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Ecoliteracy Matters
NOW MORE THAN EVER
» Thursday 28 January 2010 | 5 pm
» The Bohemian Café, 524 Bernard Avenue
An informal afternoon hour showcasing ideas
and people in the Okanagan creative economy. Join us as celebrated Okanagan wisdom keeper, scholar and writer Jeannette Armstrong, shares an ages-old technique for building sustainability principles into community process, and examines the need to create a locally ecoliterate community in the Okanagan.
» $2 at the door. Refreshments are available at a modest cost.
» Seating is limited, please reserve yours HERE
Celebrated Wisdom Keeper Shares and Explains the En'owkin Process
According to internationally-known aboriginal scholar and writer Jeannette Armstrong, real democracy is not about power in numbers, it is about collaboration as an organizational system. Real democracy includes the right of the minority to a remedy, one that is unhampered by the tyranny of a complacent or aggressive majority.
The En'owkin process is a mediation process especially designed for community. It is a process that seeks to build solidarity and develop remediated outcomes that will be acceptable, by informed choice, to all who will be affected. Its collaborative decision-making engages everyone in the process; decisions are not handed down by leaders "empowered" to decide for everyone. It is a negotiated process that creates trust and consensus because the solution belongs to everyone for all their own reasons. The process empowers the community, creating unity and strength for the long term.
On Thursday, January 28th at 5 pm the ongoing weekly Okanagan Institute Express series at the Bohemian Café presents Aboriginality: Ecoliteracy Matters. Join us as celebrated Okanagan wisdom keeper, scholar and writer Jeannette Armstrong, shares an ages-old technique for building sustainability principles into community process, and examines the need to create a locally ecoliterate community in the Okanagan.
As Armstrong explains, "En'owkin as a community-building process makes even more sense as communities grow ever more diverse. While the human mind is naturally focused on survival; community-mind can be developed as a way to magnify the creativity of an individual mind and thus increase an individual's overall potential. A critical component of leadership today is the profit motive that affects us all at every level.
"Our original communities have disintegrated; the long-term condition of the human species, and other life forms, has become secondary to short-term profit for the few, allowing for poor choices that have altered the health and lives of millions. I have come to understand that unless change occurs in the ways in which communities use the land, the well being and survival of us all is at risk. We can change this. For these reasons, I choose to assist in changing the paradigm by joining in a collaborative process to devise a better future.
"Today we human beings face the biggest of obstacles, and so the greatest challenges, to our creativity and responsibility.
"Let us begin with courage and without limitations, and we will come up with surprising solutions."
 Jeannette Armstrong is an Okanagan Canadian author, educator, artist, and activist. She is a fluent speaker of the Okanagan language and has studied traditional teachings for many years under the direction of the Okanagan elders. She is Director of the En'owkin International Writing School and author of a number of books, film scripts, and a collection of poetry. Her commitment to the development of Native creative expression in literature and the arts, together with her astute insight into social and political issues is well known and respected among First Nations people.
While growing up on the Penticton Indian Reserve, Armstrong received a formal education at a one-room school on the reserve as well as a traditional Okanagan education from her family and Elders. Armstrong's customary education enabled her to learn the Okanagan language and she remains a fluent speaker of both Okanagan and English today. For many years since her childhood, Armstrong has studied traditional Okanagan teachings and practiced traditional ways under the direction of Elders. She received a diploma of Fine Arts from Okanagan College and a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from the University of Victoria. Her 1985 work Slash is considered the first novel by a Native woman in Canada. She is best known for her involvement with the En'owkin Centre, her writing, and her perspectives on subjects such as creativity, education, ecology, and Indigenous rights.
Armstrong was appointed as the Executive Director of the En'owkin Centre in 1986 and she carries on in this role to the present day. Located on the Penticton Indian Reserve and operated exclusively by the six bands of the Okanagan Nation, the Centre is managed in conjunction with Okanagan College and the University of Victoria and aims to provide students with a strong cultural and academic foundation for success in further post-secondary studies. The objectives of the society which governs En'owkin are "to record and perpetuate and promote 'Native' in the cultural sense, in education, and in our lives and our communities". To support these objectives, the Centre created the Okanagan Curriculum Project, which aspires to develop school curriculum that presents Okanagan history in an accurate and dignified way. Theytus Books, the first publishing house in Canada owned and operated by First Nations people, was established in 1980 as part of the curriculum project. She also helped to establish the En'owkin School of International Writing and became its director as well as an instructor. The School is the first credit-giving creative writing school in Canada operated entirely by and for Aboriginal people.
