 Algonquin birchbark canoe maker Chuck Commanda held a successful mini birchbark canoe-making workshop, hosted on Zoom, from his home in Quebec. In an effort to adjust to health and safety measures required during the pandemic, Plenty Canada chose to expand the scope of its online educational workshops, viewing them as a valuable alternative to in-person events during this uncertain period. This new organizational effort, which began this past month, is designed to bring distant people together through hands-on arts education, but conducted online.
Since he was a young boy, Chuck learned and has practised multiple Indigenous art forms and disciplines, eventually earning recognition as one of the few master artisans remaining who build birchbark canoes in the traditional Algonquin style. The grandson of the renowned Algonquin elder and environmental activist William Commanda, Chuck has worked for many years to preserve and promote the art forms he practises, including birchbark basket making, storytelling, and Indigenous knowledge education, often done in partnership with Plenty Canada. This particular project enabled him to shift his activities to a digital space. In order to successfully carry out such an event, a great deal of advance preparation was required. A week before the event, Plenty Canada packed individualized boxes for each participant, which contained all of the necessary supplies (wound up sinew, red willow freshly picked by Chuck himself, an etching tool, etc.). The participants were also given a Plenty Canada T-shirt and a small book on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action. Because of a need to ensure the natural boat-building ingredients remained fresh enough for everyone to use, these special packages were sent out shortly before the webinar. Despite two snowstorms (on top of pre-existing delays imposed by the pandemic), all of the participants from across Ontario received their packages in time to participate. During the workshop the participants were given detailed instructions on how to sew the sinew into the side of the miniature canoes, attach the birch bark, and etch patterns into the canoe's sides. Chuck was present throughout in order to answer questions and provide individualized help, ensuring that each participant was able to create a lovely, personalized canoe to cherish. Due to the success of this program, thanks to the combination of Chuck Commanda’s expertise and the organization’s digital specialists, Plenty Canada is planning on holding additional digital cultural arts training workshops in the future. These will be promoted here on our website and social media. (Image: Screen capture of Chuck Commanda, upper left, master birchbark artist and canoe maker, who leads students in Plenty Canada’s Birch Bark Canoe Workshop. Also pictured are Sophie Handley-Girard, Haley Alcock, Draven Timmerman, Marilyn Capreol, Joanna Jack, Kathleen Godfrey, Lily Mae Peters, Trevor Fung, Randa Hassan, Emma Carey, Brooke Renaud, Dolly Roul, Sam Yee, and Amy Tenbult.)
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For almost 40 years, Plenty Canada’s office has served as an important gathering place for cross-cultural work. Nestled within a 500-acre Algonquin nature preserve, bordered on the south by Ontario’s Mississippi River and on the west by Mud Lake, and featuring diverse ecosystems inhabited by all manner of plants and animals, it has long hosted visitors from its projects in Central and South America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia, and, of course, Canada.
An incredible amount of history is imbedded within the site, evidenced by the wear and tear on the main office building and its adjacent annex, a secondary building once identified for environmental research residencies, programming, and additional office space. Due to the deterioration of these buildings, several years ago Plenty Canada embarked on a campaign to reconceptualize, resource, and renovate its physical properties. That work began in earnest with the arrival of capital funding from the Ontario Trillium Foundation. But the stage was set years ago during visioning sessions held with world renowned Indigenous architect Douglas Cardinal, designer of numerous iconic buildings including the Museum of History in Gatineau and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C. In 2008, Cardinal and Lee Bushey, an architectural student at the time, developed a holistic vision for the creation of an integrated structural and landscape complex, drawing up plans that have served as an important guide for what is now being called the Plenty Canada CampUs. These current capital projects are designed to upgrade and repurpose the complex as a land-based learning centre. The main office building is undergoing a wide variety of renovations in order to better serve its evolving needs as an active space for environmental and Indigenous bio-cultural education. Originally built with energy efficiencies in mind, including burrowing the first level north portion of the building into the side of a hill, and installing large south facing windows to take advantage of passive solar gain, new upgrades are being made. These include wrapping the building in a new layer of wood fibre insulation and locally produced cedar siding, installing new high-tech windows, and replacing dated infrastructure equipment with energy efficient HVAC system mechanicals to meet Plenty Canada’s energy reduction goals. Plenty is also expanding its pre-existing solar energy investments (including microFIT) by installing off-the-grid and net metering technologies. Even the water systems at the Plenty Canada office will be altered to become more environmentally