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Year in review: An Overview from the Director

2016-2017 has been a busy academic year at the Institute for canadian and aboriginal Studies. When I took over as director, in July 2016, one of my key initial priorities was to estab-lish a more current IcaS website (https://arts.uottawa.ca/

emma anderson, director of IcaS 2016-2017. Photo credit: clémence labasse

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canada/en); to initiate the Institute’s presence on social media (please find us ontwitter: @IcaS_Ieca or facebook at www.facebook.com/IcaS.uottawa) and; to create an attractive, immediately identifiable IcaS logo.

Work on all three of these goals began during the summer months, though the achievement of the first two objectives was only made possible with the hiring of the Institute’s first Student communications coordinator, Janie Pépin.

during Janie's year of service she has helped to make great strides regarding the Institute’s visibility within the university community and beyond (for a thoughtful essay written by Janie, please see p. 14).

les visiteurs de notre Institut pendant les mois d’été étaient ravi Mishra, de l’université Jindal global en Inde, dont la recherche portait sur l’histoire du canada

Janie Pépin, Student communications coordinator for IcaS

français ainsi que Mimi chakrabarty de l’universität Wien à Vienne, en autriche, dont le projet explorait les femmes autochtones disparues et assassinées au canada (pour en savoir plus sur les visiteurs IcaS de cette année et leurs spé-cialités de recherche, voir p. 27).

la vague d’étudiants de l’université d’ottawa revenant pour le trimestre d’automne a apporté une foule d’activités et d’évènements spéciaux à IcaS, y compris les déjeuners d’accueil pour les étudiants de l’Institut et ses facultés. Vers la fin du mois de septembre, en concert avec nos coauteurs du Projet religion et diversité, l’Institut a eu l’honneur d’ac-cueillir l’historien bien connu du catholicisme américain, le Prof. robert orsi, de l’université northwestern, qui a donné une très bonne conférence, engageante, intitulée «What is Catholic about the Clergy Sexual Abuse Crisis?»

Professor robert orsi (right) visits Parliament hill with emma anderson (left) and anne dance (photographer, not pictured)

Pour la réponse réfléchie de l’élève evelyn asselin à son discours, veuillez vous reporter à la p. 14. conformé-ment au nouveau mandat de l’IcaS pour souligner la participation pédagogique des chercheurs invités et des conférenciers invités, le professeur orsi a également donné une conférence invi-tée à une classe de premier cycle.

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en octobre 2016, une délégation de chercheurs en études canadiennes de l’université de trèves en allemagne, dirigée par Wolfgang Klaus, a déjeuné avec nous à l’IcaS lors de leur visite dans le but de renforcer et formaliser les liens institu-tionnels entre nos universités, en particulier par le biais de facultés et d’échanges d’étudiants.

Members of the trier delegation on the steps of the William commanda building with dean of arts Kevin Kee (bottom right) and Professor emeritus cornelius Jaenen (back centre).

nous avons également été honorés, lors du mois d’octobre, d’accueillir le dr Yousef Jabareen, un membre palestinien de la Knesset israélienne.

dr. Jabareen

dr. Jabareen consults IcaS faculty, visitors, and students

Jabareen était au canada pour une mission d’enquête sur nos politiques fédérales en matière de multiculturalisme et pour explorer le traitement de nos peuples autochtones ainsi que pour consulter avec la faculté d’IcaS, les étudiants et les chercheurs en visite.

november brought with it two important IcaS events. the first was a conference entitled “Yiddish in the new Millen-nium: a Symposium on new Yiddish language and culture,” organized by our own Professor rebecca Margolis, the pro-ceeds of which are slated for publication in 2019.

Participants in the Yiddish Symposium organized by IcaS Professor rebecca Margolis (centre, in black, above the seated participant holding the event poster).