She is a frequent speaker at conferences around the world. She was appointed as one of seven Indigenous judges to the First Nations Court of Justice called by the Chiefs of Ontario. serves on the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, and recently served as a representative to the Third World Water Forum in Kyoto. She is the author of numerous books, including novels, poetry, The Native Creative Process (in collaboration with architect Douglas Cardinal), and coeditor of We Get Our Living Like Milk from the Land. She received the Buffett Award for Indigenous Leadership from Ecotrust in 2003 in recognition of her work as an educator, community leader, and Indigenous rights activist, and the 2005 Angel Award for contributions in the Okanagan. She was distinguished with an Honorary Doctorate of Letters, from St. Thomas University, Fredericton NB and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws in 2006 from the University of British Columbia Okanagan and was distinguished as lifetime Okanagan Fellow of Okanagan College in 2008. She is on the Indigenous Studies faculty at UBC Okanagan. She is currently completing her interdisciplinary Ph.D in Environmental Ethics and Syilx Indigenous Literatures and currently serves on the national ATK subcommittee of COSEWIC.
Photograph of Jeannette Armstrong by Greg Young-Ing.
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER ONLINE CLICK HERE
Aboriginality: Ecoliteracy Matters takes place at the Bohemian Café. This marks the 123rd event the Okanagan Institute has held since the Express series got underway in July 2007.
Express has played host to many Okanagan luminaries, including former deputy secretary general of Amnesty International Derek Evans, artists Lee Claremont and Gary Pearson, BC Book Award nominee Don Gayton, CBC Literary prize winner poet Harold Rhenisch, distinguished editor and author Jim Taylor, poet and professor John Lent, animator and filmmaker Jim Cliffe, community activist Don Elzer, dancer David LaHay, architect Jim Meiklejohn, culinary artist and writer Heidi Noble, broadcaster Marion Barschel and others from a wide range of creative fields.
A Program of ArtsCare in association with the Okanagan Institute.
"Everyone has the urge to create. Its expression may flow through many channels. The point is to honour the urge. To do so is healing for ourselves and for others; not to do so deadens our bodies and our spirits." - Vancouver MD Gabor Mate. Take this unique opportunity to explore your creative urges.
Space is still available in the following workshops:
January 26th - Feb 16th, 11:30 am until 1:30 pm upstairs at tables on the left. Bring lunch or buy it at the RCA. Classes in creating your personal story led by Devon Muhlert - writer, musician, poet, music director and songwriter.
February 2 - 23, 2:30-4:30 pm in the painting and drawing studio: "No straight lines": Basic Drawing classes led by Tina Siddiqui. Materials required: drawing paper/newsprint paper, few sticks of willow charcoal, pencil, eraser, drawing board, source pictures, land/seascapes, buildings and interiors, faces and people. (Questions? - contact Tina at 250.317.8659)
February 23 - March 16, 11:30 am until 1:30 pm upstairs at tables on the left. Bring lunch or buy it at the RCA. A new session of Classes in creating your personal story led by long-time professional writer, editor and teacher Dona Sturmanis. Workshops are designed to foster trust and self-confidence in personal and public communication.
First time attendance for 4 continuous weeks of participation in a program is FREE. Participants must agree to volunteer within the community half the number of hours of training they receive from the program and to submit a photo and short explanation of this volunteer sharing to the Sage-ing website blog.
At the Rotary Centre for the Arts. Sponsored by The Government of Canada's New Horizons for Seniors Programs. To register or for more information: www.sage-ing.com
The Okanagan Institute is a group of creative professionals that has gathered around the goal of providing events, publications and services of interest to enquiring minds in the Okanagan. We partner with individuals, organizations, institutions and businesses to achieve optimal creative and social impact.
Our mission is to ignite cultural transformation, catalyze collaborative action, build networks and foster sustainable creative enterprises. We invite the participation by all members of the creative community.
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