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Working It Out Together: Restoring Justice through Healing

This episode jumps right in with some shocking statistics: 20-25% of all prisoners in Canada are Indigenous. However, in prisons located in the prairies, the  population rate of Indigenous persons is estimated to be 75%.  Kimberly Pate, National Director, Canadian Association of  Elizabeth Fry Societies goes on to say that “Canada’s rate of incarceration of Indigenous people is worse than any other incarceration rate worldwide.”

These numbers beg the question, “Why?” with a follow up question, “What can be done to reverse this trend?”

When you consider these numbers in the context of colonization–the loss of land, language, culture, and ceremony, the significant change in manner of dress, the way lives are conducted, the way people interact–we begin to understand the significant changes undergone by communities. Then, when told “Just get over it already” by the ignorant or unsympathetic, you open up a powder keg of anger and retaliatory violence. Combining this anger, the social dysfunction created by other governmental policies, and a discriminatory justice system, we can begin to understand the “Why”.  And all of this has suited the Crown and its reason for colonization; there has been a consistent lack of people present on the land, thus allowing the Crown  free access to the land and all of its resources.

Isaac Murdoch, Traditional Story-Teller returns again this week to explain the history of how Canada’s justice system has shaped Indigenous life.  He states: ” When you look at justice today, it is not a holistic system. It is an individual system” … “Today they are just responding to the crime and before [within each community] they would respond to the break down that took place.”  Travis Gabriel, Traditional Helper, Waseskun Healing Centre, QC, adds that the cycle of  violence and drug abuse present today “has become habit, and one of our main goals here [at the healing centre] is making sure that whatever problems they had that got them into the prison system, don’t go home with them.”

To break this cycle and to reverse the high rates of incarceration, legal advocates have been promoting Restorative Justice, a process aimed at reintegrating  convicted offenders successfully into their communities.To understand the process of Restorative Justice we follow the stories of Sheri Pranteau and Elijah Decoursay, both convicted offenders, who through the aid of Gladue Reports have been sentenced to individually tailored sentences that promote their reintegration.

Mark Marsolais-Nahwegahbow, Justice Consultant, explains the process of a Gladue Report. Every Indigenous offender that faces 90 days or more incarceration is eligible to have a Gladue Report prepared prior to sentencing.  This  is a unique pre-sentencing report that  specifically itemizes the circumstances of the offender’s life and how they became a part of the justice system. It also includes the voices of community members. These reports are particularly effective if the crime in question is considered minor in nature and the judge believes that Restorative Justice is a suitable option instead of traditional incarceration, or “jail time”.

This is another informative episode jam packed with details that tackle a difficult consequence of colonization, and how reconciliation can be achieved!

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HGTV stacks Sunday nights with new series from Scott McGillivray and Bryan Baeumler

From a media release:

Scott McGillivray and Bryan Baeumler, two of HGTV Canada’s biggest stars, team up for two-hours of can’t-miss television this fall with back-to-back series premieres of Canadian Original series Moving the McGillivrays and Bryan Inc. Beginning September 25 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, Canadians get a closer look at Scott McGillivray and his endearing family as he builds their forever home in Moving the McGillivrays. At 10 p.m. ET/PT, Bryan Baeumler invites fans to experience the trials and tribulations of managing a contracting business in Bryan Inc. With his wife Sarah Baeumler taking on the high-pressure role of project manager, the pair tackles two high-stakes renovations. Each series is accompanied by a robust digital component at HGTV.ca that gives fans a closer look at the personal and professional lives of their favourite HGTV Canada all-stars through digital short series.

In Moving the McGillivrays, viewers get an unprecedented glimpse into Scott’s personal life with his wife, Sabrina, and their two girls as they build their dream home. While involved in every decision and building detail, Scott and Sabrina also have to juggle being parents with two active kids. Scott’s worked on an incredible number of homes but now he’s working for his family, his toughest client yet. The McGillivrays haven’t lost sight of the fact that there are families who need support on the home front. Scott helps build a home for a hard-working family in need, all while making sure his new house is completed on time and on budget. There is laughter and a few tears when both homes are move-in ready and two families’ dreams come true.

