More than 300 Aboriginal high school students will become “university students for a day” when the 19th Annual National Aboriginal Achievement Awards come to Vancouver this week.

On Thursday, Feb. 23, First Nations, Métis and Inuit grade 9-12 students from across British Columbia and the Yukon will take part in hands-on activities that showcase opportunities, programs and services at UBC while helping them to picture themselves as post-secondary students.

The visit is a partnership between UBC and the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, and one of several events leading up to Aboriginal Achievement Awards at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Friday, Feb. 24. The awards celebrate excellence in the Aboriginal community across various disciplines and this year, UBC law alumnus Grand Chief Edward John will be recognized in the politics category.

The education series is designed to expose youth to the opportunities available to them once they finish high school. Other activities will include a career fair and a tour of the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards. Over 1000 youth from across the Province will take part.

“We’re excited to welcome so many young people from across Canada,” says Debra Martel, Associate Director of the UBC First Nations House of Learning. “It will be rewarding to spend the day with them as they explore the campus, recognize opportunities, and start to plan for their future.”

While at UBC, youth will take part in engaging activities across the university. They will visit the Life Sciences Institute, the School of Human Kinetics, the Museum of Anthropology, and more. They’ll also meet current Aboriginal UBC students from a variety of disciplines and spend time at the university’s First Nations Longhouse.

“We want the youth to see UBC as a place that they belong,” says Ryanne James, Outreach Coordinator for the First Nations House of Learning. “They’re going to meet Aboriginal students just like them who are excelling in their studies at UBC.”

The National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to raising funds to deliver programs that provide the tools necessary for Aboriginal peoples, especially youth, to achieve their potential.

This partnership is a component of UBC’s Aboriginal youth outreach programming which reaches hundreds of Aboriginal youth every year through summer camps, after school programming, internships, and more. These initiatives involve over 100 UBC faculty, staff, and students from across the university.

Aboriginal youth outreach is a key priority of the university’s Aboriginal Strategic Plan, a university-wide initiative that guides UBC’s engagement with Aboriginal peoples and communities. Under the plan, the university is making significant progress towards expanding services and opportunities for Aboriginal learners and increasing Aboriginal enrolment. More than 900 UBC students currently self-identify as Aboriginal.

To learn more about the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation visit http://www.naaf.ca/. To learn more about Grand Chief Edward John, a UBC alumnus and Ch’nook Advisory Board member, visit http://www.chnook.org/biography/557/.

Twenty-year-old Kyle Wesley, Adiks Sim Gibuu, who lives in Prince Rupert designed the mural. He is from the house Kwaxsuu in the Nisga’a village of Gingolx and created the design under the mentorship of his grandparents, Jack and Rose Temple.

The four clans (eagle, raven, killer whale, and wolf) are carrying knowledge represented by the sun and moon at the center. Clan symbols visually represent the heritage and identities of the North Coast peoples and their families. Filling these symbols with individual actions and faces connects these powerful meanings and the feelings they produce with the real living people who embody them. The sun at the centre represents the understanding these people would like to give to others. The moon is a mirror that makes the audience a part of the mural and asks viewers to think about their own connections to the people represented. For the First Nations community of Prince Rupert, the mural is a powerful reminder of very important moments of happiness in their lives. For outside audiences, the artists and subjects hope the mural acknowledges the connections between contemporary identities, cultural meanings, and actions of First Nations Peoples. Instead of people of the past, the youth and community would like to be honoured as the people they are and will become.

Over six hundred pictures of approximately 80 community members are included in the mural. The majority of the pictures were produced by sumaxs of Prince Rupert over the last four years. After it is displayed in Vancouver, the mural will return to find a permanent home at the Friendship House of Prince Rupert.

Jennifer Wolowic’s work explores, through the experiences of Nisga’a and Tsimshian sumaxs in Prince Rupert, how visually based technologies such as regalia, Facebook, cell phones, photographs, and video unite modern Indigenous peoples across distance. She also examines how her own presence, as a non-indigenous researcher and ally who records and circulates representations with still images, video cameras, and text participates in the community. Jennifer uses ideas of affect to think about how images and experience influence human behaviors at emotional levels in order to explore how producing contemporary representations of urban indigenous youth can be used fight racism and violence.

Visit the Sumaxs Affect site for more on the Project and Jennifer Wolowic.

Green College is a graduate residential college at UBC, with a mandate to promote advanced interdisciplinary inquiry. The college offers public lectures, events and performances for free to the UBC and wider local community. View their full calendar of events.

