Vancouverites attending National Aboriginal Day events in 2006. Creative Commons photo by Flickr user Freedryk.
It’s only fair that the 11-day Celebrate Canada! festival should kick off with National Aboriginal Day. After all, what better way to commemorate this crazy multicultural mosaic of a country than by launching its celebration in honour of the first people to make it awesome?
We’ve compiled a list of things to see and do this weekend. Just click through after the jump to see the list.
The following is a sample of the weekend’s upcoming National Aboriginal Day celebrations, by region:
Atlantic Region:
Antigonish
National Aboriginal Day Celebrations
June 21, 2009
Paq’tnktk Powwow Ground
Antigonish, Nova Scotia
Contact: Rose Julian, 902-386-2781
Charlottetown
National Aboriginal Day Celebrations
June 21, 2009
Confederation Landing
Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island
Contact: Jamie Gallant, 902-892-5314
Fredericton
National Aboriginal Day Celebrations – Union with our Elders
June 21, 2009
St. Mary’s First Nation
Fredericton, New Brunswick
Contact: Allan Polchies Jr, 506-458-9511
St. John’s
National Aboriginal Day Celebrations
June 21, 2009
St. John’s Native Friendship Centre
St. John’s, Newfoundland/Labrador
Contact: David Penner, 709-726-5902
Ontario Region:
Toronto
Kahontake Kitikan Celebration- National Aboriginal Day Recognition
June 22, 2009, 12:00 – 3:00 PM
St George Campus, University of Toronto
(East side of Hart House)
Contact: [email protected]
Ottawa
Family Fun Day – National Aboriginal Day
Sunday, June 21, 2009, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
National Gallery of Canada
Ottawa-Gatineau (NCR)
Web: The National Gallery of Canada
Noongam Traditional Powwow
June 19-20-21, 2009
Dow’s Lake
Ottawa (Ontario)
Web: Noongam Traditional Powwow
Prairies Region:
Calgary
Celebrate Aboriginal Awareness at Heritage Park Historical Village
June 21, 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Heritage Park Historical Village
Calgary, Alberta
Contact: Jo Morris, 403-268-8556
Web: Heritage Park Historical Village
Edmonton
Weekend Festival – Day 1
June 20, 2009 (noon – 6 pm)
Alberta Legislature Grounds, 10800 – 97 Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta
Contact: [email protected], 780-495-6728
Web: City of Edmonton: National Aboriginal Day
Weekend Festival – Day 2
June 21, 2009, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Alberta Legislature Grounds
Edmonton, Alberta
Contact: Mary Dion, 780-452-6100
Web: Metis Child & Family Services Society
Regina
Regina National Aboriginal Day Celebrations – Wascana Park
Sunday, June 21, 2009 10 a.m. – 10 p.m.
Wascana Park, near Royal Saskatchewan Museum
Regina, Saskatchewan
Contact: Orenda Yuzicapi, 306-596-5131
Web: Regina National Aboriginal Day Celebrations
Winnipeg
National Aboriginal Day – Time to Celebrate
June 21, 2009 10:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Indian and Metis Friendship Centre, 45 Robinson Street
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Contact: Clayton Sandy (Event Coordinator): 204-945-8319
Web: National Aboriginal Day – Time to Celebrate
British Columbia Region:
Vancouver
National Aboriginal Day Celebration
June 23, 2009, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
745 Clark Drive
Vancouver, British Columbia
Contact: 604-872-6723
Kamloops
National Aboriginal Day – Simon Fraser University (SFU)
June 21, 2009, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.
McDonald Park, North Kamloops
Kamloops, British Columbia
Contact: 250-828-9799
Quebec Region:
Montreal
Solstice des Nations – Open to all
June 21, 2009, 10:00 a.m.
First Nations Garden, Montréal Botanical Gardens
Montréal, Quebec
Contact: Land InSights, 514-677-1377 (Info-festival line)
Web: First Peoples’ Festival 2009
Trois Rivières
Benefit day for the future Native Friendship Centre
June 21, 2009, 11:00 a.m.
Espace de créativité émergente l’App’Art, 45 St Antoine
Trois-Rivières, Quebec
Contact: 819-694-1843
Nunavut Region:
Arctic Bay
RCMP Barbeque
June 21, 2009
RCMP Detachment
Arctic Bay, Nunavut
Contact: S/Sgt Steve Wright, 867-975-4413
Iqaluit
Alianait Aboriginal Day Concert
June 21, 2009
Nakasuk School Parking Lot
Iqaluit, Nunavut
Contact: Heather Daley, 867-979-6468
Web: Alianait Arts Festival
A much more extensive list can be found here.
]]>That’s a nice looking golf course… just watch out for the mortars, and the suicide bombers and the friendly fire. The U.S. has big plans for the Green Zone.
Montreal author Taras Grescoe talks about the coming fish crisis (some say it’s already here).
Canada is a world leader in fancy-schmancy racing bikes. Who knew! ]]>
The Hayward Gallery in London (that’s UK sadly, not Ont.) is showing this great exhibit of posters from the 1968 student movement in France. Further proof that revolutions, failed or not, need good graphics. Click on the red gallery tab for a bunch of posters.
While we’re on the topic of 1968, the New Yorker writes about a copyright fight over a board game by French theorist Guy Debord, one of the key figures in the 68 uprising.
The Post-car culture blog talks to architect Moshe Safdie (he of Habitat 67) about the rise of carsharing and the possibilities for a post-car city.