efficient, made possible by funding for innovative drinking and wastewater management systems. Attention is also being paid to finalizing renovations to the secondary building on the Plenty Canada grounds. The two-story building is both spacious and modern, opening up new possibilities for Plenty Canada to establish in-person residencies and expand its training options. After the electrical system and plumbing have been completed, the secondary building will be able to support additional office space, guest rooms, and a common area for educational programs. Once this building is activated, the organization will double its onsite operational and project capacity. All of these renovations are united by the idea that environmental efficiency and sustainability should be the highest priority of any responsible renovation project. In this way, Plenty Canada hopes to inspire other community organizations, indivudals, and the youth who will eventually visit and spend time at the CampUs, urging them to to think about sustainable building options in their own lives. The land-based learning centre will develop and deliver an Indigenous led curriculum that fills gaps in current secondary and post-secondary education. The centre will host workshops that teach students to merge Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Western science, a practice known as Two-Eyed Seeing. Despite current COVID-19 limitations on gatherings that will no doubt remain in place for much of this year, 2021 will nevertheless be a time of growth and expansion for Plenty Canada facilities. As a testament to Plenty's continued commitment to environmental sustainability and education, you will be able to follow progress of the CampUs through regular updates in our Contact newsletter. (Images: Plenty Canada’s main office in Lanark undergoes energy efficiency upgrades as part of the organization’s capital renovation project to create a CampUs for training and project management.) In partnership with community groups and organizations, including Forests Ontario and South Nation Conservation, Plenty Canada planted 250 culturally significant trees on the traditional territory of Algonquin and Mohawk peoples in Shanly, Ontario. Dubbed “The Healing Place,” it represents the beginning of reconciliation efforts seeking to strengthen relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities in support of sustainable and shared environmental initiatives. The design of the Healing Place was created with the intent of representing practices acknowledged by both Indigenous knowledge systems and western science. Planted as a circular area modelled after the Anishinaabek Medicine Wheel, its quadrants represent the four pillars that connect life: Mental, spiritual, emotional, and physical. Furthermore, the quadrants also represent the four cardinal directions which both centre and guide all peoples. The specific colors of the Medicine Wheel vary between cultures, but for this project the four stations of the site were colored red, white, yellow, and black. The species of trees chosen for the project were also meant to be broadly appealing in a symbolic sense. The four cardinal directions are highlighted through planting an appropriate tree at the edge of each quadrant (for instance, a red oak is planted due north). The interior of the Healing Place's centre garden contains seven trees, representing the Seven Grandfather Teachings. The outside area of the garden is surrounded by an additional thirteen trees, representing the Thirteen Grandmother teachings. The entire garden will eventually contain walking trails, so that The Healing Place can become a publicly available space for relaxation, education, and reconciliation.  Design of The Healing Place The project began at a 2019 meeting of the Assembly of First Nations in Whitehorse, Yukon. Two members of the Assembly, Curtis Scurr and Eli Enns, discussed the possibility of offsetting the carbon they expended in order to travel to the conference. It was decided that tree planting would be an effective (and tangible) way to offset the carbon expended by the event. They brought this idea to Plenty Canada's Executive Director Larry McDermott, who then invited additional partners into the fold. Forests Ontario, which is dedicated to making Ontario’s forests greener, joined quickly and secured a location for The Healing Place through a partnership with South Nation Conservation, an agency that has a long and strong history in watershed management and sustainable practices.
Though the planting event itself was a tremendous accomplishment, Plenty Canada and its project partners hope to continue to expand their environmental conservation and reconciliation efforts throughout the coming years. The group envisions planting multiple “healing places” to provide tangible offsets that help community and business organizations hold themselves accountable for their own carbon emissions. (Top Photos: 1) Bill Montgomery, Haida, Indigenous Education Lead with the Upper Canada District School Board and Chris Craig, Algonquin, Senior Forestry Technician at South Nation Conservation preside at ceremonies for The Healing Place. 2) Aerial view of the opening ceremony at the Healing Place) For the past two years Plenty Canada has invited youth of all backgrounds, from ages fifteen to thirty, to attend a series of monthly Truth and Reconciliation educational workshops on the history and culture of Indigenous peoples. The workshops have mainly shifted to the online sphere this past year due to COVID-19, but this just meant that even more students from across the country were able to participate in a valuable cross-generational and cross-cultural dialogue.
