Learning about Indigenous Histories & Futures: Resources for Canadian Orchestras
Trigger Warning: Mentions of residential schools, abuse, and violence.
Earlier this month, the remains of 215 Indigenous children were found on the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. Confirmation of the number of indigenous children killed by the residential school system grows with each passing day. More and more people are becoming aware of what Indigenous peoples have known all along: Canada’s ongoing legacy of colonialism and systemic racism perpetuates a culture of violence towards Indigenous peoples.
Without truth, there can be no reconciliation. As we learn about the atrocities committed, we must take time to further educate ourselves about Canada’s colonial practices and the impact of residential schools. Canada’s arts and orchestral sectors must dissect their own practices and uncover the ways in which they uphold white supremacy and anti-indigenous racism. The list below is by no means comprehensive but offers helpful resources to examine one’s own biases and misconceptions while on the path towards decolonization.
(List compiled by Madeleine Smith, Communications & Resource Coordinator summer 2021)
Reports
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Executive Summary (2015)
An element of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission was established to document the history and ongoing impacts of the Canadian residential school system on Indigenous students and their families, and to facilitate reconciliation between Indigenous peoples and settler Canadians. It provided an opportunity for Indigenous peoples to share their stories and experiences of residential schools to document the generational trauma and ongoing legacy left by residential schools. The TRC acts a historical record of the residential school system and houses all documents in the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation in Manitoba. Completed in December 2015, The TRC’s final report and executive summary include 94 calls to action to advance reconciliation efforts between settler Canadians and Indigenous Peoples.
Rates of violence against Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA people in Canada are staggeringly high. As a response, the National Inquiry’s final report calls for legal and social action to resolve the crisis that has devastated Indigenous communities. It includes 2380 testimonies and 231 calls for justice directed at governments, institutions, social service providers, industries, and all Canadians. The report speaks to a context marked by intergenerational trauma, marginalization, poverty, insecure housing/homelessness, as well as barriers to education, employment, healthcare, and cultural support. Furthermore, patriarchal values imposed by colonizers have displaced and diminished the traditional roles of women, leaving them uniquely vulnerable to violence.
Re-sounding the Orchestra, a report commissioned by Orchestras Canada and authored by Soraya Peerbaye and Dr. Parmela Attariwala, was the culmination of a year long research project into the orchestral sector’s engagement with Indigenous artists and artists of colour, their practices, audiences, and communities. It concludes with a series of recommendations, forwarded as actions, conversations and questions that may catalyse the development of new strategies. Throughout the report, the authors and interviewees advocate for the need to re-examine the characteristics of orchestral culture and the need for the orchestral sector to implicate itself within wider conversations about the experiences of Indigenous artists and artists of colour.
Films
The Road Forward – d. Marie Clements (2017)
The Road Forward, a musical documentary by Marie Clements, connects a pivotal moment in Canada’s civil rights history—the beginnings of Indian Nationalism in the 1930s—with the powerful momentum of First Nations activism today. The Road Forward’s stunningly shot musical sequences, performed by an ensemble of some of Canada’s finest vocalists and musicians, seamlessly connect past and present with soaring vocals, blues, rock, and traditional beats. A rousing tribute to the fighters for First Nations rights, a soul-resounding historical experience, and a visceral call to action.
Chaakapesh – Roger Frappier & Justin Kingsley (2018) (Français, English, Cree, Innu & Inuktitut)
Chaakapesh: the Trickster’s Quest, a chamber opera written by Thompson highway and Matthew Ricketts and presented by l’Orchestre symphonique de Montréal (OSM), tells the story of the trickster god saving the world through laughter. The project is an incredible example of collaboration and the power of music. In this documentary, Frappier and Kingsley follow the OSM as they share music and visit with Cree, Innu, and Inuit communities on their northern Québec tour.
Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World – d. Catherine Bainbridge (2017)
Rumble explores the profound impact of Indigenous people on popular music. The film seeks to bring awareness to the many Indigenous musicians who helped shape the musical landscape we know today through concert footage, interviews, archives, stories, and recreations. Rumble reveals the foundational role of Indigenous people in the creation of the blues genre. Taking inspiration from the 1958 song “Rumble” by Link Wray, Bainbridge investigates the integral impact of Indigenous music despite efforts to ban, censor and erase Indigenous cultures.
