First Nations Knowledge Services Without Borders

Manisha Khetarpal (Maskwacis Cultural College)

Location: Maskwacis Cultural College

Region(s): West Central, East Central

3rd biannual First Nations Knowledge Services Without Borders

Theme: Designing Programs and Services with our Indigenous Communities

Time: Monday, April 9, 2018 from 9 am to 5 pm

Target Audience: Librarians, Archivists, Adult Literacy coordinators, local Maskwacis community members, Researchers, Academics, Indigenous Community Engagement Coordinators, Programmers of all sorts, Elders, and Knowledge Keepers

Introduction: Libraries, Archives and all sorts of community organizations are actively developing programs and services for their indigenous clientele. What we can all learn from these successful examples? How can we explore new opportunities to engage our diverse indigenous audiences off reserve and on reserve? How can we reach and serve the ceremonial, knowledge keepers, navigators and regulators/park rangers?

Join in a conversation about cultural protocol, how to respect and incorporate indigenous ways in your work.

Objectives:

• To launch a life-long observation of the intersections between indigenous culture(s), cultural protocol, indigenous worldview, and the ethical standards of librarianship.
• To see the potential use of an indigenous model of exploring the status of indigenous library and archives services, mirroring Dr. Gregory Cajete’s seven orienting processes of indigenous fulfillment: being, asking, seeking, making, having, sharing, and celebrating.
• To recognize the spectrum of public services offered by tribal information settings.
• To begin to understand how to develop further public services in tribal information settings.

3 things that participants will take away from the session:

• Learn about programs and services with indigenous peoples in numerous settings.
• Find out about support for indigenous ways among professional organizations.
• Consider how to apply indigenous ways and practices to our libraries, archives and community programs.

AGENDA AT A GLANCE, APRIL 9, 9 AM TO 5 PM

9 am to noon: Elders Panel: Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Designing Programs and Services with our Indigenous Communities.

Presenters: Laurence Standing on the Road, Sophie Bruno, Linda Mykat, Bert Bull

Noon to 1 pm: Lunch

1 to 2 pm: Digital literacy project in Gwich'in Settlement Area by Michael B. McNally, University of Alberta

2 to 2:45 pm: Write to Read Project delivers books, libraries, computers, tablets & high speed Internet connections to remote First Nation communities in BC by Bob Blacker

3 to 4 pm: Panel Presentation about Programs and Services for Indigenous Communities. Indigenous Initiatives at MacEwan Library: Connecting, Collecting, and Growing Together, Frontier College’s Summer Reading Camps by Lindsey Whitson, Roxy Garstad and Matthew “Gus” Gusul

4 to 5 pm: Online Exhibitions – Things to consider before you jump into the deep end by Gordon Jung from Library and Archives Canada (LAC)

Location: Maskwacis Cultural College Library.

Registration fee $95 per person includes refreshments, lunch, Library in a Box takeout, a tour of the community or libraries or Samson Museum & Archives, hands on cultural items making sessions, community engagement and programs for indigenous communities document. We sincerely appreciate donations and can provide receipts.

Registration link https://goo.gl/forms/w2cLB0uJYGB6IGD83

Payment details: Cheques to be made in the name of Maskwacis Cultural College, Box 960. Maskwacis, Alberta T0C 1N0.

Cash donations are appreciated.

Call us at toll free: 1-866-585-3925 or by email mkhetarpal@mccedu.ca

SESSION SUMMARIES AND PRESENTERS

9 am to noon: Elders Panel: Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Designing Programs and Services with our Indigenous Communities In the spirit of trust, responsibility, reciprocity, collaboration and nurturing...how do you see Indigenous Knowledge in natural and built environments transmitted via programs and services? Can we proceed with seven generation thinking through transcultural co-learning?

Elders’ presenters: Laurence standing on the Road, Sophie Bruno, Linda Mykat, Bert Bull

1 to 2 pm: Digital literacy project in Gwich'in Settlement Area This presentation examines a digital literacy project currently underway in Gwich'in Settlement Area that aims to develop local capacity around issues of digital content and connectivity. The project, funded by the Canadian Internet Registration Authority, culminates a series of two day workshops (to be held in June 2018) that focus on enabling participants to create, share and store their own local content, and also consider how broadband infrastructure could be developed locally to improve connectivity. Furthermore, the project itself will result in a number of openly licensed materials, including student and facilitator workbooks for the workshops, and open educational resource on digital literacy resources and localized version of the community broadband toolkit Understanding Community Broadband. These open resources are developed with the aim to allow others to reproduce the workshops and adapt materials to their local contexts. The project aims to contribute to the strengthening of communities by empowering them to make their own decisions around content, connectivity and infrastructure with the aim of further Indigenous digital sovereignty.

