Access + Care: Indigenous Knowledges and Archival Practice

Deyohahá:ge: The Indigenous Knowledge Centre at Six Nations Polytechnic, the Archives Association of Ontario, and the Archives of Ontario invite you to a one-day symposium on October 23, 2019.

The event will explore how memory workers may respectfully care for and provide access to the many forms of Indigenous Knowledge. It will be an opportunity to hear from Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, Elders, and memory workers and to explore linkages between Indigenous knowledges and Western archival practice.

First Nations, Inuit and Métis Knowledge Keepers, Elders, and memory workers play a critical role in the survival and enrichment of Indigenous traditions and histories. These individuals perform important memory work by ensuring the transfer of sacred objects and knowledge from one generation to the next. The Access + Care Symposium will be an opportunity to discuss the current and ongoing needs of Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, Elders, and memory workers to ensure that their work can continue and their communities may thrive. It will also present opportunities to explore linkages between Indigenous Knowledge and Western archival practice, beginning with foundational questions: Who are archivists? What or who are archives?

Specific topics may include, but are not limited to:

How have Indigenous communities engaged in archival practices? In memory work?
What does an Indigenous archives look like? What does it do? What does the community need
from their Knowledge Keepers, Elders, and memory workers?
How have Indigenous Knowledge Keepers, Elders, and memory workers collaborated with Western/settler archives to provide access (e.g., travelling exhibitions, loan initiatives, repatriation initiatives, language initiatives, naming projects)?
What is appropriate access? How is access to Indigenous knowledge and/or sacred knowledge provided and managed?
How have Indigenous communities leveraged digital technologies to share knowledge (e.g., digitization projects, social media, linked/open data)?
What barriers exist in Western/settler archival practices that prevent access to Indigenous
knowledge (e.g., subject headings, descriptive practices)?
What, if anything, do Indigenous communities need from Western/settler archival institutions?

This event is a joint venture of Deyohahá:ge: The Indigenous Knowledge Centre at Six Nations Polytechnic (SNP), the Archives Association of Ontario (AAO) and the Archives of Ontario, with generous sponsorship from the Toronto Area Archivists Group (TAAG).

Details:
Wednesday, October 23, 2019
8:30am – 4:00 pm
Archives of Ontario
Toronto, Ontario

Please note: in-person registration is sold out. For anyone unable to attend in person, this event will also be made available via webcast. To attend the webcast, click this link to register and select “Webcast” as your registration type.

Join the conversation: #AccessCare2019

Symposium Agenda:

8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m. Registration + Tea/Coffee

Please check in with our reception table

9:30 a.m. – 10:20 a.m. Welcome

Deyohahá:ge: Indigenous Knowledge Centre, Six Nations Polytechnic
Archives Association of Ontario (AAO)
Archives of Ontario

10:20 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Short Break
10:30 a.m. – 11:20 a.m. Presentation

Alan Corbiere, M'Chigeeng First Nation; Ph.D. (History), York University

11:20 a.m. – 11:35 a.m. Break

Tea & Coffee and light snacks, sponsored by AAO and Toronto Area Archivists Group (TAAG)

11:35 a.m. – 1 p.m. Panel Presentations: Access: Researchers’ Perspectives

Heather George, Mohawk and Euro-Canadian; PhD Candidate (History), University of Waterloo; Chair, Chiefswood Board of Trustees
Taylor Gibson, Archivist, Library and Archives Canada, Ontario Region, Six Nations Territory
Skylee-Storm Hogan, Mohawk Nation of Kahnawake; Research Associate, Know History Historical Services INC; Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre (select projects)

1:00 p.m. – 2 p.m. Lunch

Catering provided by Tea ‘N Bannock Catering, sponsored by AAO and TAAG

2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Panel Presentations: Care: Institutional Perspectives

Feather Maracle, Kanienkehaka, Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory; CEO and Director of Library
Services, Six Nations Public Library
Anita Kora, originally from Nain, Nunatsiavut; Librarian-Archivist, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami

3:00 p.m. – 3:20 p.m. Break

Bannock Sampler platters provided by Tea ‘N Bannock Catering, sponsored by AAO and TAAG

3:20 p.m. – 3:45 p.m. Presentation

Sara General, Director of Deyohahá:ge: and Research, Six Nations Polytechnic

3:45 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Closing

Banner image: Ryan Johnson, Six Nations Polytechnic