The topics that the program covers change on a month-to-month basis, allowing for a surprisingly diverse curriculum. From Indigenous history, media, and the arts to land rights, water rights, and cultural resurgence, the program strives to ensure that a broad range of topics related to Indigenous community projects are covered at some point during the instruction. Each month’s workshop relates to a particular theme. For example, Larry McDermott and Jeff Beaver (wild rice harvester and member of Alderville First Nation) taught participants about the current ecological issues surrounding wild rice, complete with hands-on demonstrations of planting and harvesting techniques. In addition to these workshops, every month the program holds a Tuesday night online meeting, wherein the participants talked about issues related to that month's topic and shared updates about their own burgeoning community projects. They are also given invitations to special events and community engagement opportunities, and are offered further support as they continue to progress through the program. While these workshops are meant to be learning experiences in the short-term, providing the participants with valuable cross-cultural skills and knowledge, the Truth and Reconciliation Program is also meant to build leadership capacity within local communities. Through the support and guidance of the Elders and experts involved in the program, the participants are empowered to create their own community projects, thereby giving them the opportunity to address the issues that matter to them most. The program emerged from the initiative of several students who worked for Plenty Canada in the past. They identified the need for such a project, and when funding became available from the Government of Canada through the Canada Service Corps, Plenty Canada jumped at the chance to support and create a program that would mobilize young people in the service of both conservation and reconciliation. Furthermore, the organization believed that the youth initiative would align with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action, specifically number Sixty-Six, “to establish multi-year funding for community-based youth organizations to deliver programs on reconciliation and establish a national network to share information and best practices." Given that the Truth and Reconciliation Program has already been approved for a third year of funding, it's likely that Plenty Canada will continue to support these reconciliation efforts for quite some time. The organization will share registration details and other relevant information on its website in the near future. (Photo: Youth participant harvests wild rice, Manoomin, during program held in Lanark, Ontario.)  Guest Post by Kathleen Godfrey, A bright blanket of snow settled on the ground as we welcomed a group of 17 people – young, older, Indigenous, settler – to our Cross-Cultural Perspectives on the Land workshop, an all-day gathering held on Saturday, January 25th at the Plenty Canada office and surrounding woodland. This event was an extension of the Truth and Reconciliation Training Program, open to the public and folks of all ages. After warming up with a mug of tea or coffee, the day began with ceremony: a cleansing smudge and opening, led by Elders Larry McDermott and Barry Sarazin. As the medicine made its way around the circle, a lightness filled the space, readying us for a day of openness, learning, and community. What is ethical space? Members of the circle shared how they had come to be here, each delicately fingering the band of beads on Larry’s eagle feather as they spoke of their journeys. Then, Larry began his teaching on “ethical space”, which is a key framework for pursuing good relations with Indigenous peoples and Nations in Canada, envisioned by Piikani Blackfoot Elder Dr. Reg Crowshoe and Cree Elder Dr. Willie Ermine. In Larry’s words, “ethical space was part of how this country came together, practiced in 1764 Treaty-making. Ethical space, in essence, [is] our laws. John Borrows calls these laws ‘gifts’, of which there are seven: Love, Humility, Courage, Generosity, Respect, Truth, and Wisdom. Wisdom comes last, and love comes first, as the Creator, the Great Spirit, the activation of creation comes from love; love is also the underpinning of the Canadian constitution. Those Seven Sacred Gifts were organized into a methodology for western and indigenous cultures to engage one another, specifically academically. This methodology was founded on parallel governance, with a ‘western business model’ on one side, and oral traditional governance on the other. The goal is not to blend them, but to allow both disciplines to thrive. Ethical space is everything between those parallels, where bridges can exist. For example, a smudge is equivalent to the gavel and the Seven Sacred Gifts are equivalent to Robert’s Rules of Order.” How does ethical space apply to environmental stewardship? As a central figure in decades of conservation, forestry, and environmental dialogue in Canada, Larry was involved in a process to weave ethical space into conservation practice. He explained that in 2016, “when Canada made its decision on how to pursue its obligations under the conventions of Biological Diversity and Cimate Change, it organized the Pathway to Canada Target 1initiative.” The Pathways 1 team agreed to accept this model of ethical space, and “so the whole process of fulfilling obligations was designed to revisit the