HOSTED BY Algoma University Anishinaabe Initiatives Division and the Department of Geography & Geology THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS CHI MIIGWETCH ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS TO THE: Advisory Circle Noel (Skip) Jones, Elder from Garden River First Nation Dr. Chunhua Zhang, Geography Dr. Rose Cameron, Social Work Dr. Gayle Broad, CESD Bonnie Gaikezheyongai, Anishinaabe Student Advisor, Algoma University Pamela Perreault, Ph.D. Candidate, Garden River First Nation Sue Anne Chiblow, Environmental Consultant, Garden River First Nation Travis Jones, AANDC – Thunder Bay Barb Duffi n, Mushkegowuk Tribal Council Clayton Ralph, MNDM – North Bay Jennifer Griffi n, MNDA – Sudbury Planning Committee Judy Syrette, Director of Anishinaabe Initiatives Division Dr. Nairne Cameron, Geography Deanna Heyde, Research Assistant/Symposium Coordinator Thanks also to all Volunteers – Staff & Students of Algoma University TABLE OF CONTENTS PRESENTERS Conference Map (Days Inn & Suites) ..........................................................................................p1 Presenter: Robert Rattle Independent Scholar Title: Health Impact Assessment for Aboriginal Communities in Northern Ontario Welcome .......................................................................................................................................p2 Abstract: Health Impact Assessment is “a combination of procedures, methods and tools that systematically judges the potential, and sometimes unintended, eff ects of a policy, plan, program or project on the health of a Opening Ceremonies ...................................................................................................................p2 population and the distribution of those eff ects within the population. HIA identifi es appropriate actions to manage those eff ects.” Democracy, ethical use of evidence, equity and sustainability are key pillars of HIA. Originating Schedule ....................................................................................................................................p3-6 from the confl uence between the impact assessment and health communities, HIA employs the determinants of health framework which is very similar to the Medicine Wheel Framework. HIA can be applied prospectively or retrospectively to any policy, plan or project, and is typically applied to activities that are not intended to impact health but have Keynote Speakers and Biographies ...........................................................................................p7-8 the potential to aff ect health and health equity (both adversely and benefi cially). This presentation will provide a brief overview of HIA and its benefi ts for land management practices. Presenters ................................................................................................................................p9-14 Notes of Thanks ..............................................................................................................Back cover Presenter: Mitchell Case Student - Algoma University History Department Youth Representative- Provisional Council of the Métis Nation of Ontario To learn more about our Presenters and their Presentations visit our website: Title: Now that Was a Great Life: Mapping Historic Métis Nation www.algomau.ca/taking-care-of-our-land Communities, Connections and Movement in the Great Lakes Region (1800-1900) Abstract: As a response to Métis victories in the court system, governments have attempted to limit Métis rights to “site specifi c” communities. This concept of “site specifi c” rights is not refl ective of the reality of the Métis people or the way Métis communities were historically structured. In this soon-to-be completed undergraduate thesis (spring 2015) Métis student, Mitch Case challenges the fl awed notion that Métis people exist in “dot on a map” communities, but in fact are a complicated web of interconnected communities extending from Georgian Bay to Sault Ste. Marie to Red River and beyond. The thesis argues that rather than being dots on a map that are disconnected from each other, the communities are interconnected by three main types of connections; social, economic and political. Métis families around the Great Lakes often had relatives in half a dozen communities or more, and were highly mobile, frequently relocating from location to location while still remaining within traditional Métis territory. How does this relate to our reality today? As the Métis Nation rebuilds itself and reasserts our rights as an Indigenous nation, our rights to lands and resources, we as a nation need to look to our history and understand how our communities were and are organized and what our connection to land looks like. This thesis also incorporates Métis beadwork as means of telling the story of the interconnections between Métis communities, connecting our identity and traditional story telling methods to our approaches going forward. Presenter: Chief Dean Sayers Batchewana First Nation Title: Asserting Our Sovereignty Abstract: Batchewana First Nation (BFN) is a progressive First Nation nestled in the heart of the Great Lakes. Batchewana has always taken seriously their inherent obligations as a People. That assertion has been active to varying degrees over time and most recently with much vigor. Batchewana’s leadership has ensured that their protected interests were never compromised. Historic leaders including former Chief ’s Wabagiizhik and Nebenaigoching went to great lengths to protect Batchewana’s inheritance. Treaty negotiations throughout history were based on the settler’s need to access BFN lands and resources. BFN agreed to share. That sharing relationship never evolved/aligned with the original spirit and intent of the Treaty Agreements. Canada has failed to live up to Section 91-24 of the British North America Act and its assumed role as our fi duciary and hence, Batchewana has had to take action aligned with reserved jurisdictions around sovereignty into its own hands. Chief Dean Sayers will share some of those insights with the attendees and help in creating an understanding of how a First Nation can strategically attain the spirit and intent of Treaty relationships with the Canadian and Ontario Governments while at the same time fulfi lling inherent obligations to the land, the environment and the successful pursuit of environmentally sound sustainable economic development. This work has largely been successful because Batchewana calls on traditional knowledge keepers and Elders for instructions on how to protect Nationhood rights. 1 14 PRESENTERS WELCOME We’re pleased to welcome you to our fi rst Land Management, Planning & Use Symposium: Presenter: Carly Dokis, Ph.D. GDO AMIIMINAAN GANAWENDANDAAN Dokis First Nation and Nipissing University (Taking Care of Our Land) Title: Working to Protect the Water: Exploring Water Knowledges and Experiences Through Storycircles by Carly Dokis, B. Kelly, R. Restoule, P. Restoule, and N. Restoule with Dokis First Nation The Anishinaabe Initiatives Division and the Department of Geography & Geology at Algoma University in and Nipissing University. partnership bring to you a symposium on ‘Exploring Aboriginal Land Management, Planning and Use’ from diverse perspectives. The purpose of this symposium is to begin exploring through research and best practices, Abstract: This paper off ers a refl ection on an exploratory methodological approach developed as part of a collaborative project exploring interconnections between technology, water, risk, and Indigenous identity in Dokis the inclusion of cultural and traditional practices of land management, planning and use for Aboriginal First Nation, an Anishinaabe community in Northern Ontario. Storycircles have been identifi ed as a productive communities in northern Ontario. method to share stories and preserve traditional knowledge. These stories have been digitally recorded and are being These four themes using the Medicine Wheel Framework have guided the process and planning: developed with storytellers into digital stories that will be shared with members through a web portal. Grounded in story-based sharing, storycircles off er an alternative to individual interviews, which may not be consistent with Anishinaabe forms of knowledge transmission. Thus, storycircles are closely tied to decolonizing methodologies that attend to Indigenous knowledge systems, as well as conceptions of identity, relationality, spirit, community, and renewal. Additionally, recent work on participatory digital mapping as a form of knowledge gathering and transmission suggests that it can facilitate cultural and language revitalization, may assert alternatives to colonized forms of representation, and has the potential to foster capacity for locally developed solutions in wider social, cultural, and political arenas. Here we explore how prioritizing locally-described and emplaced experiences of water has led to enhanced awareness of the nature and depth of local water knowledge, and has allowed for a re-evaluation of notions of risk typically associated with water quality. Presenters: Stephanie Seymour & Mike Hosszu This symposium is relative to the ‘teaching’ mandate of the university and the importance of disseminating M.Sc. Candidates, Lakehead University Faculty of Natural Resources Management new knowledge to the public (Algoma University Charter, 2008). This symposium will create awareness Title: Community Land Use Planning for Alternative Energy Projects in Ontario’s Far North: regarding the discourse of land management,