After each episode, fans can visit HGTV.ca for two brand new digital short series featuring Scott with his family and never-before-seen rooms to be revealed later in the season. In the candid series Kick Back with Scott, the contractor’s family, including his mom, wife, daughters, brother and best friend all sit down with the star to ask burning questions and uncover never before heard stories. When he’s not busy being a contractor, Scott is busy being a dad and that means driving his two girls around. These trips result in hilarious and candid conversations between Scott and his daughters, with the best moments caught on tape in the new series Moments with the McGillivrays. Additional how-to videos and heartwarming personal stories from Scott’s life go live each week on the site.

HouseofBryan

The second-half of Sunday night’s stellar lineup stars Bryan Baeumler and his wife, Sarah Baeumler, in the new series Bryan Inc. Bryan and Sarah worked together to build their own home, but now Bryan has hired Sarah as a project manager at his construction company. Together, they’ll buy, renovate, and sell homes for a profit. Sarah may be the boss at home but it’s Bryan who has the final say at the office. While managing their roles as builder and project manager, husband and wife, Bryan and Sarah must also balance their busy home life with four active kids: “Q” (11), Charlotte (10), Lincoln (5) and Jojo (3). Working together is bound to impact their relationship as Bryan and Sarah’s competing tastes and differing visions cause hiccups, but their humour and signature banter see them through every struggle. They’ll have to overcome challenges and surprises together if they want to make a profit on two major flips.

At HGTV.ca, Bryan and Sarah host 39 short-form videos across two new digital short series. In The B Team, Canadians catch up with the family that they have come to love over four seasons of hit-series House of Bryan. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at their country lifestyle and hectic but always fun family life.  Sarah, who continues to juggle her role as mom, wife, entrepreneur, and now project manager, stars in her own digital short series Ask Sarah. In the videos, Sarah answers fan questions from her social media pages, provides advice, and reveals tips and secrets she uses to keep her busy life in check.

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Working It Out Together: Lucina Gordon–Inuk School Days

This episode of Working It Out Together examines a topic dear to my heart: Indigenous education. Through the lived experiences of an Inuit student from Nunavut, it takes a hard look at the effects that the Residential School System continues to inflict upon Indigenous youth across Canada today.

Carol Rowan, Professor of Education at Concordia University–Inuit Studies, describes the way Inuit children were educated by the community and through their experiences on the land prior to colonization. “The land was teacher and land was pedagog. Children learned through a caring relationship with the land.” This attitude to education was in stark contrast to what we today understand conventional education to be.

Morley Hanson, Coordinator, Nunavut Sivuniksavut describes the process of colonization as it manifested in the far north. “Waves of outsiders would arrive, predicated on the continued use of the natural resources.” There was a European whaling industry, followed by fur traders and missionaries. The people began to convert to Christianity, and were also encouraged and/or coerced to move off of the land to live in larger communities.

Melissa Irwin, Instructor, Nunavut Sivuniksavut explains how the Residential School System was a “colonizing tool that was designed with ill intent to take away our culture, our language, our pride, and our voice. It separated families physically, but also psychologically. It introduced violence, pain, disconnect, and abuse.” As a result of colonization, the value of education has been deflated within Indigenous communities across Canada. If however Indigenous ways of knowing are incorporated into school curriculum, interest in attending school and understanding its value will act to improve student success rates.

We follow 20 year old Lucina Gordon on her quest to become a school counselor. In order to complete her college degree at John Abbott College, she must travel more than 1500 km. Lucina is 1 of only 2 youth from her community to make it to the final college semester. We see through Lucina’s eyes the difficulties students face when they leave their tightly knit communities in the north to attend school in a large urban centre.

We are also introduced to the Nunavut Sivuniksavut program that helps Inuit students make the transition from their communities to post secondary education.  Using culturally relevant topics, students, so far removed from home and family, recognize their own sense of self and the program gives them ongoing support as they seek to complete higher education.

Admittedly, I am biased when it comes to Indigenous education but this episode really is jam packed with the issues that face Indigenous education and educators in Canada today. I have only touched on a few themes addressed in the episode and were I to truly do it  justice (at least in my mind) this recap would be twice as long as it is. Given the heavy media coverage that the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s  Calls to Action have received across Canada, educational reform for Indigenous youth is a very timely topic. So my advice is simple, if you missed this episode just go watch it here: Working It Out Together

 

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Omnifilm Entertainment begins production on Wild Bear Rescue

From a media release:

Omnifilm Entertainment is pleased to announce the start of production on a new documentary series for Animal Planet, Wild Bear Rescue. The 12 x 30 series follows a northern B.C. family that runs the only animal shelter in the world legally allowed to rescue and rehabilitate orphaned grizzly bear cubs.

