Artist Jason Baerg on Canada Day's reminder of stolen land and broken promises: 'Canada is a colonial project'
It's a statement that cuts to the root of Canada Day's enduring controversy: For many Indigenous people, it marks not a national celebration but a reminder of stolen land and broken treaties. As a Cree-Métis artist raised in Red River, Saskatchewan and now based in Toronto, Ontario, Baerg's very life and practice are acts of resistance, continuity and reclamation.
'I'm Indigenous and German — my father came from Germany, and I was raised by my Métis mother,' Baerg explains. 'So, every day is Indigenous for me. That's how I live my life.'
Yahoo News Canada presents 'My Canada," a series spotlighting Canadians — born-and-raised to brand new — sharing their views on the Canadian dream, national identity, and the triumphs and tribulations that come with life inside and outside these borders.
That lived experience means Canada Day doesn't bring up the same kind of pride or joy others might feel. 'It's a weird thing to unpack,' they say. 'It's funny how many people don't even understand the basics, that First Nations have their own governments, that they're independent nations.'
Baerg doesn't dismiss Canadian identity entirely. They acknowledge: 'I'd be a fool to think I do not participate in a greater network of people that includes settlers. When I think about what it means to participate in that kind of nationalism, which is kind of fabricated, I think about continuum, where we are, out story. It's complex.'
That sense of continuum shows up powerfully in Baerg's work. As an interdisciplinary artist working across painting, fashion and digital media, their art is deeply rooted in Indigenous epistemologies, visual languages and futurism.
'I'm interested in sustainable fashion, in the presence and visuality of Indigenous people through their contemporary art practices,' they say. 'There's real intention there of how [we] participate in culture, and build and disseminate who we are as Indigenous people.'
Baerg also brings that philosophy into the classroom at OCAD University, where they teach and mentor the next generation of artists, many of whom — and, crucially, not all — are Indigenous.
'The artist has to know who they are before they can say anything to the world,' they say. 'So, I have my students research their own traditional homelands. It helps them understand their position and gives them cultural material to work with in their art. I'm grounding them in having them acknowledge that their ancestors are from a different place, and I'm also serving them the opportunity to get to know themselves even more, because I truly believe that the artist has to know who they are before they can say anything to the world.'
In other words, that sense of knowing isn't just about identity, it's also about place. Baerg believes deeply in connecting students to the land, and in challenging Canadian institutions — artistic, educational and political — to do better.
'It's not enough to have conversations anymore; art and education are just the beginning. We need action. We know communities don't have clean water, so fix that. We know curriculum is lacking, so change it.'
We know communities don't have clean water, so fix that. We know curriculum is lacking, so change it.
And for Baerg, that change has to start early. They point to models in places like Australia where Indigenous culture is embedded in early childhood education.
'Why not here?' they ask. 'If you're in Toronto, every child should know how to say 'hello' in Haudenosaunee or Anishinaabe. That kind of cultural fluency should be foundational. We should be bringing local Indigenous custodians into schools and daycares. Geography lessons should happen on the land with those who know it best.'
There are already some glimmers of this vision in Canada.
Baerg highlights Saskatchewan's treaty education mandate from kindergarten to Grade 12 as an example. But they also express frustration at the pace of progress, particularly when funding is often the first thing to go.
'The government has taken so much away ... And I don't want to entertain that anymore. I want us to envision something better and then go build it.'
Despite all this, Baerg remains optimistic. Their hope doesn't come from institutions, but from community. 'I see us moving forward in good ways, with or without institutional support,' they say. 'We train our own, we respond to our own needs, and we move.'
What they want most — for Canada, for Canadians — is a shift toward meaningful collaboration. At the heart of that is a simple but powerful wish: respect.
'I'd love to see more harmony and more collaboration,' Baerg says. 'Genuine respect. If we looked at each other as kin, we'd be in a much better place.'