Michael B. McNally is an Assistant Professor at the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta. His research interests include intellectual property and its alternatives, open educational resources, rural broadband policy and government information policy. He is a Research Fellow of the Van Horne Institute. He has participated in policy consultations held through the House of Commons, Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and Innovation, Science and Economic Development. He has a PhD and MLIS from the University of Western Ontario.

2 to 2:45 pm: Write to Read Project delivers books, libraries, computers, tablets & high speed Internet connections to remote First Nation communities in BC The Write to Read Project BC is and equal partnership between participating indigenous communities, Rotarians, Government House and the volunteers of the Write to Read Team. It brings together people who have an interest in increasing literacy equity through access to literacy materials for rural and remote indigenous communities. It is about building relationships between urban professionals and rural Indigenous communities through shared power; it is about working with by building a foundation of honesty based on the principals of equity that builds trust in the pursuit of social justice. To date, 14 libraries learning centers have been established.

Bob Blacker is a retired New Westminster Police Inspector. He joined Rotary in 1996 and has served as Club President. In 2008 – 2009, Bob became District Governor for Rotary District 5040, made up 54 Clubs across British Columbia. In 1998, Bob became an Honorary Aide de Camp (HADC) to the Lt. Governor of British Columbia. In 2007 His Honour, Steven Point, and Bob started to work together to get books into isolated First Nations Communities in British Columbia. In 2012, after his term as Lt. Governor, HH Steven Point returned to the Bench as a Provincial Court Judge. As a result, Bob carried on as the Project Leader. Both men never dreamt that WRITE TO READ would be as successful as it is today.

3 to 4 pm: Panel Presentation about Programs and Services for Indigenous Communities Indigenous Initiatives at MacEwan Library: Connecting, Collecting, and Growing Together, Frontier College’s Summer Reading Camps Deepening ties with kihêw waciston Indigenous Centre and other vested campus partners have given rise to an array of programs, events, and other opportunities within and outside of MacEwan. Likewise, a highly prioritized initiative for Collections is the assessment and augmentation of Indigenous holdings, including the acquisition of independent films, monographs, graphic novels, music, and the development of a new zine collection.

Lindsey Whitson is a Health & Community Studies Librarian and the liaison to kihêw waciston Indigenous Centre at MacEwan University. Roxy Garstad is the Collections Librarian at MacEwan University. Summer Camps Indigenous Summer Literacy Camps and The Lieutenant Governor of Ontario’s Indigenous Summer Reading Camps The Indigenous Summer Literacy Camps program began in 2005 – a vision of the former Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, the Hon. James Bartleman, who is a member of the Mnjikaning First Nation. The camps are held in partnership with the leadership in each community, and are also supported by many Lieutenant Governors across the country. The camps support FNMI student success in school by complementing the formal education system and responding to a need for quality learning supports in rural, remote, and isolated communities, especially during the summer months. The camps help prevent summer learning loss—the decline in student performance between school years—and promote a love of reading and learning so that students return to school better prepared to learn and succeed. Come and listen to the success and challenges associated with organizing summer camps in indigenous communities.

Matthew “Gus” Gusul, PhD is an artist, educator, activist, storyteller, development worker, and community organizer whose has led community-based projects with a diversity of organizations throughout Western Canada, Latin America, India, and China. Gus’ most recent work focused upon delivering culturally appropriate and playful literacy projects in Indigenous communities throughout Alberta with Frontier College. He has worked with seniors, inmates in prisons, Canada’s Indigenous populations, young people, GLBTQ communities, and religious groups helping them tell their stories and to have a positive impact on their community.

4 to 5 pm: Online Exhibitions – Things to consider before you jump into the deep end. Online exhibitions, presentations, multi-media use can revolve around almost any kind of topic. A collection of materials may examine or create discussion opportunities, but to get to that point you have to get into the nitty-gritty of design planning. Is it fun? It can be! Is it necessary? Yes! Is it more than you expected? You’d be surprised at the things you should consider.

Gordon Jung has a Master of Education from the University of British Columbia, and a Master of Library and Information Science form McGill University. In 2004, he joined the newly merged Library and Archives Canada (LAC), where he curated virtual exhibitions, managed database design and digitisation projects, and led web-based projects. From 2010 to the present, he has managed LAC’s Flickr platform providing another access point to its collection for a variety of interested people. He is involved with UX design, User testing, and audience “persona” research for LAC, and is working to expand its potential platform use to iTunes University, and theGoogle Cultural Institute.