Latest news with #Cree
Hamilton Spectator
6 days ago
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
Minister Mandy Gull-Masty has made a career out of beating the odds
At just 14 years old, an age when most are worried about high school, Minister Mandy Gull-Masty was facing the challenges that come with being a mother. 'I was like every regular teenager, I had my own issues,' Gull-Masty said. 'I didn't always make the best decisions, mine turned into being a teen mom.' But the resourceful and determined teenager from Waswanipi, Quebec, would quickly learn that life is all about making the most out of her circumstances. As the first Indigenous Minister of Indigenous Services Canada, and the first woman to be elected to the office of Grand Chief of Eeyou Istchee before that, Gull-Masty has made a career out of beating the odds. Now she hopes her journey can inspire other Indigenous women to pursue a career in politics. But all of this was all still a lifetime away for the young Gull-Masty. Following high school, Gull-Masty aspired to follow in her mother's footsteps, who was a secretary for the local band council in Waswanipi. 'Seeing my mother in that role, where community members were coming to her, other employees were coming to her. … 'was like, wow, she is really in a role where she's able to help everybody,'' Gull-Masty said. 'So, I want to be like my mom.' As the mother of two young children, Gull-Masty was determined to set a positive example for them by attending university. 'Something about having them in my life made me hyper aware of the responsibility of caring for somebody,' Gull-Masty said. 'And I think that transferred into my career path as well.' It was her mother who first encouraged her to enter Cree politics, remembering how deeply invested she was in the affairs of the band council politics as a child. 'I remember talking to her on the phone and saying, 'Mom, no way,'' Gull-Masty said. 'There's no way that would ever happen. People would never vote for me.' Gull-Masty admits she was hesitant to run at first, worried about her past and that her limited Cree language skills, stemming from a childhood spent in the south, would automatically discredit her in the eyes of many voters. But her mother reminded her that, at least the latter, could be fixed with a little bit of effort. 'The Cree foundation is in your mind,' Gull-Masty recalled her mother telling her. 'You just have to exercise your language ability and it will come back. It will strengthen.' Then word got around in the tight knit community of Waswanipi, and soon after, others in the community began to approach her saying the same thing. 'It snowballed when somebody heard that and came to see me and said, 'you know, Mandy, we think that you could do this and we want to support you,'' Gull Masty said. When Gull-Masty became the first woman to be elected the Grand Chief of Eeyou Istchee, 20 years after the last woman held the position by appointment, she saw it as an opportunity to open political spaces for Indigenous women. Terrellyn Fearn, Project Director at the Turtle Island Institute for Indigenous Science, said that systemic reform and cultural shifts are needed to make room for Indigenous women in leadership. 'Reconciliation in politics is more than just land acknowledgements' Fearn said. 'It means creating space for Indigenous women to lead, to be grounded in feminine thought and contribution.' Three years into her term, Gull-Masty organized a Women's Leadership Conference aimed at helping Indigenous women enter politics. Gull-Masty recalls they had initially hoped for 40 attendees at most, only for more than 300 to show up, from every Indigenous nation in Quebec, including the Inuit. 'We even had to turn people away at the door because the hotel was upset that we were reaching the maximum capacity for the fire codes,' Gull-Masty said. Irene Neeposh, chief of the Cree First Nation of Waswanipi, was part of a wave of female chiefs across Eeyou Istchee who were inspired to enter politics by Gull-Masty example. 'I think the inspiration that I hope that Indigenous people can find from this, I think I hope it'll be a positive one and one to encourage our I would say duty to spread out,' Neeposh said. 'If we want change, we can't sit on the sidelines.' Before Gull-Masty's election, only two of the 22 council representatives in the Cree nation were women. By the end of her term, over half of the council was made up of women. Now, as the Member of Parliament for Abitibi–Baie-James–Nunavik–Eeyou, she hopes to expand that example onto a national scale. For Joshua Loon, a Cree father of two young girls, Gull-Masty's leadership brings a sense of pride. 'I want my children to recognize who they are as Cree women,' Loon said. Gull-Masty hopes her appointment sends a message, not just to Cree, but to Indigenous women across the country, that change is possible. 'Statistically I was a teen mom, I should not be where I am,' Gull-Masty said. 'Statistically, as an Indigenous woman in Canada, the level of harm that could happen to me, is pretty high. So, I don't think there are any barriers in life that are too high if you want to achieve something. The strength in you and resilience you have as a woman can take you into any spaces you want to be in it.' Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Vancouver Sun
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Vancouver Sun
Cheekbone Beauty partners with Indigenous artist Kent Monkman for celebratory makeup launch
