Virtual Lectures via Zoom Webinar
Winter Series 2023
Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux
Brief Introduction to Understanding Current Indigenous Issues
Presented by Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux
On Thursdays from January 12 to March 2, 2023 – 10:00 am to 12:00 noon
This lecture series on Understanding Current Indigenous Issues will address the historical foundations of the relationship between Indigenous peoples and Canada, review key legislation and pertinent case law, unpack the treaty and land claims process and debate the benefits for Canadians when it comes to resolution of historical and contemporary grievances.
Offered as virtual lectures via Zoom Webinar only.
Registration will begin on Friday, December 2 at 10:00 a.m. and tickets will be on sale until Friday, January 6, 2023 at midnight. After January 6, 2023, it will not be possible to register for this lecture series. Please note that you need buy only one virtual ticket at $40 per household.
Brief Introduction to Understanding Current Indigenous Issues
This lecture series on Understanding Current Indigenous Issues will address the historical foundations of the relationship between Indigenous peoples and Canada, review key legislation and pertinent case law, unpack the treaty and land claims process and debate the benefits for Canadians when it comes to resolution of historical and contemporary grievances. Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux is an Indigenous woman with 40 years of experience working with on-reserve and off-reserve peoples, leading training workshops, and writing and teaching in community and academic settings. Come prepared to ask hard questions, enter debate when necessary and learn more about the Truth and Reconciliation process Canadians are engaged in. We are living in changing times and Indigenous prophecy, teachings and knowledge have much to offer as we work together to build a better future for all.
Virtual Lecture Series – Understanding Current Indigenous Issues
January 12, 2023: What’s in a creation story?
Cynthia will discuss the value of Indigenous stories and knowing your own creation story. Indigenous creation stories have informed the survival and resiliency of Indigenous peoples and are still taught and regarded as foundational instructions for living by elders and knowledge keepers.
January 19, 2023: What does Indigenous prophesy tell us?
Looking at what Indigenous peoples were and are saying about past, present and future conditions and the possibilities for illuminating today’s fight against climate change. Tribal groups across Turtle Island have been trying to tell the western world what was coming and what to do. What is your response to these messages?
January 26, 2023: The story of treaty in Canada
There is a complete foundation of knowledge, experience and history that has formed the relationship between Indigenous and government leaders, agreements and outcomes. The treaties of Canada are living documents that have not been fulfilled. They are the promise of our ancestors and perhaps a pathway back to the land for all humanity.
February 2, 2023: Legislation and following the trail of critical reports
How have federal legislation, cumulative white papers and government reports worked together to dismiss Indigenous claims, demand assimilation, manifest racism against Indigenous peoples and support the trajectory of colonialism in Canada? A discussion of some of the critical reports and legislation that have framed the relationship to date.
Where do we go from here and what do the 10 principles and the 94 calls to action bring to this critical discussion?
February 9, 2023: Seven teachings and seven generations
What are the seven grandfather teachings and how are they used to teach and inform indigenizing and decolonizing processes? What is the story of seven generations back, seven generations forward, and igniting the eighth fire?
February 16, 2023: What is historic and intergenerational trauma?
There have been significant impacts from historic and intergenerational trauma, with the results showing up in child welfare, MMIW, intractable poverty, many insecurities, and ongoing discrimination in education, health and justice. What do these impacts look like today? What have the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal and Cindy Blackstock placed on the table?
February 23, 2023: Land claims and self-governance
Once we understand the treaty process we have access to the land claims process and why continuing resolution will benefit Canadians. What are land claims, and why do they matter today and into the future? Cynthia will describe some significant and recent land claims settlements and open a discussion on what they mean for Indigenous peoples.
March 2, 2023: Implementing UNDRIP and reconciliation in Canada
We will take apart the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples to work out an understanding of where and how this declaration will play a role in the future of Canada. We will look at the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples and work together to unbundle what reconciliation is, means, and could be if we had access to the full truth, as well as the role it plays in changing the trajectory of human relations.
Dr. Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux served as Vice Provost for Indigenous Initiatives at Lakehead University for three years. Effective September 2016 she was appointed the first Indigenous Chair for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada for Lakehead University and continues to develop pathways forward to reconciliation across Canada.
Cynthia was inducted as an “Honorary Witness” by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada in 2014 and is Chair of the Governing Circle for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba.
She is a member and resident of the Chippewa of Georgina Island First Nation in Ontario and has dedicated her life to building bridges of understanding. She sees endless merit in bringing people together from diverse cultures, ages and backgrounds to engage in practical dialogue and applied research initiatives.