Events

Join the Department of Anthropology for the 2018 Silver Medal Award Lecture featuring visiting Professor Bonnie McElhinny, University of Toronto. Political scientists note that we live in an “age of apologies” for historical wrongs (typically, war-crimes and racialized harms). Canadian governments have made about 11 major apologies, quasi-apologies or statements of reconciliation since the mid-1980s, mostly for actions against Indigenous or racialized groups, but also recently for homophobic exclusions. This talk considers what these apologies are and do; what form of redress apologies are and are not; and why they have arisen alongside policies of trade liberalization, economic deregulation and state transformation.

The Indigenous Speakers Series presents renowned author and teacher Lee Maracle, who will be joined by choreographer Bill Coleman for an integrated lecture/dance performance. 

Indigenous thought and agency have long been excluded from the discipline of International Relations (IR). Even with the turn toward “decolonization” few IR scholars are engaging with Indigenous or settler colonial frameworks. Join Hayden King, Anishinaabe from Beausoleil First Nation on Gchi’mnissing, at the Balsillie School for his talk on counter-conceptualizations of the state, sovereignty and anarchy in pursuit of new/old visions of Indigenous futurity.

Waterloo Centre for German Studies invites you to a screening of the documentary film, Searching for Winnetou, and a conversation with Ojibway author and humourist Drew Hayden Taylor about his quest to understand the roots of the German obsession with Native North Americans.

The final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) offered chilling evidence that Canada’s history has not been as heroic as we might have wished in this 151 years since Confederation. The 94 Calls to Action proposed in its final report, along with the recently-accepted United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) propose some serious changes to how archaeology and heritage is “done” in Canada. Are we as a society ready for the full implications of what they might mean?

Artist Catherine Dallaire re-examines the original Indigenous values in animal and plant life that are often vilified by contemporary Western settler culture. Building understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous worldviews is an important step towards peace and conciliation in the Canadian context.

The Indigenous Speakers Series proudly presents David Alexander Robertson, the bestselling author of children’s books, graphic novels, and novels whose works educate and entertain readers about Indigenous Peoples, reflecting their cultures, histories, communities, as well as illuminating many contemporary issues.  

The Indigenous Speakers Series proudly presents Jesse Thistle, a Métis-Cree-Scot from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, whose bestselling memoir, From the Ashes (Simon and Schuster Canada), chronicles his life on the streets and how he overcame trauma and addiction to discover the truth about who he is. His scholarship is focused on intergenerational and historic trauma of the Métis people, and also reflects on his own past struggles with homelessness. Jesse is widely recognized in the scholarly community and beyond.

Tomson Highway's Songs in the Key of Cree is a collection of Cree and English songs written by one of Canada’s most renowned authors. Part of a larger Indigenous language revitalization project, this integrated performance-speaker event presents the captivating vocalist Patricia Cano, guitarist Kevin Barrett, saxophonist Marcus Ali, and fiddler Nathan Halcrow, joined by artist Emma Rain Smith and historian Susan Roy.

Join the University of Waterloo Art Gallery for the opening of Baroque Biology by Jennifer Willet and Reclamation by Melissa General. Both exhibits run from January 16 to March 7, 2020.