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. The release: Cheekbone Beauty x Kent Monkman collaboration . The buzz: Indigenous makeup brand Cheekbone Beauty celebrated Indigenous Peoples Day on June 21 with a special collaboration. The St. Catharines, Ont.,-based company teamed up with Cree artist Kent Monkman for a limited-edition makeup release. Discover the best of B.C.'s recipes, restaurants and wine. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of West Coast Table will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Called the Powwow Kit, the vegan and cruelty-free makeup package includes four products: Mattifying Moon Dust translucent powder; a Horizon Lip Pencil in the shade True Red; Healing Lip Oil in the limited-edition shade Resilience Red; and the fan-favourite Uprise Mascara. 'This collaboration merges art and beauty as tools for visibility, empowerment and education,' says Cheekbone Beauty founder and Anishinaabe entrepreneur Jennifer Harper. 'It invites our community to engage with Indigenous culture in a way that's intentional, meaningful and visually impactful. Together, we're amplifying Indigenous voices through beauty, reframing narratives, and reminding the world that Indigenous beauty is a beautiful reflection of identity and culture.' A cool — and collectible — aspect of this limited-time release is the fact that the makeup packaging sleeve, which features Monkman's iconic artwork Giants Walked the Earth, can be unfolded and framed as a piece of art. Monkman, who was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2023, is an internationally renowned artist whose work has been displayed at the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and many others. 'Monkman's art challenges colonial narratives and reclaims Indigenous identity through bold, unapologetic storytelling,' says Harper. 'By featuring his iconic work on our packaging, we bring that same energy into the beauty world — where representation has long been limited or stereotyped.' A post shared by Cheekbone Beauty Cosmetics INC (@cheekbonebeauty) Founded in 2016 by Harper, Cheekbone Beauty is celebrated for its incorporation of Indigenous concepts of life cycle and sustainability with cosmetics. 'The beauty space, much like many others, is about how to get a product and sell it into someone's hands and nobody's too concerned about what happens to that afterwards,' Harper said in a 2022 interview with Postmedia News . 'So we really work from a different angle and are thinking so thoughtfully about, 'OK, what is going to happen to this?' ' The Cheekbone Beauty x Kent Monkman collaboration is available while supplies last. The price: $99. The retailer: .
Globe and Mail
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Globe and Mail
How The Matriarch tackled trauma in the wrestling ring
Sage Morin's life changed on May 19, 2013. A tragedy altered her family forever, and Sage was left to pick up the pieces, all while navigating her own deep grief and a complicated legal system. More than a decade later, the trauma of her loss has become a badge of resilience and healing. Sage's transformation is literal: She enters a wrestling ring, donning the character of a proud Cree fighter, inspiring a new generation of Indigenous youth. Jana G. Pruden, feature writer for The Globe, tells the story of Sage and her rebirth into The Matriarch. Questions? Comments? Ideas? Email us at thedecibel@
Canada Standard
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Canada Standard
Decolonizing history and social studies curricula has a long way to go in Canada
In June 2015, 10 years ago, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) called for curriculum on Indigenous histories and contemporary contributions to Canada to foster intercultural understanding, empathy and respect. This was the focus of calls to action Nos. 62 to 65. As education scholars, we are part of a project supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council called Thinking Historically for Canada's Future. This project involves researchers, educators and partner organizations from across Canada, including Indigenous and non-Indigenous team members. As part of this work, we examined Canadian history and social studies curricula in elementary, middle and secondary schools with the aim of understanding how they address - and may better address in future - the need for decolonization. We found that although steps have been made towards decolonizing history curricula in Canada, there is still a long way to go. These curricula must do far more to challenge dominant narratives, prompt students to critically reflect on their identities and value Indigenous world views. Read more: Looking for Indigenous history? 'Shekon Neechie' website recentres Indigenous perspectives As white settler scholars and educators, we acknowledge our responsibility to unlearn colonial ways of being and learn how to further decolonization in Canada. In approaching this study, we began by listening to Indigenous scholars, such as Cree scholar Dwayne Donald. Donald and other scholars call for reimagining curriculum through unlearning colonialism and renewing relationships. Read more: Leaked Alberta school curriculum in urgent need of guidance from Indigenous wisdom teachings The late education scholar Michael Marker, a member of the Lummi Nation, suggested that in history education, renewing relations involves learning from Indigenous understandings of the past, situated within local meanings of time and place. Curricula across Canada have been updated in the last 10 years to include teaching about treaties, Indian Residential Schools and the cultures, perspectives and experiences of Indigenous Peoples over time. Thanks primarily to the work of Indigenous scholars and educators, including Donald, Marker, Mi'kmaw educator Marie Battiste, Anishinaabe scholar Nicole Bell and