June Pride Month and Indigenous History Month in Canada – Telling Powerful Stories
June Pride Month and Indigenous History Month in Canada – Telling Powerful Stories
I confess to being a little confused last week when the Canadian High Commission in London tweeted that they had raised the Progress Pride Flag over Canada House for the first time. “It’s not the first time,” I thought, “I’m sure they had it up last year.” I looked again, and realised an important detail I had missed, which perhaps you didn’t? It’s a new flag entirely, not the classic Pride flag. And, as we celebrate Pride Month in Canada throughout June, many Canadians are adapting this new flag, and the inclusion it visually represents.
If there is any benefit at all to be found in the global pandemic it can only be the light that it has shone on the deep fissures of inequality in our society, and the momentum created towards building a more inclusive Canada. No doubt the rapid adoption of this new flag is symbolic of that intent, with the new design elements in the flag, the five inverted triangles, representing deliberate visual inclusion of Black, Indigenous, People of Colour, Non-Binary/Two Spirited and Trans communities.
Throughout Pride month, and across the coming year, we will be giving space to voices from these Canadian communities. Our Canadian story tellers will come from many varied communities, including LGBTQ2+, BIPOC, and differently abled, and what they will have in common is a willingness to share unique, lived experiences that inspire and educate.
The Progress Pride Flag designed by graphic designer Daniel Quasar in June 2018
There are truly world-changing and exciting firsts that we hope to share. For example, the process enacted by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) has recognised that many Canadian indigenous people had their names changed by colonialists of the federal government and “Indian agents” of that day. The TRC Calls to Action 17 allows Indigenous persons to reclaim their birth names. The very first Canadian to initiate a change away from her government-created name this month made history, and faced an exhausting educational process with every level of government she approached to change her passport, drivers licence etc. These are enormously powerful stories to tell.
Alex Janvier, Residential Schools Healing, 2002. Oil on canvas, 86 x 144 in. Janvier, from Cold Lake First Nations and member of the Alberta Order of Excellence, is a pioneer of contemporary Canadian and First Nations art.
Click this sentence for artist's statement shared this week.
Our aim is to support the conversations between people which, ultimately, shed light and normalise that it is right, timely and essential that all people feel involved, respected, valued, connected, and able to bring their “authentic” selves (e.g., their ideas, backgrounds, values, and perspectives) to their workplace, their community and to our shared societies. We are enormously grateful to our supporters who make this promotion of Canada in the UK through education possible, and send particular thanks to Edelman Community Grants for their support on this story-telling project.
[From the desk of Wanda Hamilton]
Interested in Contemporary Women’s Writing?
Our featured scholar is Dr. Julie Rodgers, who has been working on Quebec literature for over 20 years now. Julie comes from Derry (Northern Ireland) and is currently Head of the Department of French and Francophone Studies at Maynooth University. At Maynooth, she delivers two full undergraduate modules entirely devoted to Quebec. These modules are incredibly popular and inspire many of her students to visit Quebec and/or pursue research in this area.
Julie’s first encounter with Quebec Studies occurred as an undergraduate at Trinity College Dublin where she had the opportunity to explore the literature of Quebec in a module offered by Mr. David Parris and Dr. James Jackson. Julie was instantly fascinated with the presence of such a large French-speaking community outside of France as well as the richness of its culture and literature. This, in turn, led her to complete a doctorate in Quebec literature at Trinity College Dublin, under the supervision of Mr. David Parris. Her thesis focused on the mother-daughter relationship in two prominent Quebec women writers, Gabrielle Roy and Francine Noël. Ever since, Julie’s research has been keenly devoted to Quebec, both in terms of her teaching and her own writing. Julie is particularly interested in migrant writing in Quebec and has published widely on the novels of Ying Chen. More recently, Julie has begun to explore Indigenous literature in Quebec and is conscious of the importance of listening to and reading these narratives so as to improve our understanding of Canada. Subsequently, Julie decided to use the opportunity of organising the Women in French UK-Ireland conference last month (May 2021) to showcase the work of acclaimed Innu woman writer Naomi Fontaine. In addition to this, Julie successfully proposed Fontaine’s award-winning novel Kuessipan for the ‘One Book/One WiF initiative.
Alongside her teaching and research on Quebec literature, Julie is heavily involved in a large number of Canadian associations. Julie is the former president of ACSI (Association of Canadian Studies in Ireland) and regularly collaborates with the Quebec Delegation in London. In 2019, Julie was awarded a prestigious Flaherty Scholarship from ICUF (Ireland-Canada University Foundation) which allowed her to undertake a project on Indigenous literature at the University of Sherbrook (Quebec). In 2021, Julie was nominated as a D’Arcy McGee Beacon Fellow (also supported by ICUF) by Dr. Jane McGaughey at Concordia University (Quebec). Julie delivered her Beacon lecture on maternal counternarratives in Quebec and Ireland in May of this year and is set to deliver a workshop to graduate students at Concordia in the coming weeks.
Over the years, Julie has established many fruitful links and friendships with institutions and colleagues in Quebec. She tries to visit at least once a year and is looking forward to the easing of the pandemic travel restrictions so that she can return. For Julie, Quebec has always been warm and inviting. It is a pleasure, therefore, to be able to share this unique culture and literature with others through her research, teaching, writing and conferences.
