Suzanne Methot

Insightful essay from Etanda Arden via the Yellowhead Institute. When I was a classroom teacher in Toronto, I worked with many students who were Afro-Indigenous, who, like Etanda, were living with their Indigenous mothers or caregivers but who were seen/positioned as Black. Whenever I researched Afro-Indigenous people in an attempt to include this complex history in my classrooms, what would inevitably pop up (in books, films, and online) were U.S.-based resources on so-called "Black Indians" in the southern United States. There was never anything that connected with the Ontario curriculum, or that would mean anything to my students. So educators, we have our marching orders: we need to work with Afro-Indigenous people to create this curricula - and we need to do it now.

January 26 is Australia Day - but Indigenous people in what is now known as Australia gather on this day to celebrate their survival and mark what they call "Invasion Day." You can do your bit by watching the excellent and affecting documentary film The Australian Dream, which takes an in-depth look at the racism Indigenous football star Adam Goodes experienced, and how he responded. The doc is streaming for free on CBC Gem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRJkLgl56jk

Hey everyone! The open-access, peer-reviewed, Indigenous-run and totally awesome Turtle Island Journal of Indigenous Health is seeking submissions for its second issue, on the theme of "Finding Strength in Communities" (info here: https://tijihdlsph.wixsite.com/home/submit). The journal is also looking for Indigenous people who have experience curating artwork and creating processes for vetting artistic submissions (this work would involve being a peer reviewer on an art panel or getting involved in creating a submissions process for artwork). Please share this message, submit an article, submit some art, or volunteer!

Wow! Absolutely chuffed to see that my webinar on Creating a Culture of Equity and Reconciliation is the Tamarack Institute's top webinar of 2020! You can't do this work unless you wake up every morning with renewed hope for change... so let's hope the interest in this topic means we are in that sweet spot where transformation is possible. Check the list and view all the webinars here: https://www.tamarackcommunity.ca/engage-january-2021

You NEED to read this. Toxic stress on marginalized/oppressed peoples creates poor health, early death, and a lack of generational wealth (the wealth of oral tradition, inherited businesses, elders guiding the young). There's a reason why Black men and Indigenous people are dying from Covid-19 at greater rates than any other population - and there's a reason why Black and Indigenous people still have shorter life spans than white people. It's about structural barriers and the toxic stress that results from a lifetime of striving to beat the system: https://www.propublica.org//how-covid-19-hollowed-out-a-ge