others, some public school educators are attentive to land-based learning and the importance of oral history. But these teachings are, for the most part, ad hoc and not supported by provincial curriculum mandates. Our study revealed that most provincial history curricula are still focused on colonial narratives that centre settler histories and emphasize "progress" over time. Curricula are largely inattentive to critical understandings of white settler power and to Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Notably, we do not include the three territories in this statement. Most of the territorial history curricula have been co-created with local Indigenous communities, and stand out with regard to decolonization. For example, in Nunavut's Grade 5 curriculum, the importance of local knowledge tied to the land is highlighted throughout. There are learning expectations related to survival skills and ecological knowledge. Members of our broader research team are dedicated to analyzing curricula in Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon. Their work may offer approaches to be adapted for other educational contexts. In contrast, we found that provincial curricula often reinforce dominant historical narratives, especially surrounding colonialism. Some documents use the term "the history," implying a singular history of Canada (for example, Manitoba's Grade 6 curriculum). Historical content, examples and guiding questions are predominantly written from a Euro-western perspective, while minimizing racialized identities and community histories. In particular, curricula often ignore illustrations of Indigenous agency and experience. Read more: Moving beyond Black history month towards inclusive histories in Quebec secondary schools Most curricula primarily situate Indigenous Peoples in the past, without substantial consideration for present-day implications of settler colonialism, as well as Indigenous agency and experiences today. For example, in British Columbia's Grade 4 curriculum, there are lengthy discussions of the harms of colonization in the past. Yet, there is no mention of the ongoing impacts of settler colonialism or the need to engage in decolonization today. To disrupt these dominant narratives, we recommend that history curricula should critically discuss the ongoing impacts of settler colonialism, while centring stories of Indigenous resistance and survival over time. There are also missed opportunities within history curricula when it comes to critical discussions around identity, including systemic marginalization or privilege. Who we are informs how we understand history, but curricula largely does not prompt student reflection in these ways, including around treaty relationships. In Saskatchewan's Grade 5 curriculum, students are expected to explain what treaties are and "affirm that all Saskatchewan residents are Treaty people." However, there is no mention of students considering how their own backgrounds, identities, values and experiences shape their understandings of and responsibilities for treaties. Yet these discussions are essential for engaging students in considering the legacies of colonialism and how they may act to redress those legacies. A key learning outcome could involve students becoming more aware of how their own personal and community histories inform their historical understandings and reconciliation commitments. History curricula generally ignore Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Most curricula are inattentive to Indigenous oral traditions, conceptions of time, local contexts and relationships with other species and the environment. Instead, these documents reflect Euro-western, settler colonial worldviews and educational values. For example, history curricula overwhelmingly ignore local meanings of time and place, while failing to encourage opportunities for land-based and experiential learning. In Prince Edward Island's Grade 12 curriculum, the documents expect that students will "demonstrate an understanding of the interactions among people, places and the environment." While this may seem promising, environmental histories in this curriculum and others uphold capitalist world views by focusing on resource extraction and economic progress. To disrupt settler colonial relationships with the land and empower youth as environmental stewards, we support reframing history curricula in ways that are attentive to Indigenous ways of knowing the past and relations with other people, beings and the land. Schools have been, and continue to be, harmful spaces for many Indigenous communities, and various aspects of our schooling beg questions about how well-served both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students are for meeting current and future challenges. If, as a society, we accept the premise that the transformation of current curricular expectations is possible for schools, then more substantive engagement is required in working toward decolonization. Decolonizing curricula is a long-term, challenging process that requires consideration of many things: who sits on curriculum writing teams; the resources allocated to supporting curricular reform; broader school or board-wide policies; and ways of teaching that support reconciliation. We encourage history curriculum writing teams to take up these recommendations as part of a broader commitment to reconciliation. While not exhaustive, recommendations for curricular reform are a critical step in the future redesign of history curricula. The goal is a history education committed to listening and learning from Indigenous communities to build more inclusive national stories of the past, and into the future.