Admission is free and there is no need to rsvp.

Join the UBC Program on Dispute Resolution for the third lecture in the “Creative Approaches to Conflict” Speaker Series, with Paulette Regan, PhD (Indigenous Governance, University of Victoria). Regan is currently Senior Researcher, Historical Memory and Reconciliation Project, for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and a Research Fellow at the Liu Institute for Global Issues at UBC.

Recent research indicates that how people learn about historical injustices and human rights violations is as important as learning the truth about what happened. Although Indian residential schools existed for well over a century in Canada, most Canadians say they know little or nothing about them. Perhaps we, as non-Indigenous people, as settlers on these lands, must ask ourselves some troubling questions. How is it that we know nothing about this history? What does the persistence of such invisibility in the face of the living presence of survivors tell us about our relationship with Indigenous peoples?

As the work of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission proceeds, how will Canadians who have so selectively forgotten this “sad chapter in our history” now undertake to remember it? Will such remembering be decolonizing and transformative or simply perpetuate colonial relations? What is the role and responsibility of non-Indigenous people in the truth and reconciliation process? Learning how to confront the colonial past in unsettling ways is at the heart of reconciliation in Canada today.

Regan’s most recent publication, Unsettling the Settler Within: Indian Residential Schools, Truth-telling and Reconciliation in Canada (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2010) explores the pedagogical potential of truth and reconciliation processes as “unsettling,” decolonizing, transformative, and liberatory sites of truth, resistance and critical hope. She argues that in order to truly participate in the transformative possibilities of reconciliation, non-Indigenous Canadians must undergo their own process of decolonization. Situated within a global context of reparations, apology and reconciliation politics, and based on her experiences as a former IRS claims resolution manager, the book is a call to action for all Canadians.

Visit the Program on Dispute Resolution for more information on the 2011-12 Speaker Series.

A Night of Music and Storytelling
Saturday, February 4th 8:00 – 9:30 PM
Sty-Wet-Tan Hall
UBC First Nations Longhouse (Map)
1985 West Mall

This event is free and open to the public.

This is your last chance to see Longhouse Artist in Residence Joy Harjo perform. Join us in Sty-Wet-Tan Hall of the UBC First Nations Longhouse for a night of music and storytelling.

Internationally known poet, performer, writer and saxophone player
Joy Harjo will be accompanied by artist and songwriter Larry Mitchell.

Joy Harjo
Joy Harjo of the Mvskoke–Creek Nation has been described as a “poet-healer-philosopher-saxophonist,” and one of the most powerful Native American voices of her generation. She has spent the past two decades exploring her place in poetry, music, dance/performance, and art. Her seven books of poetry include She Had Some Horses, The Woman Who Fell From the Sky, and How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems. She has released three award-winning CDs of original music and performances: Letter From the End of the Twentieth Century, Native Joy for Real, and She Had Some Horses. She performs internationally solo and with her band, Joy Harjo and the Arrow Dynamics Band (in which she sings and plays saxophone).

Larry Mitchell
Mitchell is a solo artist, sideman, songwriter, and music producer. As a solo artist he has released six guitar instrumental albums, range from mellow acoustic to scorching rock arrangements, which met with significant critical acclaim. In 1999 he was named the much coveted Best Pop Jazz Artist at the San Diego Music Awards, and in 1986 and 1987 he won the New York City Limelight Guitar solo contest. Mitchell has been endorsed by Ibanez Guitars, D’Adarrio Strings, and DiMarzio Pickups since the mid-eighties. As producer, Mitchell has won many production and engineering awards in various categories such as adult contemporary, pop, R&B, and rap. Mitchell won a 2008 Grammy for coproducing the album Totemic Flute Chants: Johnny Whitehorse, released on Silver Wav Records, in the Native American category.

For more information, contact:
First Nations House of Learning
604-822-8940
fnhlclerk@fnhl.longhouse.ubc.ca

Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light
Thursday, February 2nd and Friday, February 3rd, 8:00-9:30 PM
Sty-Wet-Tan Hall
UBC First Nations Longhouse (Map)
1985 West Mall

This event is free and open to the public.

From musician, poet, and playwright Joy Harjo (Mvskoke) comes a deeply compelling journey of struggle, displacement, self-discovery, and healing. Invoking spoken word, storytelling, and song, Harjo combines character-driven narrative with tales inspired by the traditions of her people-and takes a few turns blowing a mean jazz saxophone.