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New York Post
2 hours ago
- New York Post
Brooklyn's 'show sauna' competition, where masters wow sweating crowds
Call them hot and unbothered. During late June's heat wave, when most New Yorkers sat pinned to air conditioners, 1,200 sauna enthusiasts swarmed Brooklyn's Bathhouse to witness the country's first sauna master smackdown. Some wore bell-shaped felt bucket caps to prevent overheating and to signal: This ain't my first hydro-deo. Others were Bathhouse regulars who, like any good New Yorker, saw a line — in this case for the wellness venue's 80-seater 'event sauna' — and joined the queue. 16 Bathhouse in Brooklyn held the US's first-ever show aufguss competition. Aysia Marotta 16 Sauna masters performed 13- to 15-minute routines with lights, music, dance, narration, costumes and props for sweating audiences. Aysia Marotta Called competitive show aufguss (pronounced 'off-goose') — a German term for a type of guided group sauna experience common in Europe — the two-day event featured 10 of the nation's top sauna masters, who took turns spinning towels like lassos and pounding aroma-infused ice balls onto hot stone as a panel of judges and fired-up fans looked on. Each 13- to 15-minute routine also brought the heat with lights, music, dance, narration, costumes and props intended to blow hot air and tell a story. One master with the apropos last name Fiery portrayed the evolution of hip hop. Another depicted a terminal illness. 'The Celestial Sisters of Fire and Ice' interpretive-danced their way through a fight and reconciliation. 'Fire can help warm and ice can help soothe, and those working together creates a more beautiful world,' the real-life siblings and Vegas showgirls cooed. The goal of those in the hot seat? To rack up enough points in categories like heat distribution and towel technique to secure the title of first US aufguss champion — and advance to the world championships in Italy this fall. 'I'm so nervous,' Thor Moeller admitted a few hours before stepping onto the steamy stage. After all, a lot could go wrong. He once dropped a hot stone. 16 Over 1,000 sauna enthusiasts came for the two-day competition. Aysia Marotta Others have smacked spectators with spinning towels. You can get off beat or over time. There's choreography to forget, essential oils to burn, lines to miss. One of the day's first performers had already burned and crashed — straight into the sauna's glass door. Outside, Moeller consoled the rumor mill in earnest: 'I didn't see any blood.' 'It's kind of like being a samurai. A sauna master comes to you and they're like, 'You're a sauna master.' It's very unofficial.' Travis Talmadge, Bathhouse cofounder It was a lot to absorb on a Monday afternoon when both the literal and figurative world was burning. But when you're sticking to strangers just trying to breathe through the next hot minute, 'a lot' is relative. That's the whole point. 'You can experience beautiful art if you're just open for it,' said Lasse Eriksen, a Norwegian jury member and vice president of the Aufguss WM, described as the FIFA for aufguss. 'But if you just want to sit there and critique, you can do that, but then it becomes very hot. And then you just want to leave.' 16 'The Celestial Sisters of Fire and Ice' interpretive-danced their way through a fight and reconciliation. Aysia Marotta 16 Competitors earn points in categories like heat distribution and towel technique. Aysia Marotta Auf-what? 'Aufguss is immersion into the way of sauna. That's the important thing: It's still sauna,' Eriksen explains. But rather than sweating it out alone, aufguss is communal and guided. Rather than leaving when you get too hot, the ritual has a beginning and end. There's also math (hot stone plus ice equals steam) and science (wafted steam feels hotter than still steam). The actual temperature, however, remains the same — around 185 degrees Fahrenheit. 'People are always like, 'How hot are you going to make it?'' Moeller, 32, said. 'I'm like, 'How hot can I allow you to feel the sun?'' 16 There's an art to aufguss, where sauna masters manipulate steam and how hot the room feels. Alonzo Solarzano, Bathhouse's first director of aufguss, is seen competing. Aysia Marotta 16 They use props, like Nico Fiery, who poured water from a sneaker. Aysia Marotta Show or 'theme' aufguss is classic sauna on steroids. It can be the difference between a bartender cracking open a beer and a mixologist crafting a cocktail blindfolded — and then lighting the garnish on fire. It is, many sauna masters will tell you, a multi-sensory experience. Competitive show aufguss, then, asks: Who does it best? The answer comes down to five elements: professionality (if you drop a towel, you mustn't use it again), heat distribution (why should one row get all the good stuff?), towel technique (a helicopter is a classic; a release-and-catch throw is risky but wows), fragrance (real birch beats synthetic lavender) and storytelling (audience members' tears and laughter are a good sign). Sauna masters 'need to learn to connect with the sound, to move the wind and the smells and create it comfortably hot, not too early, not too late, right in the middle,' Eriksen explained. 'The music has the right build up, the volume is just the right build up. When everything is in line and everything is perfect, then you have a maximum score. And that is almost impossible.' 