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Benefit concert in Edmonton for Standing Rock
November 24, 2016. On Sunday, local Edmonton musicians TeeTahs, Marlaena Moore and Beauty Rest will team up with Seattle’s TEETH to perform at Stand with Standing Rock, a benefit concert. The goal of the concert is to raise awareness and money, with a target of $2,500. Activists such as Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation member Eriel Tchekwie Deranger from Indigenous Climate Action will speak, and a silent auction will also be held. Among the items to be auctioned off is a framed print by Cree artist Jane Ash Poitras, which features the words: “Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.” Thousands of protestors are trying to stop construction of the pipeline, which will tunnel under a river next to the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in North Dakota. Police officers have been trying to block or forcibly remove protestors, including tribal members and activists from across North America who are worried a leak in the pipeline will poison the water supply.
Panel to discuss Standing Rock resistance
November 24, 2016. The University of Alberta Native Student Services in partnership with Indigenous Climate Action is hosting a panel on Saturday afternoon with Indigenous land protectors from Standing Rock and across Turtle Island to discuss land protection, climate change and state sanctioned oppression of rights and destruction of the environment. The panel, through Skype and in person, will consist of Indigenous land defenders and focus on the significance of Standing Rock and other ongoing and historical Indigenous resistance to extractive industries.
GPRC scholarships for Aboriginal students to rise
November 24, 2016. Grande Prairie Regional College will receive $156,000 from the province towards scholarships for Aboriginal students, which will result in scholarships of $2,000 to $4,000 for 39 of the college’s roughly 415 Aboriginal students. More than 10 per cent of GPRC students are Aboriginal, compared to four per cent province-wide. GPRC helps Aboriginal students transition into post-secondary studies in various ways, said Carla Dodd, from the college's financial aid department. There's the on-campus friendship centre, the Elder-in-residence program and the circle of Aboriginal students program. The funding to GPRC is part of the $7 million announced by Alberta Advanced Education available to the province’s First Nations, Metis and Inuit students, who are in programs that lead to careers in high-demand fields.
Can Man Dan begins collecting food, money
November 24, 2016. Can Man Dan begins his first winter camp out for Edmonton’s Food Bank on Thursday. He will be at Southgate Centre until Nov. 27. Dan Johnstone, better known as Can Man Dan, will be raising awareness and support for people in need this holiday season with his signature winter campouts. His goal is to do what he can to ensure everyone has a hot meal on their table this holiday season and all year round. Dan is supporting Edmonton’s Food Bank with three events in the next four weeks. In 2015, Can Man Dan’s campouts helped generate over $14,715 and 19,176 kilograms of food for people in need in Edmonton.
National Gallery of Canada presents Janvier’s work
November 24, 2016. The National Gallery of Canada presents the largest retrospective devoted to Alex Janvier, one of Canada's most respected Indigenous artists. The exhibition opens Nov. 26 and runs until April 17, 2017, and will features a selection of well-known masterpieces from Janvier's seven decade long career, along with paintings that are on display for the first time. "The Alex Janvier exhibition recounts the story of a life devoted to art and the re-empowerment of Indigenous cultures," said NGC Director and CEO Marc Mayer. Organized chronologically, with some rooms devoted to thematic groupings, the exhibition presents 154 paintings and drawings, including an installation of 34 circular paintings of varied sizes and styles created since the 1970s, titled Janvier in the Round. The works featured in the exhibition are drawn from public and private collections across Canada, including five from the National Gallery of Canada's national collection. The Alex Janvier exhibition also features a room that pays homage to the so-called Indian Group of Seven, officially known as Professional Native Indian Artists Inc., co-founded by Janvier in 1973 to heighten the profile of Indigenous artists. This section of the exhibition comprises paintings that Janvier created in 2011 in tribute to artists Jackson Beardy, Eddy Cobiness, Daphne Odjig, Norval Morrisseau, Carl Ray, Bill Reid, and Joseph M. Sanchez.