An allegorical work of tremendous power, Wings demonstrates how theater and art
can bring life full circle.

This unique and genre-bending one-woman play features Harjo’s original music and a score that has been pushed and molded by Grammy award–winning record producer Larry Mitchell, who recently produced Harjo’s Winding Through the Milky Way album.

Many of the songs are woven throughout the play. “Among Larry’s many gifts,” says Randy Reinholz,
Artistic Director of Native Voices and Wings director, “is that he reaches into the story with the music and transports the action in amazing and unusual ways. I think the wide range of sounds he and Joy create together lifts Wings to the point of flight. “Wings is at the heart of theater—it is a heightened ceremony, a broad intersection of art forms, an intimate act that celebrates the beauty and investigates the inherent paradoxes of the human condition. Joy is fearless, bringing all of her many talents to bear in this tour- de-force performance,” continues Reinholz.

Wings was workshopped and performed as a staged reading at the Public Theater’s 2007 Native Theater
Festival in New York. Since then, it has received additional workshops in San Diego, Los Angeles, New Mexico, and Hawaii, and a staged reading with Native Voices at the Autry in Los Angeles.

Visit Joy Harjo’s site for more on this play.

For more information, contact:
First Nations House of Learning
604-822-8940
fnhlclerk@fnhl.longhouse.ubc.ca

The Circle gives First Nations, Metis, and Inuit youth a place to learn from each other and from individuals who have real-life experience with the subjects they’re talking about – subjects that are relevant to today’s Aboriginal young people. Youth in the Circle have the opportunity to express themselves, to be entertained, and to learn from and teach their peers all over BC.

The program is available to communities across the province thanks to the support of Health Canada which provided the required equipment to 80 BC communities. Youth who don’t have access to videoconferencing facilities can participate through online streaming and a chat room that allows them to communicate directly with the speaker.

The Youth Circle first ran in 2009 with great success (including speakers Gil Lerat and War Party) and it has now been relaunched with two sessions per month. Topics for the 2011-2012 season include sexual health, hip-hop, fashion, self-esteem, suicide, sports, gang life, racism, education, youth-elder relations, and traditional teachings.

The Circle is often held during school time, which means teachers can bring their classes to participate and students can get class-credit. Teachers are also encouraged to create assignments on the Circle topics, which meet BC Prescribed Learning Outcomes.

You and groups in your community can also present to the Youth Circle! You’re invited to share relevant Aboriginal youth related events, the challenges that you’re facing, and initiatives that you want to get started. The Circle gives you an opportunity to seek advice from others and discover how we can help and be inspired by each other.

The Youth Circle has the potential to create change, offer resources, empower youth and create dialogue between communities and young people that would otherwise be hard to bring together.

Contact Genevieve at the Division of Aboriginal People’s Health
aph.assist@familymed.ubc.ca
604-682-2344 extension 63475.

Or visit the Learning Circle Site for more information.

“Joy Harjo is a poet of music just as she is a poet of words.” —Paul Winter, Grammy award winning saxophonist

Joy Harjo, internationally-known poet, performer, writer, and saxophone player of the Mvskoke/Creek Nation, will be performing at the Chan Centre in an event called “We Were There When Jazz Was Invented.” This multi-format event will include a musical performance by Harjo and a question and answer session which will be moderated by freelance Aboriginal arts activist, promoter and radio producer, Elaine Bomberry.

This winter, Harjo is doing a residency at UBC’s First Nations Longhouse. During her residency Harjo will work with UBC faculty and students; perform her one-woman play, “Wings of Night Sky, Wings of Morning Light” and present a concert at the First Nations Longhouse. A renowned musician, Harjo has released four award-winning CDs and in 2009 won a Native American Music Award (NAMMY) for Best Female Artist of the Year for Winding Through the Milky Way.

Harjo’s seven books of poetry include How We Became Human: New and Selected Poems, The Woman Who Fell From the Sky, and She Had Some Horses, all published by W.W. Norton. Her poetry has garnered many awards including the New Mexico Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Native Writers Circle of the Americas.

She wrote the award-winning children’s book, The Good Luck Cat (Harcourt), and a young adult, coming-of-age-book, For A Girl Becoming, which won a Moonbeam Award and a Silver Medal from the Independent Publishers Awards. A memoir, Crazy Brave, is due out from W.W. Norton in 2012.

This event is free and open to the public.

