Activities

As part of the community engagement strategy for the Project, a logo contest was initiated in each of the four regions.听 The project logo will be based on a circular medicine wheel with each of the four partner regions being represented in one quarter of the logo.

The Ontario region design highlights the Walleye, a primary fish species in the region set against traditional colours and medicine wheel graphic.

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Stories from the Land Workshop

A Nipissing Youth and Elders Fisheries and Traditional Knowledge Project

Nipissing First Nation

Wednesday November 4th听鈥� Sunday November 8th听2015

Workshop Facilitator

Ryan McMahon, Anishnaabe/Metis comedian

Youth Empowerment, Leadership and Cultural workshop facilitator

Co-Facilitators

Lisa Blenkinsop, Master鈥檚 student, University of Guelph, Fish-WIKS

Clint Couchie, Natural Resources Manager, Nipissing First Nation, Fish-WIKS community liaison

Purpose of the Project

Explore the meaning and importance of Indigenous Knowledge and Fisheries Knowledge to Youth and Elders within the Nipissing First Nation through land based storytelling, digital media/podcasting & Traditional Knowledge transfer and teachings.

This project is part of a larger project known as Fish-WIKS (鈥楩isheries 鈥� Western and Indigenous Knowledge System鈥�), a national research project that seeks to improve fisheries governance and management in Canada by understanding if and how Indigenous knowledge systems can enhance fisheries governance in Canada.

Workshop Participants

Nipissing First Nation Youth (14-29) and Elders (50+)

Workshop Goals

Through community research, interviews and through the sharing of Traditional Knowledge in sharing circle form, the Stories From The Land project will inform the Nipissing FN, the general population & the project partners of how Anishinaabe Peoples governed themselves through land use, their connection to land, water, plants & animals and how this can/will inform use policies of today.

A听key goal of this project听is to create space for storytelling & knowledge transfer to happen in a way that empowers the community and the project participants. Indigenous Knowledge systems and law lives through stories, our histories are sustained through stories and our daily lives can be guided by these stories/systems. Without the space for storytelling, what happens to these stories/histories/laws?

Other goals and objectives:

1.听听听听 Identify successful Elder-Youth relationships and engagement happening within the community.

2.听听听听 Identify Elders seeking Youth and Youth seeking Elders for intergenerational knowledge sharing.

3.听听听听 Explore gaps and barriers in connecting Youth and Elders.

4.听听听听 Identify opportunities for Youth to access meaningful engagement with Elders and ways to make Elders more accessible to Youth.

5.听听听听 Bring Youth and Elders together to create space and place for intergenerational engagement.

6.听听听听 Provide Nipissing First Nation with information on community/traditional knowledge. This can be used to inform Fisheries decisions as well as create opportunities/programming to maintain and expand knowledge within the community.

Contribution to Fish-WIKS research

The workshop directly relates to Lisa Blenkinsop鈥檚 research objectives; recorded data and observations from the workshop will contribute to Lisa鈥檚 Master鈥檚 research and thesis.

Tools & Process

A number of different approaches will be taken to gather the stories & the histories of the connection between Nipissing FN and their fisheries practice.

Audio interviews/podcasting will be used as a tool to archive the stories, interviews and teachings for future use. Ryan McMahon, Nipissing FN Youth and Elders will conduct the interviews.

Sharing Circles

Circles will allow participants to introduce themselves to each other and identify the goals of the project.

Interviews

Youth and the Elders will have a chance to sit and chat, one on one, to learn from each other鈥檚 knowledge base.

Findings

A closing circle will conclude the process of the sharing circles and interviews. General findings will be shared and the table will be set for a day of action planning with the Youth and the Elders.

Action Planning

A session of brainstorming and planning on how Youth & Elders can better support Nipissing FN Fisheries and continue to share the stories, histories and laws of the community in partnership and in perpetuity.

Dissemination of Findings to the Community

Community Presentation

A short community presentation will be put together by the Youth & Elders to give the findings back to the community. This will be done in the evening through the sharing of live stories, disseminating of audio interviews and the presentation of the processes findings and the action plan moving forward.

Audio Archives

The audio archives (interviews, community documentary) will be sent to the community leadership, Nipissing FN Fisheries Department and the community at large by making the audio files available on a website hosted by the community.

Digital Podcast

A feature historical/documentary presentation on the Nipissing FN鈥檚 history in the area, the fishery and other localized Traditional knowledge will be produced by Ryan McMahon, to be presented back to the community and shared online.

Research Findings

Lisa Blenkinsop鈥檚 research findings will be presented to the community following the completion of her Master鈥檚 thesis.