Feasting the Forgotten Rivers – March 22, 2019
On World Water Day, traditional life practitioner, Dr. Debby Wilson Danard, led us on the Feasting the Forgotten Rivers Water Walk. Finding our way through water paths and life paths, streaming love without end, uncovering ancient waters in Toronto, we walked to honour the lost and found waters.
Photos by Kristen Bass.
The Humber River: Land-Based Learning
Guided by Alan Colley of Toronto Aboriginal Ecotours, the students of Professor Bonnie McElhinny’s course (ANT6033: Unsettling Settler Colonialism) visited the Humber River three times over the course of the Winter 2019 semester. The intention of this particular land-based learning was site specific. We wondered, what would it mean to visit the same space, three times? What could we learn from seeing a river at three different stages? And how could this experience contribute to the ways in which we learn to know the waters in a good way, in Toronto, the city of nine rivers?
Photos by Kristen Bass.
Nibi Onje Biimaadiiziiwin: Water is Life – January 15, 2019
This event brought together three esteemed Indigenous scholars to lead a panel and share knowledge on their stories, experiences and research, and to foster dialogue on Indigenous water law and the concerns facing our waters and Indigenous communities today. We welcomed Sue Chiblow of Garden River First Nation, a PhD student at York University’s Environmental Studies program, examining humanity’s relationship with water; Aimee Craft (Anishinaabe-Métis) who is assistant professor at the Faculty of Common law at the University of Ottawa, specializing in Anishinaabe and Canadian Aboriginal law; and Deborah McGregor, a cross-appointed professor at York University from Osgoode Hall and the Faculty of Environmental Studies, whose research focuses on Indigenous knowledge systems and their various applications toward water, environmental governance and environmental justice.
Photos by Kristen Bass.