(for more on this event, and other activities of the Vered canadian Jewish Studies sector, please see p. 16).

the second event was a much-anticipated bronfman lecture with dr. taiaiake alfred of the university of Victoria, who de-livered a wonderful, cogent, and challenging lecture entitled “The Death and Rebirth of the Noble Savage,” which explored how the image of Indigenous people in canada has always been a distortion of the truth of Indigenous existence. as said by alfred: Indigenous people have been and continue to be understood not in terms of their authentic cultures, lived his-tories, true personalities and self-determined identities, but as

stereotypes constructed to serve Canada’s colonial agenda. In the past, the violence of the conquest of this continent required a violent opponent so that Canadians could mor-ally justify themselves in this land, and one was imagined: The Noble Savage. Existing apart from modernity, tied to

old ways, capable of living only in the doomed forest, the Noble Savage was the perfect moral foil for the White conquest of nature and brutal imposition of the idea of progress in North America. Today, there are signs of the rebirth of the Noble Sav-age in the wake of the residential school experience, in this era of (supposed) Reconciliation, as once again Canadians construct an image of Indigenous people that satisfies their need for moral righteousness, and their contem-porary colonial agenda.

dr. alfred also gave a guest lecture in one of Professor tracy coates’ popular introductory courses.

taiaiake alfred presents the 2016 bronfman lecture

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Prof. alfred with members of the university community, including IcaS students and administrators, President Jacques frémont (to the left of dr. alfred) and dean of arts Kevin Kee (to his right).

ChAntAl hébert tO Deliver the 2017 brOnfmAn leCtUre

Well-known franco-ontarian journalist chantal hébert has graciously agreed to give the 2017 bronfman lecture, a

the 2016 bronfman was particularly memorable not only for its passionate speech, but also because it marked the last such event organized by long-time administrative assistant houria Messadh, who retired in november, 2016. as of the writing of this report, her position has not yet been filled. thank you for a great 30 years houria!

houria Messadh, (left) with Métis chair brenda Macdougall, (right)

prestigious annual lectureship organized by the Institute of canadian and aboriginal Studies. the event will be held on Monday, october 16, 2017, in the evening. hébert will make her speech in french, and will take questions from the audience in both english and french. hébert is expected to speak on some aspect of her speciality, the dynamics of politics in canada, as is only fitting in light of this year’s mar-king of the 150th anniversary of canadian confederation.

ChAntAl hébert effeCtUerA lA COnférenCe brOnfmAn 2017

la célèbre journaliste franco-ontarienne, chantal hébert, a gracieusement accepté de donner la conférence de bronfman 2017, une prestigieuse conférence organisée par l’Institut d’études canadiennes et autochtones. l’évènement aura lieu à l’université d’ottawa lors du lundi 16 octobre 2017, pendant la soirée. hébert fera son discours en français et répondra aux questions du public en anglais et en français. hébert devrait parler de certains aspects de sa spécialité, de la dynamique de la politique au canada, comme il se doit à la lumière de cette année, le 150e anniversaire de la confédération canadienne.

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2016 was rounded out with IcaS’s hosting of a talented Indigenous film-maker, Steven Martin of Konnected.tV.

IcaS was proud to sponsor the ontario premiere of this challenging and beautifully produced 13-part documen-tary series which explores Indigenous champions across the americas. IcaS students had the opportunity to see two

Steven Martin at the eastern ontario premiere of his documentary series

episodes of this incredible series even before they debuted on aPtn! Steve’s debut of his series marked the beginning of a wonderful collaboration between himself and IcaS, as he was able to return to campus for the May 2017 confer-ence restorying canada.

In addition to planning and hosting its own events, IcaS also supported a number of other conferences and colloquia planned by other units during the fall of 2016. In december the Institute was delighted to provide funding for the book launch of lisa Monchalin’s The Colonial Problem: An Indigenous Perspective on Crime and Injustice in Canada and her public lecture.

during the fall term, IcaS was also fortunate to host a number of distin-guished Visiting researchers, including Sujit Kumar basak of uQÀM, who re-searched Indigenous health issues, and anne dance, who is also the director of the Parliamentary Internship Programme. dr. dance became extremely involved in many Institute functions and events throughout the academic year, and was always willing to roll up her sleeves to help with major events like the bronfman lecture and Restorying Canada (even down to tote-bag stuffing, postering, and publicity). She was joined during the winter term by danae Jacobson, a fulbright fellow and Ph.d. candidate at notre dame university, whose doctoral research explores the experiences of female religious (e.g. nuns) across colonial north america in the nineteenth century (for more on the bios and research spe-cialties of visiting researchers, please see p. 27).

