Joey-Lynn Wabie and Alicia Williamson

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Storytelling Journey of Oshkimadizijik Inéwin From the Bush

This Webinar was presented and recorded on September 26, 2023.

In this Webinar, we share how the land and community are ‘our relations’ and how we work together with them in order to heal and weave a blanket of care for ourselves and those around us.

Oshkimadizijik Inéwin (Youth Voices) purpose, in the beginning, was to share education and awareness with the general public through their perspectives on truth and reconciliation via social media. We created space online to share our experiences through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts with the goal of posting educational content on truth and reconciliation consistently. Our perspectives on reconciliation changed, as a result of what happened during the Wet’suwet’en raids. We decided to focus on the reclamation of cultural identity through sharing the ways we practice our culture instead of focusing on reconciling with non-Indigenous peoples. We are now focusing on reclamation of culture, language, and identity through stories from the older generations, which includes Elders and traditional knowledge sharers.

The Indigenous Youth & Community Futures Fund (IYCFF) through the Laidlaw Foundation funds our current project: Stories from the Bush. This project includes working with Anishinaabe (Algonquin & Ojibwe) communities for youths to learn about culture, land, and language. We have hosted two out of four seasonal community gatherings/workshops to learn land-based skills and gather “Stories from the Bush.” We have invited community members from the two community gatherings to author chapters discussing their relationships with the land. We, as the youths, will facilitate the publishing process and edit this collection, whilst authoring our own stories throughout the project as well.

Webinar Recording

 

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Learning Objectives

After participating in this Webinar, participants will better be able to:

  • Understand how youths are working in their communities on cultural reclamation with the older generation and discuss the cultural importance of this type of knowledge transfer.
  • Discuss why cultural identity in Indigenous youths is imperative and that youths can speak from a place of understanding, awareness, and knowledge to advocate for their space in this world.
  • Start planning on how to bring land into their practices as part of youths’ healing from intergenerational and current trauma.

Speakers

Joey-Lynn-Wabie.png

Dr. Joey-Lynn Wabie is an Algonquin Anicinabe ikwe from Mahingan Sagahigan (Wolf Lake) First Nation in Quebec. Her anicinabe nooswin is ziigwankwe which loosely translates to spring woman. She is an Associate Professor in Indigenous Social Work at Laurentian University located on Atikameksheng Anishnawbek territory (Sudbury, Ontario). Joey-Lynn works in the community at the grassroots level focusing on wellness, culture, and bringing people together. Her research interests are Indigenous youth's perspectives on Truth & Reconciliation, spiritual wellness/healing, and land-based teaching/learning.

Alicia-Williamson.pngAlicia Williamson is a member of Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory and the Anishinaabek Nation. Her anishinaabe nooswin is bizaanaagimisin nibi kwe (Calm Water Woman). She was raised in Little Current, Ontario. Currently, she is an MSW Indigenous Field of Study graduate student at Wilfred Laurier. She loves learning and creating/crafting. Her grandmother was an artist who worked with quills, birch bark and many natural materials. Over the past couple of years Alicia has been working to reclaim these practices. She has learned how to harvest birch bark and sweetgrass, how to bead and quill (drying, cleaning, sorting), how to sew sweetgrass turtles, mitts, moccasins and ribbon skirts. She loves being on the land and nurturing her natural relationships.

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