Laurier’s "Idle KNOW More" event promotes awareness
BRANTFORD – Wilfrid Laurier University’s Office of Aboriginal Initiatives will host an Idle-KNOW-More teach-in to promote awareness and understanding of the Idle No More movement and other colonial resistance activities across Canada and North America. The teach-in will be held Monday, March 4 beginning at 9 a.m. in the lower level of Market Square, 1 Market Street, Brantford.
The event, which is a kick-off to Aboriginal Awareness Week, includes presentations from two renowned academics, a Clan Mother, and a local historian from Six Nations.
“The Idle No More movement is a response to current and historical mistreatment of Indigenous peoples and treaties,” said Bonnie Whitlow, Aboriginal student support coordinator at Laurier Brantford. “The goals of this teach-in are to examine the reasons for the movement, and provide some local and relevant context.”
Presentations will begin at 9 a.m. with Jeff Corntassel, who will speak about resistance efforts across Canada, and his involvement with Idle No More activities in Western Canada. Corntassel is an assistant professor in the Indigenous Governance program at the University of Victoria.
Angela Elijah, a Wolf Clan Mother for the Mohawk Nation since 2004, will speak at 10:30 a.m. about the roles of women and their connection to the land, and the Idle No More movement in Haudenosaunee territories.
At 1:30 p.m., Jessica Dolan, a PhD candidate from McGill University, will discuss the role of allies, settlers and non-Native people in the Idle No More movement.
Rick Hill, coordinator of Deyohahá:ge: Indigenous Knowledge Centre at Six Nations Polytechnic, will speak at 3:30 p.m., presenting a history of colonialist relations. Hill was a lecturer in Indigenous Studies at McMaster University and the State University of New York at Buffalo, and former assistant director for public programs at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C.
The teach-in is being presented in partnership with a number of academic and administrative departments at Laurier’s Brantford campus.