Winter 2017 at IcaS also witnessed numerous events. In early January, IcaS expertise in the areas of canadian and Indigenous Studies was consulted by the Political and Public affairs Section delegation of the european union to canada, who sought better to under-stand the situation of canada’s contem-porary Indigenous peoples. throughout the term, IcaS students, along with the whole student body of the univer-sity, were invited to participate in the collective building of a traditional birch-bark canoe (for more on this event, please see p. 19). In March, university of ottawa Professor emeritus donald hogarth gave a well-attended public lecture in the IcaS conference room entitled “the great Ice floe trip, 1872-1873” about the ill-fated voyage of george emory tyson’s Polaris.

another very prominent event among our winter activities was a major internal symposium organized by carolyn laude, tracy coates (whose photo graces our cover this year!) and a talented group of research assistants including diana el richani (see her essay on her mentor, Prof. coates on p. 18), Marissa Mills, Kiera brant, and Katelyn cody. undergraduate

Vice-dean Sylvie lamoureux generously funded the event with her own research grant. this two-day symposium, held on february 27th and 28th, (held, fittingly enough, in the former oblate chapel in tabaret) brought together students, staff, and faculty to explore ways forward for the university of ottawa, given its historically troubled relationship with Indigenous peoples since its 1848 foundation.

conducted in response to the truth and reconciliation commission's recommendations, the event explored strat-egies for making our institution more responsive to the needs of Indigenous peoples and more accepting of In-digenous ways of knowing, being, and doing. Indigenizing and Decolonizing the Academy featured sharing circles led by elders fred Mcgregor and annie Smith St. georges of the

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algonquin nation. their presence and prescient commentary helped members of the university of ottawa community to think more clearly about the important but often unacknow-ledged role played by indigenous peoples in our institution’s past, present, and future.

Sharing circle at the Indigenizing conferencea sisterhood of conference organizers. the two women with name tags, tracy coates (left) and carolyn laude (right), were integral to the conference's conception and organization.

Professor tracy coates, along with a talented group of students, also spearheaded another major initiative during the winter 2017 semester, the development of a Student research Portal on the IcaS website. this Portal allows IcaS

this successful february event will be followed up by an even larger symposium that Professor coates is currently or-ganizing. for more on the upcoming event, please see p. 20)

un autre grand évènement parrainé par IcaS a été restituer canada: reconsidérer la religion et la mémoire publique en 2017, une conférence de trois jours et deux nuits dans le but d’explorer collectivement les expériences et les identités religieuses canadiennes 150 ans après la confédération.

l’une de mes tâches préférées en tant que directrice de l’Institut était d’organiser cet évènement, notamment avec l’appui de hillary Kaell de l’université concordia et Pamela Klassen, de l’université de toronto.

students to share their research with one another, the broader university community, and the world at large. (for more on the portal, please see p. 21 or visit the portal at https://arts.uottawa.ca/canada/en/research/student-research)

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financé par des subventions internes généreuses de l’uni-versité d’ottawa, ainsi que par le financement externe du SShrc et du ministère du Patrimoine canadien, nous avons pu planifier et exécuter un évènement qui a réuni des uni-versitaires, des journalistes, des écrivains, des cinéastes, des poètes, des étudiants et artistes visuels d’un peu partout au canada. restituer canada a été le premier évènement mar-quant le 150e anniversaire de la confédération canadienne à l’université d’ottawa.

la conférence a abouti à deux conférences publiques du soir. la première, intitulée Decolonizing the Canon : An Eve-ning of Poetry, Performance, and Painting, présenté par l’ar-tiste visuel indigène, Kent Monkman, le cellist/composer cris derksen et le poète afroacadien, george elliot clarke. la deuxième partie présentait l’activiste chrétien de l’envi-ronnement, leah costamo et l’étonnante romancière cana-dienne, Margaret atwood. Intitulé « The Future of Religion in Canada : Utopia or Dystopia ? », il s’agissait d’une discussion modérée, avec des questions et réponses explorant le rôle de la religion dans la fiction d’atwood et son renversement dans l’activisme de la vie réelle de l’organisation de Kosta-mo, qui est la vraie version fictive des « god’s gardeners » de Margaret atwood.

