FIRST NATIONS, THE GREAT LAKES, AND THE ENVIRONMENT: TRI-NATIONAL IMPLICATIONS
EARTH DAY CONFERENCE
April 19-22, 2007
International Center, Third Floor Michigan State University
East Lansing, Michigan
Thursday, April 19, 2007 Community gathering and meal; Nokomis Learning Center, Meridian Township. For pictures, click here --external link Friday, April 20, 2007
Opening Address, Ward Churchill (Keetoowah Cherokee), professor, author, activist. “Struggle for the Land: Native North American Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide, and Colonization”
Session 2 – “Traditional Knowledge, Identity, and the Great Lakes” Maria Cristina Manzano Munguia “An Exploration of the Political Economy of Native Myths and Identity Formation” Susan Gray “Native Peoples, the Environment, and the History of the Great Lakes State” David Close “First Nations -- First Foods: Implications for Sovereignty”
Lunch Keynote Address -- Frank Ettawageshik, Chairman of the Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians. “The Tribal and First Nations Great Lakes Water Accord”
Session 3 – “Traditional Ecological Knowledge” Ken Poff “Western Science and Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Their Implications for Great Lakes Ecological Health” Mico Slattery “Western Science, Indigenous Consciousness, and Environmental Degradation” Aimée Cree Dunn “Listening to the Trees: Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Industrialization, and the North” Joel Geffen “Traditional Ecological Knowledge and the Science of Wildlife Management: Motivations for Tribal Wildlife Biologists to Protect Traditional Species"
Session 4 – “Ecological Imagery in the Great Lakes” Ellen Brown “First Nations, Catholicism, and Images of the Environment in the Great Lakes, 1840-1860” Rick Fehr “Dominion’s Widest Mouth: Economies of Ruin and Renewal on the Lower Great Lakes” Maaganiit Noori “Akii: The Spirit of the Land is in Our Language”
Conference Keynote Address – Victor Steffensen, Project Leader of the Traditional Knowledge Revival Pathways (TKRP) Project in Australia. “Traditional Knowledge and Environmental Management: International Dimensions”
Saturday April 21, 2007
Plenary panel: “Institutional Response to Environmental Issues.” Deb McGregor, Environment Canada. "First Nations, Traditional Ecological Knowledge and the State of the Great Lakes Ecosystem" Maria Maybee, Cattaraugus Creek Watershed Task Force, Great Lakes United Board Member "Great Lakes United: Mission, Objectives, and History"
Session 5 – “Great Lakes Health Issues and Tribal People” Naomi Williams “Monitoring Mercury Exposure Through Fish Consumption: A Case Study of One First Nation Community’s Response to Environmental Degradation” Regna Darnell “Building Bridges Between Indigenous and Academic Knowledges: Holistic Approaches to the Great Lakes Ecosystem and Aboriginal Health” Christianne Stephens “Keepers of the Water, Keepers of the Fire: Exploring Indigenous Constructions of Nature, Risk and Ecosystem Health at Walpole Island First Nation”
Lunch Keynote Address: Joyce Tekahnawiiaks King, (Mohawk), Director of the Haudenosaunee Environmental Task Force. “Haudenosaunee Position Paper on the Great Lakes”
Session 6 – “Policy and Health Issues" Jefferson Reddog Sina “Health Access Implications and the Great Lakes” Paula Mohan “Regional Conflict and/or Collaboration Between Tribal and Non-Tribal Communities” Joyce Tekahnawiiaks King “Haudenosaunee Water Law and a Culturally-relevant Environmental Protection Process”
Session 7 – Panel: The Anishnaabeg Joint Commission (discussion of pollution problems of the St. Marys River) Cathy Abramson (Sault Tribe Council Member) Aaron Payment (Sault Tribe Chairman) Chief Dean Sayers (Batchewana First Nation).
Conference organizers would like to thank the following sponsors for their support: The Government of Canada, MSU College of Arts and Letters, MSU American Indian Studies Program, MSU Canadian Studies Centre, and the MSU North American Indigenous Faculty and Staff Association. This conference is organized by the Center for the Study of Indigenous Border Issues Co-directors: Phil Bellfy (Michigan State University), Karl Hele (University of Western Ontario), and David McNab (Atkinson College, York University)
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