16 Sauna masters 'need to learn to connect with the sound, to move the wind and the smells and create it comfortably hot, not too early, not too late, right in the middle.' Aysia Marotta 16 There is actually a sauna culture in America now,' Bathhouse's cofounder Travis Talmadge (pictured) said. Aysia Marotta The road to sauna master Aufguss has long been a familiar offering in European saunas, but it's only recently gained steam in the US, in large part due to the burgeoning 'social wellness' movement, said Don Genders, CEO of Design for Leisure, an event co-sponsor and maker of spa environments like sauna cabins. Clubbing is out, tubbing is in. 'It's almost like a perfect storm,' Genders said. And New York is its eye. While Bathhouse is the first in New York to develop an aufguss program, the city can't seem to get enough of water-based wellness. Canadian bathhouse Othership landed in New York last year. Aire Ancient Baths launched on the Upper East Side in 2025. There's also Remedy Place and the Well. 'There is actually a sauna culture in America now,' Bathhouse's cofounder and sauna master competitor Travis Talmadge said. 16 Most of June's competitors (like Tovi Wayne, pictured) honed their craft by finding mentors, obsessing over YouTube videos and practicing. They invested in towels with the preferred grip, weight and length. Aysia Marotta And with sauna culture comes sauna masters. How exactly does one become such a thing? 'It's not like a driver's license yet,' Eriksen said. In fact, Talmadge said, 'it's kind of like being a samurai. A sauna master comes to you and they're like, 'You're a sauna master.' It's very unofficial.' Not that aspiring and accomplished masters don't take it seriously. Most of June's competitors honed their craft by finding mentors, obsessing over YouTube videos and practicing. They invested in towels with the preferred grip, weight and length. Alonzo Solarzano, Bathhouse's first director of aufguss, rented out studio space and made multiple calls to a childhood friend with acting expertise to suss out his storyline. 'The advice I got was: You want to end on a positive note,' he said. While many sauna masters have some performance background and innate hand-eye coordination, 'there's really no barrier to entry — that's what I love about it,' Genders said. 'It's incredibly democratic.' 16 The Celestial Sisters earned the top prize for pairs. Aysia Marotta 16 Rather than sweating it out alone, aufguss is communal and guided. TJ Lupo is seen performing 'Reflections of Grief.' Aysia Marotta Solarzano, for one, had never been in a sauna — let alone heard of aufguss — when he got a job as a therapy attendant at Bathhouse in Williamsburg in 2021. The 29-year-old had recently moved to New York after burning out as a dancer in his Massachusetts hometown. He figured the gig would help him reset. Then Bathhouse offered its employees aufguss training. Over the next few years, Solarzano traveled abroad to learn from the auf-GOATS and quit his other job in data engineering. 'He was like, 'Aufguss is my identity,'' Talmadge recalls. Moeller, a native New Yorker with a beard, man bun and golden retriever energy, found aufguss after moving to Austria in 2015 to work at a ski resort. He's now a sauna meister at a different resort — and Austria's 2023 show aufguss national champion. 16 In the US, people are clothed, typically in swimsuits. That's not always the case in other countries. Aysia Marotta Competing in the US, though, is different. Here, guests aren't naked. That fact eliminates at least one European debate: 'Do you sit directly on the wood? Do you have a towel between your skin and the wood? A number of different people have analyzed the situation,' Moeller said. TJ Lupo's path to aufguss traces to his 'very dark past.' The sauna master at MindZero Wellness in Virginia underwent brain surgery for a tumor and discovered contrast therapy while recovering. The spa owner, a Czech native, introduced him to aufguss. 'I found waving towels, so emotionally, I'm able to handle things much easier just because I have an outlet to express myself,' he said. 16 Jury member and six-time Danish national aufguss champion Ong Lai Pang of Malaysia set the stage. Aysia Marotta 16 Many attendees wore felt hats. Aysia Marotta Competition heats up When the door opened to Bathhouse's event sauna on Day 2 of the competition, jury member and six-time Danish national aufguss champion Ong Lai Pang of Malaysia set the stage, as he did before every show. 'One, two, three!' Pang, who resembles a monk, albeit one spotted wearing an 'I love naked people' T-shirt, bellowed. 'Aufguss!' the crowd shouted back. 'Three, two, one!' Pang continued. 'Family!' onlookers roared. Solarzano was set to take the stage. Two girls in the audience were among the many there for the home-turf favorite. 16 'When people ask me what they do,' said the mom of the Celestial Sisters, 'I always tell them: They're living their dream.' Aysia Marotta One, a Bathhouse regular, had seen Solarzano practicing and knew she had to come to his show. Her friend was more skeptical. She worried about the 'cringe' factor and her ability to withstand the heat. 'I'm a baby in the sauna,' she confessed. (You are allowed to leave, though few do.) But when the lights came up after Solarzano's Western outlaw-themed, country ballad-inspired performance of loss, deceit and redemption, the friend was still there. She'd seen expert-level double-towel tricks for the first time. She'd clapped along to the music and gasped at the drama. The sweat was an afterthought. 'That was actually one of the best things I've seen all year,' she said. The jury agreed: Solarzano took first place. The Celestial Sisters earned the top prize for pairs. Their Midwestern mom teared up. 'When people ask me what they do,' she said, 'I always tell them: They're living their dream.'


