CPTnet
23 November 2005

KENORA, ON UPDATE: 17-30 October 2005

Week of 17-23 October

Jerry Park, Char Smith, and David Milne arrived on Monday, followed by
Esther Kern and Jim Loney on Tuesday. The team spent much of the week
setting up the office and living accommodations at First Baptist church in
Kenora, determining team roles and meeting friends and partners.

On Tuesday the team met with several members of the Anishinaabe Peace and
Justice Coalition (APJC) at the home of Bobbi Harrington. The hosts served
a meal that included dishes of moose stew and walleye fillets. Dessert was
a cake with the words "Welcome back CPT" written on the icing.

On Thursday, Smith, Park and Kern joined the homeless people of Kenora for a
meal served at First Presbyterian church.

The team participated in the second annual Walk for Survivors of Residential
Schools on Friday. [See 7 November CPTnet release, "Walking for healing."
Friends from Grassy Narrows, where the team had accompanied a logging
blockade in previous years, joined the team for supper.

On Saturday and Sunday, Lisa Martens and Kaaren Olsen led the team in an
Undoing Racism workshop. On Saturday several homeless people, mostly
Anishinaabeg, dropped by for lunch and stayed to watch a video titled "In
the Light of Reverence." The film documents the clash between the cultural
and spiritual interests of three indigenous nations in the U.S. and the
economic and recreational interests of the surrounding non-native
communities.

On Sunday team members attended worship at four local churches.

Week of 24-30 October

On Monday and Thursday the team met with APJC to plan the course of the
project. Team members learned that Treaty # 3 Grand Council has received
funding to study hate crimes and that this initiative might affect CPT's
project. The team and APJC discovered they had differences of opinion
regarding the parameters and methods of the project. Both parties agreed to
continue to outline their positions and to dialogue so they can reach
consensus about how to proceed.

On Monday, at the invitation of the pastor of First Baptist church, the team
attended a potluck supper for missionaries from southeast Asia.

A friend, a young woman of mixed racial parentage, visited with team members
on Tuesday. She had been raised in the non-aboriginal world and felt
alienated from her roots. In a moving story she recounted her journey to
reclaim her aboriginal heritage.

On Friday team members listened to a talk given by Mohawk author and
academic Taiaiake Alfred at HoJoe's coffee house. Alfred views personal
transformation as the first step for indigenous people to reclaim their
identity and dignity. He believes that as transformed individuals engage in
a community dialogue, collectively they will reclaim their culture. This
process will help them arrive at an understanding of democratic rule that
comes from their own rather than a European base.

The team traveled to Keys Lake on Saturday where they joined several members
of the Grassy Narrows band and Friends of Grassy Narrows from Winnipeg in
clearing the land of trees and brush to make a powwow ground. Judy DaSilva
explained that this area had been a traditional stopping place for people
from the northern bands on their way to Kenora. After an exhausting and
joyful afternoon doing hard labour, team members, band residents and friends
shared a meal.

On Sunday, team members attended more churches in Kenora. In the afternoon,
a native couple stopped by the church looking for food. Kern and Milne fed
them and then listened to their stories of abuse at the hands of fellow
aboriginals, white youths, and most disturbingly, by Kenora policemen. The
couple fear the police and insisted that Kern and Milne not reveal their
identities.