Upcoming events for February 2021

MIIJIM: Food & Gardens as Remediation
Tuesday February 2nd at 2:30pm online

Food & Gardens as Remediation opens a conversation between Indigenous artists who are using seeds, planting and cultivation in their practices. T’uy’t’tanat - Cease Wyss (Skwxwú7mesh / Stó:lō / Hawaiian / Swiss) and Anne Riley (Cree / Dene) will discuss A Constellation of Remediation, a project that includes the planting of Indigenous remediation gardens on vacant and untended lots on the unceded homelands of the xʷməθkʷəyə̓m (Musqueam), Sḵwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) nations. Cease and Anne will be in conversation with Joce Two Crows Tremblay (Mohawk / Pottawatomi / Francaise / Ashkenazi), an artist, Earthworker and member of the Indigenous Land Stewardship Circle, who will be sharing their work with the Re~Sistering garden on the Niwa’ah Onega’gaih’ih ~ Kobechenonk ~ the Humber River, a project that seeks to re-Indigenize land by creating Three Sisters and medicine earthworks on ancestral urban sites.

Miijim: Food as Relations is a series of conversations presenting Indigenous, Black and People of Colour food scholars, growers, artists and advocates who will gather virtually across Canada. The series will discuss the interconnections between art, earthwork, cultivation and harvesting experiences that decenter colonial frameworks, while thinking through labour and power relations related to food justice in urban and rural communities.

Register for this event here and stay connected to this series here!

Against Property: Direct Action and the Struggle for Housing
Tuesday February 9th at 7:00pm – 8:30pm online

As Toronto’s housing and affordability crises worsen and real estate values continue to rise, Parkdale Free School and Vicky Osterweil will discuss homeless struggles and direct action. Vicky will offer reflections on recent struggles in Philadelphia, where Philadelphia Housing Action has successfully waged a squatting campaign that has housed 20 unhoused families, as well as leveraging a summer-long homeless protest encampment into the creation of a land trust and to bring attention to the corruption of the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

In the face of government violence and neglect, creative tactics are necessary for community members to look after each other. In cities like Los Angeles, Oakland, and Philadelphia, homeless organizers have won housing by way of tactics such as squatting on privately-owned property and occupying public space. What are the possibilities and limits of these tactics? What is the radical horizon of the struggle for housing?

Register to attend this free event here and find Vicky Osterweil’s new book In Defense of Looting: A Riotous History of Uncivil Action here!

16th Annual Strawberry Ceremony: Gathering Prayers, Not People Sunday February 14th at 12:30pm-1:30pm online with Facebook Live

This year’s Strawberry Ceremony will be held virtually, with Elder Wanda Whitebird offering prayers via live stream from 12:30pm - 1:30pm. Posters, photos, and memories from past years will also be shared in some creative ways, and other ways to collectively show our support are invited (offering tobacco in a space that is meaningful to you; prayers for the safety of Indigenous Women, Girls, Trans and Two-Spirit Peoples, and for those who are missing to return home; sharing photos of what you’re doing to mark the Strawberry Ceremony remotely to honor families, raise awareness, and fight to put an end to MMIWGT2S; eat a strawberry (the green part too!)). Rather than a community feast this year, donations are encouraged towards any of the following initiatives: Families of Sisters in Spirit, Dashmaawaan Bemaadzinjin - They Feed the People, and NaMeRes.

Find more details on the ceremony and participate in the online event here!