Buzz Feed
4 hours ago
- Buzz Feed
Succession's Brian Cox And Wife Nicole's Separate Homes
In 2018, Brian Cox's public profile skyrocketed when he was cast as billionaire media tycoon Logan Roy in the HBO series Succession, breathing a new lease of life into his 51-year acting career. Now 79, Brian's late burst of stardom has also seen his wealth increase astronomically, with the star's estimated net worth currently sitting at a healthy $15 million. But the actor's approach to money couldn't be more different from that of his TV counterpart Logan's, with Brian admitting in a recent interview with the Times of London that he is actually 'embarrassed' by his financial success. 'I haven't changed,' he insisted to the publication. 'I'm still the same, and this attention to the detail of wealth freaks me out. I don't like talking about it, I get embarrassed.''I've got so many clothes now,' Brian went on. 'People just keep giving me clothes. I've got a stylist and all that bollocks.'The star also revealed that he gets uncomfortable when the subject of how much he earns comes up, largely due to the fact that he feels like he will struggle to live up to the expectation that this sets.'They were talking about how much I earn the other day, and I just said: 'I don't want to know that, thank you very much. Please keep that information to yourself,'' Brian recalled. 'God almighty! Really? What a responsibility, living up to it apart from anything else.' But despite Brian having a certain level of contempt when it comes to his wealth, elsewhere in the interview, he opened up about buying a separate home in an expensive part of London just for his wife, German actor Nicole Ansari-Cox, whom he married in 2002. The couple already share homes in Brooklyn and upstate New York, but are spending more time in Britain at the moment, partially due to Donald Trump's second term as president. Last February, Brian told the Times of London that the secret to his and 56-year-old Nicole's happy marriage is having separate bedrooms, adding: 'You visit one another. Your partner must feel free,' and he has now said that the separate homes are an extension of this mantra. Nicole now has a three-bedroom apartment that is a nine-minute walk away from Brian's place in Primrose Hill, and Brian admitted: 'When I go to her flat, I always feel I'm imposing.''She said: 'Come, you've got to come over. Why don't you come?' I said: 'Well, it's a long walk …'' he joked. 'Then I go, and I'm fine. But I'm always a bit nervous when I go there.' What do you make of Brian and Nicole's separate homes? Let me know in the comments below!