The series, set in Smithers, British Columbia, features shelter manager Angelika Langen, her husband Peter Langen, their two adult children, and volunteers as they work around the clock to rescue bears and other wildlife in distress.

If a call comes in that a car has hit a mother grizzly, a hunter has killed a black bear with four tiny cubs, or a young bear has fallen out of a tree, the team at the shelter drops everything and rushes to the rescue. Once on the scene, Angelika will track, capture, and tranquilize the cub(s). If the cub isn’t doing well, she might have to take it to the vet. Next stop: the Northern Lights Wildlife Shelter.

Michael Chechik and Omnifilm partner Gabriela Schonbach are executive producing Wild Bear Rescue with David Gullason, who show-ran six seasons of the award-winning series Ice Pilots for History, and is currently executive producing season three of Jade Fever for Discovery. Series Producer Brad Quenville, who has written and directed numerous projects for Omnifilm including CBC’s The Dolphin Dealer, is directing and writing.

The project is being structured as a Canadian production but will be pitched internationally in the coming months. Wild Bear Rescue is slated to air in 2017 on Animal Planet in Canada. Edwina Follows and Heather Williamson serve as executive producers for Animal Planet.

Image courtesy of Northern Lights Animal Shelter

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Recap: Working It Out Together – Rene Meshake, Healing Arts

Episode 8 of Working It Out Together, featuring Artist and Musician Rene Meshake, explores how creative arts are being used by those most severely affected by colonization to channel anger and decolonize the self.

Waneek Horn-Miller introduces this episode. “Arts are important; it’s our voice, something  you create from your spirit somewhere deep inside of you.  Art is an important way to express pain sometimes, and trauma sometimes, and these things have to come out.”

Arts and artistic expression were suppressed during what Rene Meshake refers to as the colonial period.  It is Rene’s belief that during this period the people lost their heart. Without heart there could be no art and no truth.  It was during his time in residential school that Mr. Meshake’s was denied his freedom of expression. This denial of his true being, compounded by the abuse he suffered, served to forge self hatred that manifested in alcohol and substance abuse. Suicide seemed his only option. Ironically, it was the recognition of colonized  Aanishnaabmowin into mainstream culture that connected with Rene’s artistic side and led him away from his destructive path.  Rene then began to channel his creativity and opened up a world of possibilities in a healthy way.

Currently, Rene is a respected elder who mentors Indigenous youth In Guelph, Ontario. He shares his experiences and his artwork in the hopes that youth today can embrace their own artist selves rather than choosing  abusive lifestyles.

Isaac Murdock, a traditional Aanishnaabe storyteller,  returns this week to explain the importance of art to Indigenous life. He highlights the importance of pictographs, regalia, and basketry; artwork was a part of identity. Furthermore, art, dance, and singing were all about the spiritual connection to the land. Then, at the time of initial contact, “colonialism was really hard on our symbolism. The church and the government people requested that all of the bundles, all of the baskets, everything with the symbols needed to be piled onto the ground and they would set them on fire.”

Following the closure of the residential school system, young people began to express themselves in very powerful ways. Murdock elaborates: “Those that came out of residential school knew that the spirit of the land had to be expressed through their work. So that even though it was suppressed and even though it was made to believe to be bad, people overcame those feelings because it was their way to show the world who they were, who their people were, and what they stood for.”

This was a beautifully crafted episode filled with many touching moments all demonstrating the power of art and its inherent ability to heal. It is also fascinating to learn how Indigenous art is evolving today. Rather than the static concept mainstream is so familiar with, we witness here today’s modern Indigenity. Murdock sums this up nicely: “Art is a ceremony, of creating pieces that are actually healing people and making people stronger. It goes out into the universe and it is connecting with everything. It is always the artists and the musicians that make the greatest change. There is a medicine and a code in there, a blueprint with how to walk with mother earth.”

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