Our People Will Be Healed – d. Alanis Obomsawin (2017)
“A Brighter Future Through Education, Culture and Tradition”. Our People Will Be Healed, Alanis Obomsawin’s 50th film, reveals how a Cree community in Manitoba has been enriched through the power of education. The Helen Betty Osborne Ininiw Education Resource Centre in Norway House, north of Lake Winnipeg, receives a level of funding that few other Indigenous institutions enjoy. With special Métis fiddling, Cree language, and outdoor education programs, teachers help their students to develop their abilities and their sense of pride.
We Were Children – d. Tim Wolochatiuk (2012)
In this feature film, the profound impact of the Canadian government’s residential school system is conveyed through the eyes of two children who were forced to face hardships beyond their years. As young children, Lyna and Glen were taken from their homes and placed in church-run boarding schools, where they suffered years of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, the effects of which persist in their adult lives. We Were Children gives voice to a national tragedy and demonstrates the incredible resilience of the human spirit. (Please note that this film contains disturbing content. Viewer discretion is advised)
Books
Hungry Listening: Resonant Theory for Indigenous Sound Studies – by Dylan Robinson (2020)
Dylan Robinson examines inherent misunderstandings between Indigenous and settler conceptions of music. Using case studies of Indigenous participation in classical music, musicals, and popular music, Robinson considers listening from both perspectives. Robinson discusses listening positionality and decolonial listening practices.
Sold at Amazon, Indigo, University of Minnesota Press and JSTOR
Arts of Engagement: Taking Aesthetic Action in and Beyond the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada – by Dylan Robinson and Keavy Martin (2016)
Arts of Engagement is a collection of essays that focus on the roles that film, music, visual art, and Indigenous cultural practices play in and beyond the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Contributors explore how aesthetic and sensory interventions offer alternative forms of political action and healing. These forms of aesthetic action encompass both sensory appeals to empathize and invitations to join together in alliance and new relationships as well as refusals to follow the normative scripts of reconciliation.
Sold at Wilfred Laurier University Press and Amazon
Opera Indigene: Re/presenting First Nations and Indigenous Cultures – by Pamela Karantonis & Dylan Robinson (2016)
Representations of non-western cultures in opera have been long criticized, however Indigenous representation has not been as widely discussed. Karantonis and Robinson explore the historical depictions of indigenous cultures and the more contemporary practices of Indigenous artists, highlighting the distinction between constructed identity in historical contexts, and Indigenous artists using the medium to explore and develop cultural practices. Gathering experts from Canada, the Americas, and Australia, Opera Indigene draws upon postcolonial theory, cultural geography, ethnomusicology and critical discourses on nationalism and multiculturalism to investigate the evolving relationships between Indigenous peoples and imperial power.
Sold at Amazon, Routledge, and the University of Toronto
Seven Fallen Feathers: Racism, Death, and Hard Truths in a Northern City – by Tanya Talaga (2017)
Over the span of eleven years, seven Indigenous high school students died in Thunder Bay, Ontario. They were hundreds of kilometres away from their families, forced to leave home because there was no adequate high school on their reserves. Five were found dead in the rivers surrounding Lake Superior, below a sacred Indigenous site. Using a sweeping narrative focusing on the lives of the students, award-winning author Tanya Talaga delves into the history of this northern city that has come to manifest Canada’s long struggle with human rights violations against Indigenous communities.
Sold at Amazon, Indigo, Audible, and House of Anansi Press
21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality – by Bob Joseph (2018)
Since its creation in 1876, the Indian Act has been used to control the lives and opportunities of Indigenous peoples in Canada. Bob Joseph’s book “21 Things You May Not Know About the Indian Act” is the essential guide to understanding the act and its repercussions on Indigenous peoples. As we work for reconciliation, Joseph dissects the issues around truth and reconciliation, and explains how returning to traditional governance models can help create a better Canada for all.
They Called Me Number One: Secrets and Survival at an Indian Residential School – by Bev Sellars (2013)
A poignant memoir, Bev Sellars details her experiences as a child at St Joseph’s Mission, a residential school in British Columbia. In an effort to dehumanize the Indigenous children, staff and faculty at St Joseph’s would address students by assigned numbers only. They endeavored to “civilize” children through Christian teachings, abuse, and forced separation from family, language, and culture. Sellars recounts the generational trauma and lasting effects of residential schools on her family and community, as well as her own path to healing.
