{"id":63459,"date":"2020-02-11T15:31:52","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T20:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=63459"},"modified":"2025-10-18T16:58:11","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T20:58:11","slug":"kinamagawin-indigenous-identity-sovereignty","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/kinamagawin-indigenous-identity-sovereignty\/","title":{"rendered":"Kin\u00e0m\u00e0gawin Symposium Focuses on Indigenous Identity and Sovereignty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Kin\u00e0m\u00e0gawin Symposium Focuses on Indigenous Identity and Sovereignty\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Carleton University\u2019s first annual Kin\u00e0m\u00e0gawin Symposium<\/a> focused on important issues rooted in Indigenous identity and sovereignty, many of which remain pressing concerns today, according to the event\u2019s speakers and panelists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKin\u00e0m\u00e0gawin\u201d is an Algonquin word that means \u201clearning together,\u201d Carleton\u2019s Benny Michaud<\/a>, who leads the university\u2019s Centre for Indigenous Initiatives<\/a>, said in welcoming remarks at the Feb. 6 gathering that drew a large audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Benny
Benny Michaud<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Carleton is part of an education system that has a legacy of assimilating and silencing Indigenous peoples, said Michaud, but the word \u201ckin\u00e0m\u00e0gawin\u201d offers hope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are all students and we are all teachers,\u201d she said, \u201cand each of us has within us an important part of the story that needs to be shared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Kin\u00e0m\u00e0gawin<\/figure>\n\n\n

Dispelling the Myth of the Singular Indigenous Identity<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pamela Palmater<\/a>, Chair in Indigenous Governance at Ryerson University and a Mi\u2019kmaq lawyer whose family is from the Eel River Bar First Nation in northern New Brunswick, delivered the morning\u2019s keynote talk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two themes of sovereignty and identity are \u201cthe core of what is going to protect us going forward and can\u2019t be compromised,\u201d said Palmater. \u201cThere is no negotiation \u2014 there is no reconciliation when it comes to identity. None of that applies.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is no such thing as a singular \u201cIndigenous\u201d identity, she added, since each nation is self-governing and distinct. By the same token, no one individual can represent an entire Indigenous community because expressing differences is part of identity too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For individual Indigenous nations, Palmater said, their sovereignty as individuals and collectives is a core part of their identity and allows them to endure historic and ongoing genocide. In other words, Palmater said, \u201ccolonization\u201d was not only a feature of the past but also happens daily today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, said Palmater, the RCMP are currently conducting an invasion of Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en nation territory in northwestern British Columbia over the proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline \u2014 a direct attack on their sovereignty and identity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to CBC<\/a>, five of the six band councils in the Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en nation have agreed to the project, but Palmater explained that their traditional system of governance has continued alongside the Indian Act system and hereditary leaders, using Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en laws, have unanimously rejected the pipeline. \u201cWe all have a responsibility, even if we\u2019re not Wet\u2019suwet\u2019en, to stand with our brothers and sisters with what is happening right now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pamela
Pamela Palmater<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Her nearly hour-long speech helped the audience view the Canadian legal system through her perspective as a lawyer and a Mi\u2019kmaq. She spoke of what she considers oddities in the Indian Act that certify who is \u201cIndian\u201d and who is not \u2014 and who is more \u201cIndian\u201d than others \u2014 based on racist ideologies around blood quantum principles rejected by science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many Indigenous people don\u2019t know where they fall under the rules, she said. Often the choice of a mate can influence whether children will have \u201cIndian status.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t put that stuff on eharmony,\u201d she joked, referring to popular online dating site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palmater criticized Canadian laws for discriminating against those of individual Indigenous nations, including rules around the sale and distribution of tobacco \u2014 something that Haudenosaunee were practicing for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. \u201cOur identity has very much been criminalized,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m OK with being criminally Indigenous if it means I keep my identity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She openly worried that the new push to include Indigenous people in university professorships and high-ranking positions is leading to some applicants misrepresenting their identity to obtain a prized job. These people who may take advantage, she said, do not understand where true Indigenous identity lies. Every Indigenous person and nation, she added, will defend their identity since it is a core aspect of their sovereignty and who they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palmater also touched on her interpretation of \u201cutopia,\u201d which is not related to the English term that referring to an imaginary, perfect civilization. Rather, it speaks of time when Indigenous nations were self-determining. \u201cWe did everything ourselves and we worked out our problems ourselves,\u201d she said. \u201cThat is utopia. Genocide has interfered with that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Pamela<\/figure>\n\n\n

Working Collaboratively Towards Positive Change<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carleton is preparing to release a report based on work undertaken by the Carleton University Indigenous Strategic Initiatives Committee<\/a> was rooted in more than 40 consultation sessions with groups on and off campus. The report will also be called \u201cKin\u00e0m\u00e0gawin\u201d to reflect Carleton\u2019s commitment to working collaboratively towards positive change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are 41 calls to action that provide a roadmap for continuous improvement,\u201d President Benoit-Antoine Bacon<\/a> told the symposium. \u201cWe\u2019re about to publish the report and start implementation. This is very much a beginning rather than an end.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"President
President Benoit-Antoine Bacon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The symposium began with traditional drumming from students and an eagle song by Irene Compton<\/a>, a member of the Saulteaux First Nations Bear Clan from the Keeseekoose band in Saskatchewan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The event included a faculty panel discussion on appropriating Indigenous identities with Carleton professors Kahente Horn-Miller<\/a>, Carmen Robertson<\/a> and Patricia McGuire<\/a> and University of Ottawa Prof. Brenda Macdougall<\/a>. There was also a student panel on decolonizing Indigenous identities with Sheila Grantham, Ashley Courchene<\/a>, Aliqa Illauq<\/a> and Kara Louttit<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Kin\u00e0m\u00e0gawin<\/figure>\n\n\n

—
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Carleton University\u2019s first annual Kin\u00e0m\u00e0gawin Symposium focused on important issues rooted in Indigenous identity and sovereignty, many of which remain pressing concerns today, according to the event\u2019s speakers and panelists. \u201cKin\u00e0m\u00e0gawin\u201d is an Algonquin word that means \u201clearning together,\u201d Carleton\u2019s Benny Michaud, who leads the university\u2019s Centre for Indigenous Initiatives, said in welcoming remarks at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":63502,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[28,1931,1592],"cu_story_tag":[1920,1921,1927,1929],"class_list":["post-63459","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-community-partnerships","cu_story_type-social-innovation","cu_story_type-teaching-learning","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-arts-and-social-sciences","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-public-and-global-affairs","cu_story_tag-indigenous","cu_story_tag-president"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/63459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/63459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97624,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/63459\/revisions\/97624"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=63459"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=63459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}