‘A picture of his grandmother’
Gerald Neufeld and his father Henry share a passion for linking families from First Nation communities within the Berens River watershed in Manitoba and northwestern Ontario with archival photographs of their ancestors. Their collection of about a thousand digitized pictures includes photographs from the University of Philadelphia archives that were taken in the summer of…
Living into all our relations
In these recent years of walking with our Indigenous neighbours, I have been both blessed and intrigued by the words of encouragement often expressed at the end of a talk: “All my relations.” My understandings of this saying come mostly from the reflections of Richard Wagamese, the Ojibway author of the book Indian Horse,…
‘Our children need to know’
“It’s really cool to see white people here today,” said Cheyenne Fineday. The first nation teenager was speaking at the 140th anniversary of the signing of Treaty 6 on Aug. 23, 2016. Held at Stoney Knoll, 76 kilometres north of Saskatoon, the celebration included both indigenous and settler peoples. The 1876 treaty granted the Young…
Ears to earth, eyes to God
An early morning fire and smudging ceremony started each day of Native Assembly 2014 that met from July 28 to 31 at the edge of the Assiniboine Forest on the Canadian Mennonite University campus. A tepee and several tents served as their backdrop, and although the sound of traffic never let up, participants could watch…