Finally, Design Observer magazine profiles George Lois designer of some of the most iconic covers of the 1960s. Like this one:
]]>Excuse us while we geek out on typefaces. A couple of weeks back, The LA Times looked at the typefaces of the U.S. presidential candidates. Ever wonder why those Obama signs looked so good? Blame it on Gotham, the typeface. The makers of the nerdilicious film Helvetica talk about Obama’s type. The New York Times dissects McCain’s choice of typeface (Optima, if you were wondering).
Apparently it’s eerily appropriate. Here’s designer Michael Bierut on the font:
When I saw John McCain’s Optima, the first thing I thought was that it’s the same font used for the carving of all the names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Maybe this is a coincidence, but even if so, it’s certainly very apropos.
And now, a pair of affable Scottish guys playing “Blitzkrieg Bop” on the ukulele:
]]>Foreign relations expert Mark Leonard raises an interesting point about rising power China.
We are used to China’s growing influence on the world economy—but could it also reshape our ideas about politics and power? This story of China’s intellectual awakening is less well documented. We closely follow the twists and turns in America’s intellectual life, but how many of us can name a contemporary Chinese writer or thinker?
His article gives us an introduction to the massive world of the Chinese intelligentsia.
Click on this next link only if you’ve got a lot of time. Nerve.com and IFC pick the 50 greatest comedy sketches (complete with links!)
Most of all, however, the assailants target the emos for dressing effeminately, still a provocative act for many in a macho Mexico. “At the core of this is the homophobic issue. The other arguments are just window dressing for that,” said Victor Mendoza, a youth worker in Mexico City. “This is not a battle between music styles at all. It is the conservative side of Mexican society fighting against something different.”
Author James Howard Kunstler, noted urbanist and environmentalist, has a blog that includes a podcast and other missives. This week’s podcast is apparently a doozy.
A couple of NYC design students are putting news on t-shirts.
The Shirt Project provides 5 diagrammatic tees [a year] detailing a story that’s making news – for example, one charts the correlation between the declining US dollar and sunspot activity, while another points to just how little of the sun’s energy we’re actually utilizing.
If sex sells should vegans and veganism use it to sell the lifestyle? Discuss…
The Eiffel Tower is getting a hat for its 120th anniversary, sadly it’s not a beret. Nonetheless, it is jaunty and tres chic.
40 years ago Robert Kennedy gave a speech which outlined flaws with the idea of the gross national product, the measuring stick for economic growth. The GNP (nowadays we use GDP as the measure, but it’s not any better) is flawed. But things might be changing.
Starbucks outlets in California got caught pinching tips and giving it to shift supervisors! The company will have to pay around $100-million . Some poor baristas will actually be getting thousands of dollars in tips!
Now that spring is here and the weather is getting warmer, and the ice and snow is slowly (very slowly) melting remember, watch out for cyclists!
Video via Transport for London’s website.
]]>The ACLU reports that there are almost a million names on the U.S. terror watch list. That’s one terrorist for every 300 Americans. The group also points some of the SNAFUs on that list, people like Senator Ted Kennedy, a couple of other political representatives, prominent authors and anyone named Gary Smith.
A couple of designers show off a machine that turns urine into fertilizer. Untreated urine being dumped into oceans and other bodies of water is a huge cause of algae blooms that unfortunately kill marine life.
Finally, forget mangling that Bon Jovi song. Try PowerPoint Karaoke instead.
From the article:
]]>“In the hands of the wrong person [PowerPoint] and any presentation software becomes a dangerous weapon, a means of torture and incredible torments,” says Holm Friebe, who invented PowerPoint Karaoke as part of the German artists’ group Zentrale Intelligenz Agentur.
But in a bar, with a beer, PowerPoint becomes more Monty Python, less “Catch-22.” Instead of being victimized by someone who insists on reading aloud Every Single Bullet Point in a grim death march to the final corporate-logo slide, you have a presenter who is just as lost as you are, if not more so. The playing field is leveled; the inmates are running the asylum.
This year’s speakers include human rights expert Samantha Power, mycologist Paul Stamets (cooler than it sounds!), and undersea explorer Robert Ballard.
Boing Boing has been liveblogging the event but videos and podcasts are available.
J.K. Rowling has said that she feels exploited by an author’s efforts to create an unofficial encyclopedia based on the Harry Potter universe. We agree with Nathan Whitlock on the Quillblog, and we’re pretty sure that unofficial primers and encyclopaedias existed well before Harry Potter. There’s a whole cottage industry of Star Trek inspired books for example. Also, it’s odd to see a billionaire claim that she’s being exploited.
Dengue Fever, an LA-based band, is rediscovering Cambodian oldies. From NPR:
During the Vietnam War, American and British pop music was broadcast in Vietnam on the U.S. Armed Forces Radio Network. Those broadcasts reached neighboring Cambodia, as well. And there, the sounds of Western radio inspired a hybrid of American pop and traditional Cambodian styles.
Sadly, the Khmer Rouge banned most Cambodian rock during its brutal regime. But Dengue Fever is trying to bring this music back to life.
Finally, for all of those who had a hard time with gendered nouns in French – pretty much anyone who studied French – native French speakers have problems with them too.
Weekend Links will be on vacation, see you in two weeks.
Human activity has left a mark on nearly every square kilometer of sea, severely compromising ecosystems in more than 40% of waters.
The Nation has got this great article on how a few alternative schools in the U.S. are working at merging social justice and education.
The battle is raging over Harry Potter. Should fans and other writers be allowed to riff on the Potterverse? Lawyers from Lawrence Lessig’s Fair Use Project think so and argue that an iron-grip on creatity actually harms the arts.
Finally, Wired magazine turns 15, and this blogger takes a look back at the first issue. Ah, the halycon days before broadband and wireless.