strength that occurred in 1764, the true Treaty-making. In the processes of Pathways 1, there is no boss, no one person in charge. If you’re going to honor ethical space from the Indigenous side, this is the way it has to be – it has to be a safe space, whether you identify as a woman, as Indigenous, as 2SLGBTQQIA.” Ethical space is actually embracing those Seven Gifts, it’s embracing Section 35, UNDRIP, and the 94 Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It means you bring your best intent, and the Seven Gifts help you focus that intent in a good way. “When everybody focuses their good intent, then amazing things can happen.” Everybody has a responsibility to that ethical space, to make sure that it is working for both streams, which is easier said than done. It means doing enough homework to build up cross-cultural capacity. Everybody wants to jump ahead, to fulfill those conservation targets of 17% coverage for protected area, now rising 25%, then 30%. So far those targets are very western driven and ignore the importance of relationships.” Waking up to ethical space Recognizing ethical space as gift, and as a framework for mutual understanding and respect goes beyond Indigenous and non-indigenous relations in the conservation field, applying to the broader conversation about meaningful reconciliation in Canada. As Larry puts it, “We like to pretend everything is rosy and working, and the problem with that is, if you look at the Seven Sacred Gifts, one of them is truth. If we don’t embrace truth, we will not know the solutions, nor the problems that we need to deal with. If you are truly participating in the process of reconciliation, it means that you have to accept a new governance system, a new way of meeting and sharing.” “We have to retrain ourselves. Part of ethical space is committing to that retraining.” Moving forward The group journeyed through this lesson with mmmms, slow head nods, and barely audible “yeses”. Heartbeats quickened, too. As a gathering of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people of varying ages and experiences, engaging with ethical space came as news to some and history to others. When Larry finished, the room was slow to empty for lunch. The air was heavy with reflection, brain activity, deep understanding. After sharing food together, with the morning’s lesson in our hearts and chili in our bellies, we made our way to the William Commanda Memorial Trail for a walk through the woods. The world, snowy and white, had a different hue. Embodying ethical space, we greeted our plant friends –“Hello”–, extending gentle hands to every wayward branch, pausing to learn the names and gifts of each. The day closed with a drum circle led by Barry Sarazin, the vibrations helping to settle our resolve and commitment to creating ethical space together. Chi miigwetch to all who gathered with us. ----------- To learn more, visit our Publications & Reports page, where you can find the following recommended resources, developed through Canada’s Pathways to Target 1 Process: (2018) One With Nature: A Renewed Approach to Land and Freshwater Conservation in Canada – A Report of Canada’s Federal, Provincial and Territorial Departments Responsible for Parks, Protected Areas, Conservation, Wildlife and Biodiversity (2018) Canada’s Conservation Vision: A Report of the National Advisory Panel (2018) We Rise Together: Achieving Pathway to Canada Target 1 through the creation of Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas in the spirit and practice of reconciliation – The Indigenous Circle of Experts’ Report and Recommendations  We had an amazing time during our Moccasin and Beading workshops led by Jessy Ann Sarazin. Participants had the opportunity to make their moccasins and decorate them with beautiful traditional beading. Chi miigwetch, thank you very much to Jessy Ann for the beautiful workshops and for sharing the knowldge and teaching our participants. We also enjoyed the drumming, the songs and the spirt that everyone showed. Barry shared the concepts and instructions of hide tanning. Chi miigwetch for the drum group who traveled a long distance from Pikwakanagan to participate in our community event. Chi miigwetch, to everyone who came to Plenty Canada this weekend for participating and adding your unique value to our events. We look forward to seeing you all at our next events! We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country. • Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays. We had a great time at the Ginawadaganac Series event on Saturday! We enjoyed the drumming and the valuable stories that Larry McDermott and Barry Sarazin shared with us during the opening pipe ceremony and welcoming to our guests. The drum group performed a song that everyone danced to in honour of our executive director Larry and all the work he has accomplished as an Algonquin elder. Barry presented the Algonquin language booklet along with some Algonquin concepts to our participants of all ages. We also made a traditional Algonquin community feast with Bison burgers, strawberry water, and our desert made with wild rice (manoomin), strawberries and maple syrup. Our participants were eager to help prepare the food and clean up, which was so greatly appreciated during the event. The event reflected the voluntary spirit that we wish to emphasize which strengthens the community. Chii meegwetch, thank you, merci to all who participated in our event, and we hope that everyone had a great time!
