A group of prominent Moose Javians has organized a full day of Collaborative Community Conversation at the Moose Jaw Cultural Centre (MJCC) on April 27, with the discussion centred around understanding the stigmas that make ending homelessness, poverty, addiction, and the mental health crisis that much more difficult.
The cost to attend is $25, with all proceeds going toward establishing a Safety Host Program at the Wakamow Aboriginal Community Association (WACA).
The Safety Host Program is based on a model being implemented in Winnipeg that qualifies security guards. The program is Indigenous-led and community-based, and gives graduates training in essential and often-ignored skills like de-escalation, psychological first air, trauma-informed care, and harm reduction principles.
The doors will open at 10 a.m. on Thursday, April 27, with a welcome at 10:30. Elder Eugene Arcand will speak from 11 a.m. to noon. From noon to 1:30 p.m. participants can either take lunch or take advantage of a Stay and Learn option. Amanda Gebhard and her team will speak from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m., and the final speaker, Michael Redhead Champagne, will speak from 3 to 4 p.m.
Guests can stay for the entire day, or come and go at their convenience.
"The conversation will include some of our own struggles on the street here in Moose Jaw," a press release announcing the event says. "We are seeing the effects inadequate, unaffordable, and unsafe housing has on our community. It's time we come to understand it and work towards the solutions together."
Register for the conversation at https://sites.google.com/moosejawlibrary.ca/mjcollaboration/home.
The event is chiefly organized by Lori Deets, chairperson of WACA, who has lived experience and extensive front-line work experience navigating colonial systems. She has worked with the MJPL and Saskatchewan Festival of Words to build a framework of relationships.
Deets' collaborators include Sarah Simison, the executive director of the MJCC, vice-chair of the Moose Jaw Public Library (MJPL) board, and managing artistic director of the Saskatchewan Festival of Words; Gwen Fisher, head librarian at the MJPL, whose staff have taken innovative training courses similar to the Safety Host Program; and Della Ferguson, chairperson for Journey to Hope Moose Jaw and Square One Community, Inc., known for her tireless advocacy for disadvantaged people in Moose Jaw.
Elder Eugene Arcand
Cree Elder Eugene Arcand is from the Muskeg Lake First Nation in Saskatchewan. He spent nine years at the St. Michael’s Indian Residential School in Duck Lake and two years at the St. Paul’s Lebret Students Residence. In the residential schools, his name was taken away and he was given the number 781.
He told his story to TSN.ca. Links to that story are included on his speaker page on the Collaborative Community Conversation page.
Arcand is an inductee of the First Nation Sports Hall of Fame and has dedicated much of his time to organizing regional and national events — First Nations sports events, cultural events, tourism events, and events geared to the advancement of First Nations youth. He has worked extensively with the Indian Residential Schools Survivor Committee at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Governing Circle.
Arcand credits his success to the support and love of his wife Lorna Arcand, to whom he has been married for 50 years, and to his family. Eugene and Lorna have three children and seven grandchildren.
Amanda Gebhard & Team
Dr. Amanda Gebhard is a white settler scholar and assistant professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Regina. She has more than fifteen years’ experience in anti-racism education as a student, researcher, and instructor in education and social work faculties. Dr. Gebhard’s interdisciplinary research investigates racism and educational exclusions, the school/prison nexus, and anti-racist pedagogy and practice. She has published widely on racism and whiteness in education in the Canadian prairies.
Gebhard is the co-author of White Benevolence (2022), a book about racism and colonial violence in the helping professions.
Her co-authors are Dr. Sheelah McLean and Dr. Verna St. Denis.
Dr. McLean is an educator with thirty years of experience teaching high school, adult education, and graduate and undergraduate courses in anti-racism at the University of Saskatchewan. Dr. McLean is an organizer with the Idle No More network, a scholar and community organizer, and a curriculum developer for San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training Program.
Dr. St. Denis is a professor of education and special advisor to the president on anti-racism/anti-oppression at the University of Saskatchewan, where she has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in integrated anti-racist education for many years. She is both Cree and Métis, and a member of the Beardy’s and Okemasis First Nations. Dr. St. Denis is a widely sought-after speaker on the topic of racism in education.
Michael Redhead Champagne
Michael Redhead Champagne is an Ininew public speaker, writer, community advocate and on-screen personality. His commitment to action and solutions comes from his experiences growing up in Winnipeg’s North End, his identity as a member of Shamattawa First Nation, and his connection to the child welfare system. He aims to walk his talk, revolutionize harmful systems, and ensure that any initiative affecting those with lived experience is designed, delivered and evaluated by them.
