Algonquin news has been big in Ottawa recently and this event is a chance for settlers to learn about Algonquin history and politics and the current land claims process in Ontario directly from Algonquin intellectuals. After listening to the panelists introduce themselves and provide a discussion of their areas of expertise regarding Algonquin history, politics and culture, the discussion will turn to a question-and-answer opportunity.

Here in Canada, the Algonquin of the Ottawa River Valley have different stresses than other Indigenous nations. They were ignored during the historic treaty process, they do not draw from the resources extracted from their lands and waters, they were divided through the provincial federal order, and the capital city of the colonial nation state called Canada squats on their land.

It is now known that colonial genocide continues and that the sovereignty of Canada has to continually hold down Indigenous nations. Within this context, difficult decisions are being made by Algonquin. Just as there is a diversity of thought in the minds of Canadian citizens, there is a diversity of thought within the minds of Algonquin citizens. While some Algonquin are sovereigntists, others are making pragmatic decisions so that in the very least their basic human rights are met. Without a doubt the Algonquin context is historically, politically, and culturally laden. Within the difficult Algonquin context, settler people sometimes make the situation worse with their assumptions, the way they think and what they do.

So bring your questions, whether they about Indigenous knowledge the Ontario land claims process, the difference between a land claim and a treaty, the Algonquins of Ontario, or how Algonquin membership is determined.

This event is not relying on the river as the organizing framework, nor is it set up in a debate-like fashion.

The Zoom link will be sent out to all ticket holders 24 hours before the event

Additional resources from the panelists:

Lynn Gehl PhD

https://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/canadas-indian-policy-is-a-process-of-deception

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-FJjs3cLhc

Lynn Gehl PhD and Heather Majaury MA

https://ricochet.media/en/318/first-nations-finance-their-own-demise-through-land-claims-process

Veldon Coburn PhD

https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/june-2017/indigenous-people-and-the-constitution-conversation/

https://policyoptions.irpp.org/magazines/september-2017/the-dismantling-of-indigenous-and-northern-affairs-canada/

Heather Majaury MA

https://journals.msvu.ca/index.php/atlantis/article/view/1065

CBC

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-100-ottawa-morning/clip/15824424-algonquin-elder-says-councils-decision-tewin-land-deal

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/algonquins-of-ontario-identity-membership-1.5910334?

Why Only Ontario Speakers?

Many people may default to asking the question, “Why are there no Algonquin panelist/speakers from Quebec?” This event is not intended to offer a complete understanding of the issues that the Algonquin are facing. Rather, it is intended to offer a more focused look at the dynamics in Ontario at a deeper level. What this means is that there is an appreciation that dichotomous thinking or a debate forum, where Ontario and Quebec Algonquin are pitted against one another, sets up a situation where a more in-depth discussion of the creation of the Algonquin of Ontario (AOO), and the difficulties of finding and defining the Algonquin in Ontario, is obfuscated and thus lost. In short, this event does not claim to present all the knowledge about the Algonquin, as no one event can do this. This is not to say that panel members are prevented from discussing broader Algonquin Indigenous knowledge, history, and politics beyond the division that the provincial federal order has imposed. This event is only one discussion within the much larger needed basin of discussions.