

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"Wab Kinew, host of the Doc Zone series 8th Fire, is also a CBC News Winnipeg reporter on CBC Television, and a hip-hop artist, named by the Winnipeg Free Press as one of the top artists to watch from Manitoba. Kinew has won an Aboriginal Peoples Choice Music Award for his hip-hop and an ImagineNative Film and Media Arts Festival award for his journalism work for CBC News. He was also nominated for a Future Leaders of Manitoba award in 2010."

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"Graphic Education" - a tool for the classroom

Teaching Aboriginal History with Graphic Novels

Recording: http://ow.ly/eJn7b 

"Graphic novels are an increasingly popular and effective tool for the classroom. Students love them because they're visual, engaging, and simply "cool." Teachers love them because they exercise critical thinking skills, communicate complex ideas and issues, and can engage even the most reluctant of readers. Join David Robertson, author of the bestselling books The Life of Helen Betty Osborne, Sugar Falls: A Residential School Story, and the 7 Generations series, as he discusses how his graphic novels are being used in schools across Canada and bringing Aboriginal history to new audiences."

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Aboriginal History is Everyone's History - recorded webinar

Teaching about aboriginal issues for all learners

https://meet61517506.adobeconnect.com/_a1148530947/p3mhrybl1mo/?launcher=false&fcsContent=true&pbMode=normal

"In recent years, Canadian school curricula have started to offer high school Native studies classes focusing on Aboriginal history and culture. Ben Sichel (@bsichel), a Mi'kmaq Studies 10 teacher in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, argues that the material in these courses is important for non-Native students to learn as well, and offers tips for making it relevant to their lives. Non-native teachers can — and should — teach them how things like treaties, the Indian Act, and enduring racism and stereotypes about Aboriginal people play into the lives of all Canadians."

Transcript: LINK

Ben Sichel's blog: http://noneedtoraiseyourhand.wordpress.com

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Indigenous Issues 101 | âpihtawikosisân

A series of resources that address the most prevalent myths

http://apihtawikosisan.com/aboriginal-issue-primers/

Great reading on a number of aboriginal issues and stereotypes:

"My focus is very much on what I call "myth debunking".  I have found it very difficult over the years to have discussions about anything related to indigenous peoples because so many bizarre beliefs get in the way.  ... For me, this is a time saving device.  A series of resources for myself and anyone else who wants them, so that some of the most prevalent myths can be quickly and clearly addressed, allowing a bigger conversation to (hopefully) happen."

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The Edge of the World: BC's Early Years

The events that shaped BC's early history

http://knowledge.ca/program/the-edge-of-the-world-bcs-early-years

Watch this online at the Knowledge Network site. (50min)

"Vancouver filmmaker Erik Paulsson chronicles the events, people and places that shaped British Columbia's early history from its beginnings until the turn of the 20th century."

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