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Art, Artist, and Witness(Ing) in Canada's Truth and Reconciliation

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Art, Artist, and Witness(Ing) in Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Dance with us as you can…: Art, Artist, and Witness(ing) in Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Journey by Jonathan Robert Dewar A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Indigenous and Canadian Studies Carleton University Ottawa, Ontario © 2017, Jonathan Robert Dewar Abstract This dissertation explores, through in-depth interviews, the perspectives of artists and curators with regard to the question of the roles of art and artist – and the themes of community, responsibility, and practice – in truth, healing, and reconciliation during the early through late stages of the 2008-2015 mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC), as its National Events, statement taking, and other programming began to play out across the country. The author presents the findings from these interviews alongside observations drawn from the unique positioning afforded to him through his professional work in healing and reconciliation-focused education and research roles at the Aboriginal Healing Foundation (2007-2012) and the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre (2012-2016) about the ways art and artists were invoked and involved in the work of the TRC, alongside it, and/or in response to it. A chapter exploring Indigenous writing and reconciliation, with reference to the work of Basil Johnston, Jeannette Armstrong, Tomson Highway, Maria Campbell, Richard Wagamese, and many others, leads into three additional case studies. The first explores the challenges of exhibiting the legacies of Residential Schools, focusing on Jeff Thomas’ seminal curatorial work on the archival photograph-based exhibition Where Are the Children? Healing the Legacy of Residential Schools and Heather Igloliorte’s curatorial work on the exhibition ‘We were so far away…’: The Inuit Experience of Residential Schools, itself a response to feedback on Where Are the Children? Both examinations draw extensively from the author’s interviews with the curators. The final two chapters are case studies of two bodies of work, R. G. Miller’s 2008 Mush Hole Remembered and the community- ii based, collaborative memorial project Walking With Our Sisters, respectively, that the author was privileged to engage with in critical, collaborative, and curatorial capacities. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of research findings and recommendations for additional work in this increasingly expansive area of art, curatorial, and research practice. iii Acknowledgements So many people helped give me the strength to do this work in so many ways. I will do my very best to acknowledge them all here. First and foremost, I thank my family for their support. Miriam, you have been patient and loving throughout what has been a seemingly interminable journey. Sophie and Livia, my beautiful daughters, you, too, have shown so much patience and understanding as I stole minutes and hours of alone time to read and write and to travel extensively to meet with others and attend events. I love each of you for being you, of course, but also for this generosity. To my parents, Graham and Louise: You have encouraged me unwaveringly (and have fed me, driven me, and often housed me) as I traveled hither and yon, from New Brunswick to Nunavut, to Ottawa and Sault Ste. Marie, and across Canada to do this work. I could not have done this without your support. To my in-laws, Jack and Suzanne: You, too, have been very supportive, always asking about the work and engaging in interesting conversation. To my late grandparents, Lucille (née Groslouis) and Paul Deziel and Aletha (née Jodoin) and Robert Dewar: I miss you dearly and honour your memory with this and all my work. I am immensely grateful. Dr. Mike DeGagné, my boss during my five years with the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, is the one who convinced me to reengage with the world of academia and to pursue this PhD. I am grateful to Mike and Georges Erasmus and our AHF colleagues for creating such a safe and supportive environment. I am also grateful for the financial and iv moral support the Foundation provided for my PhD work during my time there and for seeing the merits in including arts-focused research in our work and encouraging its development and dissemination. That dedication to creating a supportive environment for healing and reconciliation put the Foundation – and me by extension – out there in the world of artists and healers in deep and meaningful ways and created many opportunities for this project to grow. I also sincerely thank Prof. Don Jackson and founding members of the Children of Shingwauk Alumni Association (CSAA) Irene Barbeau and Shirley Horn, all mentors and teachers with whom I worked so closely during my four years with the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre, for their kindnesses and ongoing support, as well as that shown by so many others from the Survivor, Anishinaabe, and wider Indigenous communities we worked with. I also gratefully acknowledge Dr. Richard Myers for his vision and his support of my work but, much more importantly, the work of the CSAA. I sincerely thank the many artists, curators, scholars, and other cultural producers I was so fortunate to meet with, interview, and learn from, as they are the very heart of this project. I say to them: You inspire me and I am in awe. Your names, ideas, and, in many cases, works are featured prominently in this document. I hope I have done justice to the efforts you have made. There are many friends-in-scholarship I would also like to thank for their support, collegiality, and, most of all, collaboration: Linda Archibald, Dr. Marlene Brant Castellano, Trina Cooper Bolam, Sara Fryer, Ayumi Goto, Flora Kallies, Dr. Tricia Logan, Dr. Glen Lowry, the late Dr. Alistair MacLeod, Dr. Ashok Mathur, Dr. Sophie McCall, Shelagh Rogers, and Dr. Gregory Younging, among many others. We made a v positive impact through the publications and/or events we developed and delivered. Thank you to the late Dr. Wendy Robbins for helping me find my way back from the wilderness to work I was passionate about. And I will forever be grateful to the late Dr. Renate Eigenbrod and the late Dr. Jo-Ann Episkenew for teaching me that one can find family and community in communities of interest. Their friendship and guidance over the years was absolutely essential to my development. Renate and Jo-Ann, you are greatly missed by me and so many others who benefited from your commitment to serving the communities you worked with, for, and within. Finally, I thank Dr. Allan J. Ryan for his support as my PhD supervisor during the very long journey of part-time studies and for inviting me into his classroom year after year to share my work with his students. Along with Dr. Ryan, I sincerely thank Dr. Ruth Phillips and Dr. John Milloy for agreeing so many years ago to be part of the dissertation committee and for their interest, attention, and wonderful feedback. And thank you to the internal and external readers, Dr. Brenda Vellino and Dr. Andrea Walsh, respectively, for their assistance in bringing this project to a successful conclusion. vi Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................. ii Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ vii List of Figures ................................................................................................................... xi List of Appendices ........................................................................................................... xii 1 Chapter: Preface ......................................................................................................... 1 2 Chapter: Introduction ................................................................................................ 8 2.1 Witnessing........................................................................................................................ 8 2.2 On Identity, Imposture, and Positionality ...................................................................... 12 2.3 The Case for Indigenous Standpoint Theory ................................................................. 27 2.4 My Case for Employing Indigenous Methods ............................................................... 35 2.5 The Research Project ..................................................................................................... 46 3 Chapter: Methodology.............................................................................................. 56 3.1 Working Premises .......................................................................................................... 62 3.2 Research Methods .......................................................................................................... 63 3.3 Theoretical Approach ..................................................................................................... 68 4 Chapter: Residential Schools, Healing, and Reconciliation .................................. 70 4.1 Residential Schools History in Brief .............................................................................. 70 4.2 The Truth, Healing, and Reconciliation Landscape ......................................................
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