Moderator emma anderson (far left) with panelists leah Kostamo (middle) and Margaret atwood (right) discuss the nature of religion

Pour écouter le spectacle, visitez http://www.cbc.ca/radio/ tapestry/episode-margaret-atwood-leah-kostamo-on-uto-pia-and-dystopia-1.4144171. Pour plus de la couverture médiatique de restituer canada, veuillez consulter: ncPr.org, “the handmaid’s tale, religion, and the environment: Margaret atwood in ottawa, » « artsfile, “Restorying Canada: MargaretAtwood, Leah Kostamo on the Yin and Yang of Utopia and Dystopia,” cbc radio, all in a day, “How has religion shaped the country we live in today,” uottawa  gazette, “Reimagining our storied past,” artsfile, “Margaret Atwood, Kent Monkman, George Elliot Clarke part of Restorying Canada conference at uOttawa.” le site web de resituer le canada est le suivant  : http://artsites.uottawa.ca/restorying-canada/en ou http://artsites.uottawa.ca/restorying-canada/fr/

Indigenous artist Kent Monkman explains one of his paintings, which shows the forced removal of Indigenous children to attend residential schools

d’ailleurs, le spectacle de la radio religieuse de cbc, Tapestry with Mary hynes, a enregistré cet évènement, le diffusant le 4 juin 2017 à une audience internationale.

religious Studies scholar and conference attendee cameron Montgomery engages Margaret atwood

during the winter semester IcaS was also honoured to fi-nancially sponsor and publicize other worthy events. the Institute aided the Interculture research group in obtaining the funding necessary for their ambitious april 2017 con-ference entitled “From Matrilineal Kinship to Matriculture: Establishing a Canadian Agenda.” It also underwrote the graduate conference in law put on by gSledd (gradu-ate Students in law/etudiant(e)s diplome(e)s en droit) in May. finally, William commanda’s conference room host-ed a major national conference in June, 2017, entitled “The Future of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Broadcasting: Conversa-tion and Convergence.”

IcaS was also delighted to fund two graduate student awards (in the amount of $2,000 each) to defray the research and travel costs of two outstanding graduate students. the first awardee, Melissa green, is exploring different approaches to palliative care (for more on her research, please see p. 22).

the second, alexandre Michaud, a part-time Professor at IcaS and recipient of an IcaS travelling fellowship, is investigating eight-eenth-century Indigenous sover-eignty and their fraught political and military relationships with the french, the english, and the emer-

gent americans (for more on Michaud’s research, please see p. 23).

2016-2017 a également été une année d’activisme et de plaidoyer pour IcaS. les étudiants, les enseignants et le personnel autochtones ont travaillé à promouvoir un vaste programme de changements aux plus hauts niveaux de l’administration de notre université, à la fois par la conférence «  Indigenizing and decolonizing the academy  » et par une série de rencontres avec le nouveau président Jacques frémont (pour leurs demandes et recommandations, s’il vous plait voir p. 20). l’une des principales priorités de l’Institut était de trouver un moyen d’intégrer les savoirs traditionnels et les pratiques cérémonielles (y compris les taches) dans les salles de classe de notre université. aujourd’hui, comme je l’écris, c’est encore une lutte constante. cependant, ici, dans le contexte plus limité de William commanda hall, des progrès importants ont été réalisés. le siège de l’IcaS a été créé comme une zone amicale. en outre, l’achat de tables

roulantes pour notre salle de conférence et pour notre salle de classe principale, 108, a facilité la transformation facile de l’espace, de la salle de conférence formelle et occidentale à un espace flexible pouvant être utilisé dans les cercles de partage traditionnels. en outre, la salle 108a, étant initiale-ment une salle de stockage, bloquée en un espace de sépa-ration, fut transformée en une salle attrayante, spacieuse, qui par conséquent laisse place aux possibilités pédagogiques

christine laurin enjoys the new IcaS breakout room, off the conference room

À ces nouvelles possibilités pédagogiques, on ajoute le renouvellement de dalie giroux et de darren o'toole, qui ont tous deux été professeurs actifs avec IcaS dans le passé. nous sommes ravis de les retrouver avec nous et nous attendons en particulier les plans ambitieux du professeur o’toole pour l’instauration de nouveaux cours de langue indigène. les profes-seurs actuels, tels que brenda Macdougall, continuent également de créer des cours novateurs. Prof. Macdougall a négocié avec succès un nouveau cours pratique en concert avec le Musée canadien de l’his-toire à gatineau (pour plus d’informations sur ce nouveau cours et les autres nouvelles de Prof. Macdougall, voir p. 24  et p. 25)

It has been a true honour and pleasure leading IcaS during 2016-2017. Many thanks to all who have contributed their time, insights, and labour to making all of its initiatives such a success. My best wishes go to the incoming IcaS leadership team, which will likely include tim Stanley of the faculty of education as director and tracy coates as coordinator of aboriginal Studies.

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