Jodaiko is an all-woman Taiko ensemble comprised of members of the Sacramento Taiko Dan and guest artists from Taiko groups throughout North America. The ensemble performs at a variety of woman-centered events and strives to express the passion and strength of women through the art of Taiko.

This workshop is free and open to students staff, faculty, and alumni of UBC. Everyone is welcome to join us for lunch and final performance at 12:30 PM. If you are interested in participating in the workshop or just joining us for the final performance, please contact FNHL Student and Community Development Officer Rick Ouellet.

Inter-Cultural Learning at FNHL: Taiko Drum Workshop with Jodaiko
Tuesday, January 31st, 2012 10:30 AM – 12:30 PM
(Lunch and performance at 12:30 PM)
First Nations Longhouse
1985 West Mall
Sty-Wet-Tan Hall

More than 300 Aboriginal high school students will become “UBC students for a day” when the 19th Annual National Aboriginal Achievement Awards come to Vancouver this week.

On Thursday, Feb. 23, First Nations, Métis and Inuit grade 9-12 students from across British Columbia and the Yukon will take part in hands-on activities that showcase opportunities, programs and services at UBC while helping them to picture themselves as post-secondary students.

The visit is a partnership between UBC and the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation, and one of several events leading up to Aboriginal Achievement Awards at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on Friday, Feb. 24. The awards celebrate excellence in the Aboriginal community across various disciplines and this year, UBC law alumnus Grand Chief Edward John will be recognized in the politics category.

The education series is designed to expose youth to the opportunities available to them once they finish high school. Other activities will include a career fair and a tour of the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards. Over 1000 youth from across the Province will take part.

“We’re excited to welcome so many young people from across Canada,” says Debra Martel, Associate Director of the UBC First Nations House of Learning. “It will be rewarding to spend the day with them as they explore the campus, recognize opportunities, and start to plan for their future.”

While at UBC, youth will take part in engaging activities across the university. They will visit the Life Sciences Institute, the School of Human Kinetics, the Museum of Anthropology, and more. They’ll also meet current Aboriginal UBC students from a variety of disciplines and spend time at the university’s First Nations Longhouse.

“We want the youth to see UBC as a place that they belong,” says Ryanne James, Outreach Coordinator for the First Nations House of Learning. “They’re going to meet Aboriginal students just like them who are excelling in their studies at UBC.”

The National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation is a charitable organization dedicated to raising funds to deliver programs that provide the tools necessary for Aboriginal peoples, especially youth, to achieve their potential.

This partnership is a component of UBC’s Aboriginal youth outreach programming which reaches hundreds of Aboriginal youth every year through summer camps, after school programming, internships, and more. These initiatives involve over 100 UBC faculty, staff, and students from across the university.

Aboriginal youth outreach is a key priority of the university’s Aboriginal Strategic, a university-wide initiative that guides UBC’s engagement with Aboriginal peoples and communities. Under the plan, the university is making significant progress towards expanding services and opportunities for Aboriginal learners and increasing Aboriginal enrolment. More than 900 UBC students currently self-identify as Aboriginal.

To learn more about the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation visit http://www.naaf.ca/. To learn more about Grand Chief Edward John, a UBC alumnus and Ch’nook Advisory Board member, visit http://www.chnook.org/biography/557/.

With over half of the Aboriginal Languages of Canada, BC has a rich and diverse linguistic heritage. Tragically, all of the 32 surviving First Nations languages in the province are critically endangered. Fluent speakers make up only 5.1% of the population and most of them are elders.

The University has included these languages to encourage more First Nations students to take courses in their own languages while tracking towards admission to the University.

This also provides other Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students the same opportunity to take First Nations language courses and learn more about local First Nations culture.

Once students arrive at UBC they can continue to study some of these languages through the First Nations Languages Program.

The stabilization, documentation, and recovery of Aboriginal languages is often identified as critical by Aboriginal communities, and they are priorities that UBC has identified in its Aboriginal Strategic Plan. In the future, the University hopes to expand the breadth of language offerings and the number of First Nations languages on the lists of approved courses.

The 14 languages are:

• Halq’eméylem
• Heiltsuk
• Hul’q'umi’num
• Kwak’wala
• Liqwala/Kwakwala
• nsíylxcən
• Nte?kepmxcin
• Nuu-chah-nulth
• Secwepemctsin
• Shashishalhem
• Sim’algaxhl Nisga’a
• Sm’algyax
• Tsek’ene
• Upper St’at’imcets