 • We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country. • Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays. The closing event of the Ginawadaganac workshop series will take place on Saturday, June 29. The celebration of the workshop series "Ginawadaganac: Strengthening Our Connections" will close the year's workshops that were held each month from June 2018-2019. We hope that our workshops will continue to facilitate access to Algonquin knowledge to strengthen our connections with each other and with nature. Ginawadaganac is an understanding within Algonquin law which refers to the interconnectedness of all things, including human beings, non-humans, and the environment. The project’s main goal was to foster interconnectedness and cultural capacity among diverse groups of people, by bringing different community members in the Ottawa valley together for cultural learning and arts-based workshops. This invitation is open to every human and pet. We look forward to celebrating our achievement with folks at Plenty Canada! The event will run on Saturday from 12pm-7pm. It will include many exciting things such as: 11-12pm: Welcoming with drumming; 12-3pm: Deer Hide tanning; drumming and drum teachings; 3-6pm: A Summer Feast with traditional Algonquin foods such as wild rice, maple syrup, berries and bison burgers; Algonquin Language Booklet presentation; A power point presentation to summarize and review the year's completed workshops 6-7pm: A pipe ceremony to close this year's workshop series in a good way. When: Saturday June, 29th From 11am - 7pm Where: Plenty Canada, 266 Plenty Lane, Lanark, Ontario  • We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country. • Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays. Plenty Canada attended the Summer Solstice Indigenous Festival in Ottawa at Vincent Massey Park last weekend! We enjoyed sharing information about out mission and our exciting upcoming opportunities with our guests. We met very interesting people who are ready to work with Indigenous Peoples for the protection of our environment for future generations, and these are the people that Plenty Canada counts on. We enjoyed the Powwow and all of the performers that helped us celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ incredible language and culture on traditional Algonquin territory. Meegwetch, thank you to all the organizers and volunteers who made this festival the success that it was. We look forward to seeing you again next year! The workshops held on May 25 and 26 was another outstanding success! We hope everyone enjoyed the opportunity to learn about the sacred medicines, birch bark etching, and hiding tanning in a multicultural, intergenerational and supportive environment. At the workshop, we had the chance to meet and learn from Larry McDermott, from Shabot Obaadjiwan First Nation, and Chuck Commanda, from Kitigan Zibi First Nation about the Algonquin crafts involving birch bark, about the four sacred medicines, Sweetgrass, Sage, Tobacco, and Cedar, and their ceremonial uses. We had fun etching the canoe with Jessie-Anne Sarazin who is also a First Nation's languages speaker and artist! We were also very fortunate to learn from Jessie-Anne's husband, Barry Sarazin, from Pikwakanagan First Nation, how to tan hides! Barry taught, demonstrated, and instructed the participants on how to tan a deer hide. Barry also shared the concepts of hide tanning, scared medicines, and birch bark canoe making in the Algonquin language. We would like to thank our guests for your for participation, involvement, and the spirit everyone brought which added precious value to the workshop! We would also like to thank everyone who shared this event with other community members and your interest in our workshops. Stay tuned for the last workshop of the "Ginawaydaganuk: Strengthening Our Connections" series at the end of June!  • We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country. • Nous remercions le Conseil des arts du Canada de son soutien. L’an dernier, le Conseil a investi 153 millions de dollars pour mettre de l’art dans la vie des Canadiennes et des Canadiens de tout le pays. |
