LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Concession Street sits on land that is the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee and Mississaugas, and was part of an agreement to share and care for Great Lakes resources. The land is also covered by the 1792 Between the Lakes Purchase, made between the Crown and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.
NATIONAL DAY for TRUTH & RECONCILIATION
The Concession Street Community invites you to join us for an educational forum with Jim Adams (aka Many Hats)
About Jim Adams, aka Many Hats: Jim Adams, aka Many Hats, received this name while fasting. It was shared with him, while he communed within first family in the forest, that he would do many things for his people; he would indeed wear many hats. Jim learned some of the ways of the woods from his paternal grandfather, father, and uncles. It was this early introduction to the plant world and the animal world that stayed with him, slowly coursing its way through his life until he was ready to receive these gifts. The mishkiki, (medicine) of the forests, plains and valleys have helped him to smooth out the rough edges of life created from cohabiting with the energy and confusion of an urban environment. It is the teachings that have come from this journey that led Jim and his dear friend Anastasia Watson, to create the Naming Project, Anokiwin Wiyowin. At the heart of this project is the desire to connect all people with the natural world and the healing that comes from it. Food, medicine, community, and reciprocal relationships with the planet are the guiding principles of the Naming Project, Anokiwin Wiyowin. Jim carries the D.N.A. of the Swampy Cree and Innu from his paternal grandmother and the Mohawk from his paternal grandfather. His mother, Mary, was a first generation Canadian, her parents having migrated from England after the great war. It is this mix of nationalities that gives Jim a great array of cultural connections to draw from. Both of his grandfathers were hunters and gatherers and knew their own respective cultural connections to the land and its inhabitants. It is this gentle yet profound understanding of the natural world that has influenced much of Jim’s life and has drawn him to seek the teachings of the plant and animal world. Jim is a multidisciplinary artist and educator who combines his indigenous ways of being with contemporary art and scientific principles. He just finished earning an M.Ed. in Urban Indigenous Education and holds a diploma in journalism and a bachelors and master’s degrees in fine art. He has worked as an indigenous educator in schools and institutions for the past ten years under the umbrella of his company Red Bear. As a Red Bear educator Jim, uses story, dance, and music to create workshops and curriculum that cover areas as diverse as literacy, trauma, indigenous education training for front line workers and curriculum connections for students from kindergarten to grade 12. Jim and his son Owen created a performance series based on growing up Indigenous in the city. Since 2017, Owen and Jim have performed different sections of the work as part of the Porch View Dance series with Kaeja Dance. Each portion of the series explored different dimensions of urban Indigenous life, parenting, connection to the natural world and Indigenous ways of being and knowing. Over the four years Jim and Owen have worked with different choreographers to create unique and thought provoking works that feed the soul and probe what we consciously know about Indigenous people. |
DRUMMING CIRCLE from HRIC An offering of traditional tobacco symbolizes a respectful request for guidance, knowledge, or assistance from elders and knowledge keepers, and it serves as a sacred act of reciprocity with the spiritual world and Mother Earth. The offering communicates a person's prayers and good intentions, with the smoke ascending to the Creator. Tobacco is also offered to plants and animals when harvesting and placed on the earth or in water as a sign of gratitude, or put into a fire to send prayers to the Creator. Symbolism and Purpose
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SEVEN SACRED GRANDFATHER TEACHINGS MURAL
Mural Created by: Kyle Joedicke
