POSTPONED - This is What I Know: Lynn Gehl, PhD
Event Details
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Thursday, February 27, 2020
10:00 AM - 12:45 PM
City: Peterborough
Catharine Parr Traill College
Building: Scott House
Room: Multipurpose Room 105
Cost: no cost
The Frost Centre is pleased to welcome Lynn Gehl, PhD Algonquin Anishinaabekwe & Frost Centre Alumnus. Lynn's talk is open to the community - everyone is welcome!
Abstract Title: This is What I Know
Discussing, understanding, and coming to know Indigenous ΜΆ settler relations in Canada involves a lot of ground such as how the relationship shifted over time from settler dependence to Indigenous oppression, the history of the treaty and land claims process, residential schools, both the genocide and cultural genocide of Indigenous people that continues today, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, and the sex discrimination in the Indian Act. For the most part my work has focused on two main areas: Sex discrimination in the Indian Act; and the Algonquin land claims process. More recently my work also focuses on the destruction of Akikpautik, a sacred place for the Anishinaabeg. My work always centres Indigenous knowledge, and relies on Indigenous methods/methodology such as experiential knowledge, heart knowledge, reading the literature, introspection, and Debwewin Journey. Further, my theoretical position is Indigenist versus anti-colonial. Like many Indigenous thinkers today it is my position that Canada must shift the paradigm and come to a place of respecting Indigenous jurisdiction as was ratified during the 1764 Treaty at Niagara, as it was then when Canada’s first constitutional documents were exchanged. In this talk I will share my Treaty at Niagara Wampum bundle, a traditional form of literacy.
Biographical Note:
Lynn grew up in Toronto’s housing projects with seven brothers and sisters. While at the level of practice she was living the life of a disenfranchised Algonquin Anishinaabekwe, who she was as a person was not discussed, thus she was not cognitively conscious of being Algonquin. Listening carefully to, and taking direction from, the many silences around her, and in overcoming a vision disability, eventually she learned how to read and write while an undergraduate student, initially taking one psychology course. After switching her major to cultural anthropology she graduated summa cum laude, and then moved on to graduate school where she successfully competed for the Ontario Graduate Scholarship at the Masters level and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research fellowship at the doctoral level. This was a rare accomplishment for Indigenous students. Since completing her doctorate in 2010 she has been busy blogging and writing for various venues such as rabble, Canadian Dimension, Policy Options, The Hill Times, NOW, and Canada’s History Magazine. She has also published two books: The Truth that Wampum Tells: My Debwewin on the Algonquin Land Claims Process and Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit. The Truth that Wampum Tells (2014) focusses on the genocide inherent in the Ontario Algonquin land claims process. Her award winning Claiming Anishinaabe (2017) focusses on Indigenous knowledge. In 2017 she was victorious in her section 15 Charter challenge regarding Indian and Northern Affairs Canada’s unknown and unstated paternity policy. The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled this policy was unreasonable. In this work Lynn was called on as an expert witness by both the Senate and the House of Commons. Lynn is now registered as a status Indian; and subsequently a band member of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation and citizen of the larger Anishinabek nation. Lynn works outside of institutional power where racism, sexism, ableism, and nepotism and their intersection effect thrive. Lynn does not see herself as a Canadian first; she is a proud Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe with little state leanings. Lynn is currently completing a book on her Constitutional / Charter challenge with the University of Regina Press which will be out in the fall of 2020.
Presented by the Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies in conjunction with CSID-HIST 5171-CAST 6171H "Indigneous Settler Relations" instructor Dr. Janet Miron