Honouring & Renewing Our Sacred Relations: 44th Annual Elders & Traditional Peoples Gathering at Trent November 1-3
Award-winning Ojibway author and journalist Tanya Talaga to deliver keynote address to hundreds of guests from across North America
Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples from across the continent will gather this weekend at Trent University as part of the 44th annual Elders and Traditional Peoples Gathering hosted by the First Peoples House of Learning (FPHL) and the Chanie Wenjack School for Indigenous Studies at Trent.
“This year’s gathering celebrates the importance of Renewing our Sacred Relations,” says Dr. Dawn Lavell Harvard, director of FPHL. “It connects students and community members, providing an opportunity to learn from elders whose traditional knowledge they might otherwise not have access to. These elders bring a wealth of knowledge about our collective past to help guide our path into the future using traditional teachings from a number of diverse Indigenous nations."
Indigenous Insights, the pre-conference on Friday, November 1, celebrates 50 years of Indigenous Studies at Trent University. The day’s program includes honorific namings, a treaty display unveiling, and reflections from notable alumni including Harvey McCue.
Each year, the Elders and Traditional Peoples Gathering offers an opportunity for all attendees to share in Indigenous knowledge through workshops, presentations, and performances. This year’s performance, Inner Elder, returns to much acclaim in the Nozhem Performance Theatre.
Registration for the Elders Gathering is required. General admission is $25, students and seniors (65+) are free. Register online or at the door. All events take place in Enwayaang, home to Gzowski College and the First Peoples House of Learning.
Highlights of this year’s event and photo opportunities are listed below:
Indigenous Insights: Pre-Conference Celebrating 50 years of Indigenous Studies
Friday, November 1, 7:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
The Ernest Florence Benedict Gathering Space, room 101 Enwayaang
- 12:30 p.m. Treaty 20 and Williams Treaty Unveiling, Bata Library
- Full pre-conference program available online
Grand Opening: Elders and Traditional Peoples Gathering
Friday, November 12, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Enwayaang room 114
Inner Elder Indigenous Performance
Thursday, October 31, Friday, November 1 & Saturday, November 2, 8:00 p.m.
Nozhem: First Peoples Performance Space
- Pay way you can at the door
Workshop: Video Story Booth
Saturday, November 2, 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Enwayaang room 103
- In celebration of 50 years of Indigenous Studies at Trent University, four Indigenous Studies students will run a video story booth to collect sorties and experiences from alumni and community members. The stories will be used to create a documentary film under the supervision of Professor Joeann Argue.
Workshop: Indigenous Language Panel – The Next 50 Years
Saturday, November 2, 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Enwayaang room 114
- Dr. Shirley Williams, Anne Taylor, Isadore Toulouse, and Elizabeth Osawamick will explore the next 50 years of Indigenous language security and what steps are being taken to restore Indigenous languages for the next generation of all Nations.
Keynote Address: Tanya Talaga
Saturday, November 2, 10:45 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Enwayaang room 114
- Award-winning journalist and author, and the first Ojibway woman to deliver the CBC Massey Lectures, Tanya Talaga is an acclaimed storyteller. Her book Seven Fallen Feathers, won the 2018 RBC Taylor Prize. Her latest book, All Our Relations, is available now. In her keynote, Ms. Talaga will share Indigenous stories from across Canada, humanizing the legacy of residential schools and colonization, and sharing her hope for a more inclusive and equitable future.
Closing Keynote: Madonna Raven Sinclair
Sunday, November 3, 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Enwayaang room 114
- Raven Sinclair is Nehiyaw-Cree from George Gordon First Nation in Saskatchewan and is a professor of Social Work at the University of Regina. She is a survivor of the Indigenous child welfare system. Her areas of interest include Indigenous mental health and trauma recovery, Indigenous child welfare, and transracial adoption and cultural identity. Raven is a member of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research College of Reviewers, the Waakebiness-Bryce Institute of Indigenous Health Research, the Yellowhead Research Institute, and a federal court appointed advisor to the Sixties Scoop Healing Foundation. She will be sharing closing remarks to wrap up the 45th Elders Gathering.
About the Elders Gathering
The annual Elders and Traditional Peoples Gathering takes place at Trent University every year and aims to bring together a wide audience, connecting communities from all over North America. The Elders Gathering was envisioned in the 1970s as an opportunity for elders and traditional teachers from coast to coast to share their wisdom and stories with youth, students and community members. Participants share Indigenous knowledge’s through a series of experiential workshops, presentations and lectures.