CBC
16-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Chyana Marie Sage crafts a memoir steeped in Indigenous tradition and a strong sense of empathy
Chyana Marie Sage's memoir, Soft As Bones, is her quest to better understand the childhood trauma and abuse that scarred her family. It's also a tapestry of poetry, history, Cree language, traditional ceremony and folklore — and delves into her experiences and those of her family with compassion and strength. "Writing this book has been the most cathartic experience of my life," said Sage on Bookends with Mattea Roach. "Healing is a lifelong journey and it never ends and we're continually growing. But writing this book allowed me to release, to process and release so much that was stored up in my nervous system." Sage is a Cree, Métis and Salish writer from Edmonton who is now based in New York. She joined Roach to share the catharsis she felt from writing about painful memories and the care she took to portray everyone with empathy. Soft As Bones is a phrase that I understand has been part of your life for a few years now. It's your Instagram handle. It's the name of your YouTube channel and now the name of this book. What do those three words mean to you? Soft As Bones is this phrase that came to me and this was years before the book was the book. I was living in London, Ont. at the time and I was sitting there just having my morning tea. Then, in my head, came the words "soft as bones." I sat with it and I ruminated on it and it kind of encapsulates my philosophy on human beings, like specifically Indigenous folks, but really all people. It's this idea that we are equal parts strength as much as we are delicate and fragile, because our bones are our foundation, they're our building blocks. They're very strong. They give us the capability to stand and give us structure, but yet they can also break very easily. However, they also have immense capacity for healing as well. I just think it's this beautiful metaphor for us as human beings, like holding space for us to be strong as much as we are fragile, and allowing those to coexist together. In the second section of the book, you share a lot about your mom's back story and her own struggles when she was growing up. What did you want readers to know about your mom? How could I write this story without her and her voice and her experience? Because I needed to go back into the past, and not just my own past, but all of our past to to understand how all of our stories came together and and how what happened in our family unit unfolded. Because on paper, you can look at a fact and think, "Well, oh my God, my mom fell in love with the guy that was in prison. Of course, this wasn't going to go well, right?" And you can insert all of these judgments for what a terrible decision or this and that. But life is not that simple. Life is not black and white. And so I wanted to not just write, "OK, my mom fell in love with this charming man in prison, but it was how does one get to that point?" I tried my best to do this with everyone in the book, but I really want people to understand the full scope of the person because we are not just the bad things we do. We are so much more than that. I really wanted to do everybody justice, especially my mother, so readers could understand where she was at, mentally, in all of that. One of the other things that you do in the second section of the book is you weave this story of your mom's teen years and that of your own teen years with the eight stages of a drum making ceremony that you attended when you were 14. What was important about that ceremony for you as a young person? Oh, so much. It's an honour to be able to make your own drum. It's not something that everybody gets to do, even if you're Native. It's like a coming of age thing, right? So now my time has come and I get to make this drum. And when you're making this drum, you're so connected to, A, everyone that's there, the elder that's leading it, and B, you really feel connected to your entire ancestry. As much as there is a lot of difficulty in this memoir, it was really important to me to capture a lot of the beauty of my culture. The history and the importance of that is so strong because I just think about my family members who were not allowed to do that. And I'm not talking about my ancestors, I'm talking about my family members. I'm talking about my grandparents. I'm talking about my aunts and uncles who were in residential schools who are still alive today. For me to be able to do that and have that ceremony was just a very emotional and powerful experience, even if at the time, at 14, you don't feel the scope of it then, but you know that it's special and you know that you're grateful for it. It felt like such a celebration and a moment of beauty. Because as much as there is a lot of difficulty in this memoir, it was really important to me to capture a lot of the beauty of my culture because there is so much beauty and love and healing and connection in my culture. I wanted to share a little bit of that with the rest of the world.