Hamilton Spectator
4 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Ontario has a new Group of Seven day: Why these artists matter, even if you aren't sure who they are
In May, not long after our newly elected prime minister fended off talk of Canada becoming the 51st state during his first face-to-face with U.S. President Donald Trump, there was an auction of all-Canadian art. On the block, several canvases by members of the Group of Seven. In the auction house, a heightened sense of excitement. 'Elbows up' may be the familiar catchphrase, but, in that Toronto sales room, 'it was 'paddles up' and a lot of heightened patriotism towards our master Canadian artists,' says David Heffel, president of Heffel Gallery Limited . The auction pulled in $22 million, shattering records for Franklin Carmichael, Arthur Lismer and A.Y. Jackson. Lawren Harris's 'Northern Lake' went for $3.1 million. It was a striking moment of recognition for the Group of Seven — one that landed just ahead of another milestone: the first official Group of Seven Day in Ontario. Amid a calendar already filled with dates celebrating cultural heritage , Vimy Ridge and even Nikola Tesla, the province announced late last year that every July 7 will now honour the pioneering artists who helped shape Canada's visual identity — even as that legacy is not without complications. 'A day like this is tremendously important,' says Heffel, 'particularly at a time when Canada's sovereign status is being challenged.' John Geoghegan, associate curator at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection — home to 2,000 Group works — echoes the sentiment, noting that the current political climate gives this day particular resonance. 'What the Group of Seven give us is an opportunity to see what's at risk.' And that is the beauty and vastness and natural diversity of this country, from fall in Ontario and winter in Quebec to summer in Nunavut. 'They were among the first artists to come together and paint Canada in a distinct way that was different from just transplanting a European painting tradition onto a Canadian landscape,' says Geoghegan. 'They got people excited about Canadian culture really for the first time.' But their debut wasn't fully embraced. Their first exhibition on May 7, 1920, at the Art Gallery of Toronto (now the AGO) was greeted with mixed reaction. Only five of 120 works sold, although an article in the Toronto Daily Star, headlined 'Seven Painters Show Some Excellent Work,' hinted at potential. 'Their work was actually quite radical,' says Renée van der Avoird, associate curator of Canadian Art at the Art Gallery of Ontario , which has 700 Group pieces. 'They were really rejecting the traditional academic style that was prominent in Toronto in those days. It was a very conservative art scene and they were working towards a much more expressive and experimental style.' While the makeup of the group fluctuated over the years, the founding seven were Lawren Harris, Franklin Carmichael, A.Y. Jackson, Frank (Franz) Johnston, Arthur Lismer, J.E.H. MacDonald, and F.H. Varley. A.J. Casson, Edwin Holgate and Lionel LeMoine FitzGerald were later members and Emily Carr an honorary one. Tom Thomson, often mistakenly counted among the group, had a profound influence on the artists, but he died while on a canoe trip in Algonquin Park in 1917. John Geoghegan, associate curator, McMichael Canadian Art Collection says the gallery's version of the Mona Lisa is Lawren Harris's Mount Lefroy. 'If we took that painting off the wall and put it in a vault, people would start to picket outside of the gallery because it is so beloved.' A series of prints featuring the Group of Seven's landscapes propelled their work into a national spotlight. From the 1940s through to the 1970s, these prints hung in retail stores, libraries, banks, offices, hospitals and schools across the country — embedding the group's vision of Canada into the everyday lives of Canadians and influencing future artists like Douglas Coupland . What drew people, says Geoghegan, is 'this understanding of a way to be in the landscape. It's something a lot of people crave, especially those who live in places like Toronto. There is a desire to maybe get away, and I think we can find a lot of inspiration in the work and maybe even solace, too.' The group's images of wind-blown pines and choppy waters, snow-capped mountains and stormy skies can now be found on everything from calendars to tote bags. 'The works are not only awe-inspiring standing in the National Gallery or the AGO or the McMichael, but I also learn a lot from just seeing them on coffee mugs,' says Heffel, who owns both original Group of Seven paintings and Tom Thomson placemats. In the last decade, the Group has been championed by the likes of actor Steve Martin and in major international exhibits in England and this year in Switzerland and Buffalo. But the group — composed of white Canadian- or British-born men — has increasingly come under critical scrutiny, along with the landscapes they made iconic. Their paintings, while now deeply tied to the image of Canada, often present an idealized wilderness. Tom Thomson's The West Wind is seen at the Art Gallery of Ontario. Thomson had a profound influence on the Group of Seven. A.Y. Jackson's 'In Jasper Park,' 1924. 'They chose to paint scenes that were devoid of human presence but there were, of course, Indigenous communities and industry, logging and mining,' says van der Avoird. 'So in a sense the image they portray of Canada is not accurate; it's more mythical.' That vision doesn't always resonate with everyone today. Although the Group is briefly mentioned in the Ontario school curriculum , their prominence in art education varies. Matthew Varey, director of arts at Havergal College and formerly at Etobicoke School of the Arts , chooses not to focus on their contributions, opting instead to highlight living artists. The work 'is beautiful, it is appreciated … but I don't know if it has the currency that we really need these days,' he says, before acknowledging that the designated day, however, is 'a great starting point' to initiate a broader conversation about Canada and the arts. The AGO, which is normally closed Monday, will be open to mark the day . The McMichael gallery will be hosting events on Sunday.