This page contains a number of educational and informational articles. Click or tap on the link in brown to jump directly to the article.
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- The DCCRC Flag – What Does It Mean?
- Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
- Final Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples
- They Came for the Children (Residential Schools)
- Dr. Cindy Blackstock and the BC Child and Youth Advocacy Commission
- Dr. Lynn Gehl’s Blog
- Ernesto Sirolli talks about Sustainable Development
- The Native Woman’s Association of Canada Community Guide
- The Inter American Commission on Human Rights
- Human Rights Watch report on Protection of Indigenous Women and Girls
- United Nations Declaration on Protection of Women and Girls
- Institute for Canadian Citizenship Guiding Principles
- Schooling the World: White Man’s Last Burden
- The DCCRC Flag – What Does It Mean?
The DCCRC Flag – What Does It Mean?
The colours on the flag represent the four directions:
Yellow to the East, Red to the South, Black to the West and White to the North.
The turtle on the flag is a snapping turtle which appears in the Anishinaabe legend explaining the origin of North America or Turtle Island:
After a great flood, the snapping turtle offered his back as the foundation for a new Earth. Nanaboozhoo (benefactor to the Anishinaabe people) put a small piece of earth on the snapping turtle’s back. The wind blew from the Four Directions.
Then the island in the water grew larger and heavier, to what is now known as North America. Please note that this is a short version of the creation of Turtle Island legend, the long version features the brave muskrat…. We encourage you to seek out the many adventurous versions of this story. The turtle figure is used by several indigenous nations.
The 13 Moons on a Snapping Turtle’s back:
On a turtle’s back the pattern of scales establishes the combination of numbers that define the lunar calendar cycle. The circle of scales that surround the edge add up to 28, the number of days that comprise the lunar cycle. (28 days from full moon to full moon). The centre of the shell has a pattern of thirteen larger scales which represent the 13 moons of the lunar cycle.
Aboriginal calendars are not the same as our western calendar. They are lunar calendars that are logical to a people who are closely linked to nature. The different times of the moon are closely linked to corresponding important yearly events.
For example, in March: The third moon of Creation is Sugar Moon. As the maple sap begins to run, we learn of one of the main medicines given to the Anishinaabe which balances our blood and heals us. During this time, we are encouraged to balance our lives as we would our blood sugar levels. This moon also teaches us the time of year when the sap is running for maple sugar harvest.
The flag was designed by a DCCRC community member, Kristin Evensen, graphic designer.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
The final report, titled Honouring the Truth, Reconciling for the Future, is the culmination of thousands of hours of heart-wrenching testimony heard in more than 300 communities over a span of six years, from more than 6,000 indigenous women and men who were abused and lived to tell their stories.
The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples.
The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) was established by Order in Council on August 26, 1991, and it submitted in October 1996 the Report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. The RCAP was mandated to investigate and propose solutions to the challenges affecting the relationship between Aboriginal peoples (First Nations, Inuit, Métis), the Canadian government and Canadian society as a whole.
Summary of Recommendations: Download File
They Came for the Children (Residential Schools)
For over 100 years, First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children were removed from their families and sent to institutions called residential schools. The government-funded, church-run schools were located across Canada and established with the purpose to eliminate parental involvement in the spiritual, cultural and intellectual development of Indigenous children. The last residential schools closed in the mid-1990s. During this chapter in Canadian history, more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children were forced to attend these schools some of which were hundreds of miles from their home. The cumulative impact of residential schools is a legacy of unresolved trauma passed from generation to generation and has had a profound effect on the relationship between First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples and other Canadians.
First Call: BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition 20th Anniversary Fundraising Dinner, January 31st, 2013. Click here to see the video.
Dr. Lynn Gehl, Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe
Lynn Gehl, PhD, is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe. She is an advocate, artist, writer, and an outspoken critic of colonial law and policies that harm Indigenous women, men, children, and the Land. Her 2014 book based on her doctoral work “The Truth that Wampum Tells: My Debwewin on the Algonquin Land Claims Process” was published with Fernwood Publishing. Her 2017 book, titled “Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit”, explores her journey deeper into Indigenous knowledge and was published with the University of Regina Press.
In April 2017 Lynn was successful in defeating Indian and Northern Affairs Canada’s unstated paternity policy when the Court of Appeal for Ontario ruled the sex discrimination in the policy was unreasonable.Lynn Gehl, PhD, is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe. She is an advocate, artist, writer, and an outspoken critic of colonial law and policies that harm Indigenous women, men, children, and the Land.
Her 2014 book based on her doctoral work “The Truth that Wampum Tells: My Debwewin on the Algonquin Land Claims Process” was published with Fernwood Publishing. Her 2017 book, titled “Claiming Anishinaabe: Decolonizing the Human Spirit”, explores her journey deeper into Indigenous knowledge and was published with the University of Regina Press.
In April 2017 Lynn was successful in defeating Indian and Northern Affairs Canada’s unstated paternity policy when the Court of Appeal for Ontario ruled the sex discrimination in the policy was unreasonable.
Black Face Blogger Click here
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The Native Women’s Association of Canada
The Native Women’s Association of Canada is pleased to announce the release of our new COMMUNITY RESOURCE GUIDE:
What Can I Do to Help the Families of Missing and Murdered Aboriginal Women and Girls? The CRG includes a poster, three fact sheets, 10 toolkits and other resources for educators as well as a CD for easy access to electronic files for printing and distribution. Some of the topics addressed in the CRG are: “Sisters In Spirit Vigils,” “Men as Effective Allies,” “Unlocking the Mystery of Media Relations,” “Navigating Victim Services,” and “Safety Measures for Aboriginal Women”.
NWAC encourages the use of the CRG for violence prevention activities, community support, capacity building and to promote healthy relationships.
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has released a ground breaking report on its investigation into the murders and disappearances of Aboriginal women and girls in British Columbia. The investigation was requested by the Native Women’s Association of Canada (NWAC) and FAFIA in March 2012. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has released a groundbreaking report on its investigation into the murders and disappearances of Aboriginal women and girls in British Columbia. The investigation was requested by the NWAC and FAFIA in March 2012. Click here to read the full report.
“Those Who Take Us Away: Abusive Policing and Failures in Protection of Indigenous Women and Girls in Northern British Columbia”
This HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH report documents both ongoing police failures to protect indigenous women and girls in the north from violence and violent behaviour by police officers against women and girls. Police failures and abuses add to longstanding tensions between the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and indigenous communities in the region, Human Rights Watch said. The Canadian government should establish a national commission of inquiry into the murders and disappearances of indigenous women and girls, including the impact of police mistreatment on their vulnerability to violence in communities along Highway 16, which has come to be called northern British Columbia’s “Highway of Tears.”
United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Article 1 Indigenous peoples have the right to the full enjoyment, as a collective or as individuals, of all human rights and fundamental freedoms as recognized in the Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights law.
Read the full PDF Article here
Institute for Canadian Citizenship Guiding Principles
We believe…
1. Citizenship is an important bond that unites all Canadians.
2. Progressive integration policies (social, economic, political) positively reinforce the value of citizenship.
3. Aboriginal Culture is a founding pillar of Canadian society; the ICC builds upon Aboriginal Canadians’ traditions of welcoming others.
Schooling the World 2010: White Man’s Last Burden
This is a must see documentary about the education system we have in place aimed at total erasure and annihilation of Indigenous nations, all nations. This education system is meant to create “workers” to benefit the elite and an economy that destroys and devastates the lands and waters. Click here to see the video.