Sold at Amazon, Indigo, Talon Books, and Audible
Articles
‘How do we move forward?’: Marion Newman brings truth and reconciliation to classical music – CBC’s Justin Chandler (2018)
Marion Newman discusses her experiences as an Indigenous opera singer in Canada and outlines her vision of reconciliation in the classical music industry.
Intercultural Art Music and the Sensory Veracity of Reconciliation: Brent Michael Davids’ Powwow Symphony on the Dakota Music Tour – by Dylan Robinson (2012)
In his article, Dylan Robinson questions music’s particular stake in Indigenous initiatives of redress and reconciliation. It examines music’s media-specific relationship with redress and reconciliation, and public discourses that situate intercultural art music performance as a medium of reconciliation. In addressing intercultural art music’s abilities to engender reconciliation, the article considers its social and political efficacy.
Perspectives on Louis Riel – Orchestras Canada (2019)
In 1967, Harry Somers’ opera Louis Riel premiered at the Canadian Opera Company (COC). The third act originally opens with an aria “Kuyas”, adapted by Somers from the Nisga’a peoples’ “Song of Skateen” without consent and in violation of Nisga’a law. 50 years later, the COC and National Arts Centre (NAC) revived the production. In this panel, moderated by Dylan Robinson, guests Alexander Neef, Jani Lauzon, Ian Cusson and Simone Osborne discuss the aria and the discussions between Indigenous artists, scholars, leaders, the COC, and the NAC leading up to the 2017 production.
Key Learnings from the RSO Indigenous Advisory Council – Orchestras Canada (2021)
On Wednesday, March 3rd, 2021, OC welcomed members of the Regina Symphony Orchestra Indigenous Advisory Council (IAC) for a roundtable discussion. Over the course of a candid 90-minute conversation hosted by Daniel Bartholomew-Poyser, Audra Young (IAC chair and RSO board member), Gordon Gerrard (RSO Music Director), Marion Newman (mezzo-soprano), and Christian Robinson (RSO Concertmaster) reflected on how the IAC came to be, what makes their relationship successful, and what orchestras ought to consider in building their own relationships with Indigenous peoples.
Roundtable on Indigenous Musical Sovereignty – Orchestras Canada (2021)
On Wednesday, May 26th, OC welcomed Andrew Balfour, Ian Cusson, Michelle Lafferty, Beverley McKiver, Melody McKiver, Jessica McMann and Sonny Ray Day Rider to a roundtable discussion on Indigenous musical sovereignty hosted by Cris Derksen. The conversation was inspired by the Statement on Indigenous Musical Sovereignty, which the panelists drafted (along with Jeremy Dutcher and Corey Payette) in 2019 at the Indigenous Classical Music Gathering in Banff. The roundtable focused on the artists’ experiences learning and working in classical music as Indigenous people and how orchestras can invite mutually enriching, reciprocal, and respectful exchanges with Indigenous artists – both what’s on the program, and also the experience of creating together.
Training
The Path: Your Journey Through Indigenous Canada (Indigenous Cultural Awareness Training) (Disponible en français)
The Canadian Live Music Association (CLMA) has partnered with NVision Insight Group to offer The Path: Your Journey through Indigenous Canada, an Indigenous cultural awareness training program, for the live music industry. Designed by NVision, this certificate course meets various Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Calls to Action for Canadians to receive cultural competency training by teaching about “the history and legacy of residential schools, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Treaties and Aboriginal rights, Indigenous law, and Aboriginal– Crown relations.” This training is for anyone committed to creating a stronger Canada, a more compassionate Canada, and a Canada of empowered Indigenous communities. Thanks to a generous partnership with the Canadian Live Music Association (CLMA), Orchestras Canada is pleased to offer members a special discount for this training provided by the CLMA and NVision Insight Group. To find out more information about the discount, please contact [email protected]
Indigenous Canada is a free Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) available on Coursera, presented by the Faculty of Native Studies at the University of Alberta. It examines Indigenous histories and contemporary issues in Canada. The course explores key issues facing Indigenous peoples today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations.