 Hey everybody, welcome back There we go some technical some technical things I Keep wondering if I can catch myself looking good in a moment on this thing, but that's impossible So if anyone else is trying You probably look amazing and I have to take back some of that knowing that I see you looking amazing So I probably do too our first big technical glitch of the night Luckily, we were able to hear the incredible and powerful and empowering words of Cyrus Marcus Ware and I'm gonna pass it now back to Chantal to introduce The next part of our evening Thank you, Sarah And again, thank you everybody for your patience with the technology If we were in a room live and actors were performing on stage This would be the moment where an actor goes up on his line and you watch them try to recover So I hope we recovered nicely So to follow up on Cyrus's powerful words We'd like to offer you a sound piece by American multimedia artist and architectural designer Jose Rivera This piece was commissioned specifically for the green rooms and is titled dear George You help me be like water It's ten minutes long and Jose asked us to tell you this before we play this piece Dear George, you help me be like water is a meditation on cycles and transformation and imagines creating a space of curiosity and compassion The piece includes feel recordings guitar and other found sounds Feel free to close your eyes get up walk around or write down images thoughts or feeling that come to mind And if you'd like to you can share them in a chat. So here's Jose's piece and we're back and Thank you, Jose for this beautiful music. I have listened to it a few times now and every time it really moves me But it's also it really calls me down. So it's a wonderful gift and Now it is my great great pleasure to introduce to to introduce you to our keynote speaker for the green rooms an extremely dynamic and inspiring woman named Ariel Sehe Quay Derange Ariel is executive director and co-founder of indigenous climate action Which is the only indigenous climate justice organization in Canada She's also an active member of the UN indigenous peoples forum on climate change and a founding member of the global UN indigenous youth caucus and Perhaps my favorite credits of hers is that she has worked on the international indigenous tar sands campaign Challenging the expansion of alberos tap Tarzan Welcome Ariel Thank you so much for having me here today So I'm I have slides and so we're gonna do this whole Technology thing while I get started here. There we go So I first off. Thank you so much for having me. I'd love to acknowledge the opening With Georgina, so thank you so much So it's not a day Dennis. What's in a time area to echo a hushed orange a bit see any hustly My name is Ariel to equity derange and in my language my name in Dennis, what's the name my name means thunder woman I'm a member of the Athabasca Chippewan First Nation or the kite holly Dennis, what's the name peoples Which in denny means people of the willow and this gives life and recognition to the lands that we have occupied for time the memorial Denny the who we are as people the word actually means to flow from the land and we are Intrinsically linked and connected to the natural world. We are one in the same. I am the willow and the willow is me The land is more than just a place for indigenous folks It is what it is where I was nurtured and nourished as a child It spoke to me through the wind the babbling Brooks Rivers streams the forests the medicines We picked the animals we tracked hunted trapped fished and harvested and through the stories of our ancestors Many of these stories were delivered via the land the air the earth and all of our relatives We are all related as a phrase that's often spoken by our people And it's not limited just to our human relatives, but includes the winged ones the four-legged the ones that swim and each living Organism on mother earth to the air we breathe the rocks mountains the moon and the stars and this is passed down through indigenous knowledge and indigenous knowledge systems are the drivers of our community and they're passed down through Experiential learning and storytelling it helps to bind us to the collective knowledge and experiences of all of our relations This collective identity is built into the values and beliefs of our community And it has become so divergent from the ideological values of the current colonial patriarchal hyper-individual capitalist Systems that we currently live under this is from the day show first nations and this is the den a principle So it really talks about the collective nature in which which we live This collective identity Is not unique to our my own community But is representative of the millions of indigenous peoples that call this planet home There are approximately 270 million indigenous peoples worldwide representing approximately five percent of the global population we belong to over five thousand distinct groups in 90 different countries and This represents every region of the world What gets really interesting is that indigenous peoples use and occupy somewhere between 22 to 60 percent 64 percent of the land surface for our subsistence and cultural lifestyles. This is versus three percent Of the land is utilized for urban centers where most of humanity lives What becomes really interesting is that 80 percent of the world's global biodiversity is within the traditional territories of indigenous peoples and 85 percent of the world's protected and conservation areas is within or adjacent to indigenous lands and territories This is not a coincidence It comes from the very nature of who we are as I said den a means to flow from the land We are the land and indigenous peoples are not just protecting the biodiversity of the planet But these areas overlap with hundreds of gigatons of carbon sinks that are critical to keeping in tact for climate stabilization The unique values of of our communities determine everything from how we manage our lands and resources to how we govern our Communities, educate our youth and take care of our elders While indigenous peoples have the same rights as everyone has outlined in the UN declaration of human rights The UN Declaration of Human Rights was created before indigenous peoples even had personhood across most of the planet and It upholds the unique Individual rights and does not acknowledge collective rights the UN Declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples Recognizes and for a firm's collective rights and it also addresses the ongoing legacy and impacts of colonization And the unique positions that first peoples have in society It took almost over 20 years of lobbying and negotiations at the UN level to come to this agreement And it wasn't adopted until 2007 It does provide the framework For minimum standards to ensure that our cultures languages laws customs and rights are protected and included in decision-making Process and to become one of the most critical documents for indigenous peoples However, the history of so-called Canada and the United States alike is rooted in a history of settler colonialism Rooted in white supremacy African slavery and policy supported by the church and state of genocide and land theft These systems attempted to demonize devalue and extinguish indigenous peoples languages political and cultural structures ideological perspectives and way of life The European colonists came to this land with a drive of conquest To reap the benefits of this land and they did this with violence and a goal to consume this world Tens of millions of people and animal life were extinguished for personal wealth and power justified wholly in the name of progress and domination So here we are in this world and they they didn't just do this like physical life wasn't just lost But these plunderings came with these ideas That demonized and devalued the ideological perspectives of indigenous peoples that we are in fact Interdependent with the natural world. They tried to sever that That this planet is in fact our mother It also gave way to the subjugation of women and moreover the loss of culture and identity Ceremony and the place of women in indigenous societies and replace these systems with ones rooted in patriarchy capitalism hyper individuality and Essentially a system of cannibalism to consume everything a place where progress looks like taking all that you can and Saving as much power as you can all of this with the end goal of erasing indigenous peoples from the land Erasing the language of the trees the water the air But we've all been led to believe that's a different story here We've all been led to believe that treaties were created to share the land The treaty making process is unique to Canada because the British crown agreed that they would not take up any land without treaty Setting this country apart from their neighboring United States where violent wars were waged However, large tracts of this country remain untreated putting into question colonial Systems that society at large has bought into all the areas in yellow in this map are untreated or unseeded territories And should be under the just jurisdiction of original peoples I also want to note just because treaties were signed does not mean that we seeded or released the lands to our colonial partners I Come from treaty 8 territory with what in located in northern Alberta this treaty territory covers roughly 841,000 square kilometers of land and encompasses parts of northern Alberta Northwest Saskatchewan Northwest Territories and BC making it the largest treaty history in the country in the country Yet my people remain the last to be consulted on what happens in our lands and territories and our communities continue to battle against poverty unemployment and systemic racism Almost all aspects of treaty agreements have been broken over and over again by calling the colonizers of this land However, this image provides a stark contrast to the intent of treaty and the reality Through our treaty to throughout throughout time our treaties have been degraded to simply the lands Recognized as reserves which actually only account for 0.2 percent of the lands in this country The other 99.8 percent is considered crown land and is under the control of settler colonial society Leaving many of our communities disempowered and disconnected from our places of origin And what has happened when the lands and waterways Our relatives our places of origin have been put into the hands and control of people Who came here simply to achieve individual power and wealth and erase those connected to the land It's things like this the Alberta tar sands the largest industrial project on earth happening upstream from my own community This colonial ideology has become so pervasive and has permeated dominant culture So that anyone that challenges this form of progress is simply just anti development Despite the warnings from indigenous peoples that these types of projects and I just want to say tar sands is just a microcosm of many Mega projects happening across the world that are destroying the land And yet we continue to raise the alarm and these projects continue to grow and grow and grow Modeling capitalist systems of infinite growth on a finite planet This isn't just about And these projects have no regard For my people our rights And moreover our relatives These are the victims of this abuse of our lands and territory And this isn't just simply about about our people not being able to hunt fish and trap Where it's been degraded, you know, I'm no stranger to those that retort to our challenges of these projects with Why don't you just go buy your groceries in the store like the rest of us? This destruction to our lands and territories affects all aspects of our mental emotional and spiritual well-being It doesn't just affect the land. It affects everything about who we are Dene sotlene kaitale dene sotlene. I am the willow. The willow is me So centuries of abuse to the land has culminated to the current climate crisis Global co2 emissions rise every year sprung forward by the blind acceptance of the status quo that this is just the way things are So humanity is walking toward the edge of extinction Those of us that see the plunging cliff sides are pleading with those people to stop this mindless march Sadly, even those of us that are trying to stop this exodus Become complicit and taking steps in the same direction to our own end And we just keep on building keep on destroying systems that fed us nourished us and keep us alive The anthropogenic footprint just keeps marching forward and we are told there is no other way Forest fires floods drought rising coastal lines famine loss of life plague the planet And those most deeply impacted by those changes are those most deeply connected to the lands Not just for food and shelter, but those connected by relationship and by languages That were lost and stolen from our communities by a colonial systems of white supremacy capitalism and greed Climate change poses threats and dangers to the survival of indigenous communities worldwide Even though we contribute the least to greenhouse gas emissions indigenous peoples are vital to our ecosystems and our lands and territories and we actually enhance the resiliency of these ecosystems There have been countless reports to support this and in addition We actually interpret react and come up with ideas And draw on our indigenous knowledge and modern technology to come up with solutions To combat climate change that society at large could replicate if we would just listen The earth is out of balance We are out of balance with ourselves and with our mother In order to address the climate crisis We must restore our relationship with mother earth and with each other and address this imbalance in all aspects of our life So you would think things couldn't get much worse. We're in this massive climate crisis, you know racism exists But here we are 2020 battling, you know systems of colonialism that bred climate change and bam Global health pandemic emerges and shakes the planet to the core There are days that i'm completely at a loss as to how this tiny little virus Could be louder than any campaign. I've ever been a part of and really demonstrating the power of mother earth Some scientists and biologists are suggesting that the current climate crisis an unstable models of capitalism and globalization Have lent to the worsening and precipitating the current global pandemic A theory that i'm actually now partial to believing is very accurate One thing has become clear We are very very poor as a species at taking action before crisis emerges and even Even then we struggle to believe that it's real Just like the climate crisis there have been warnings for years about an impending panic yet nothing was done Many people stated that this pandemic pandemic has brought humanity closer together And countries are working together and this is so great making comments like we're all in the same boat It's it's really highlighting this The reality is we're all just in the same storm not all of us even have a boat to weather this storm As indigenous peoples the impacts have been much worse We are witnessing in real time in the Navajo nation My denay relatives literally i'm related to them the denay of the south or the denay of the north Are experiencing some of the highest rates of covet on the continent But long before covet our people had been experiencing poor access to health care higher rates of disease and infection Lack of access to essential services sanitation adequate housing clean water In addition, we have faced a history of stigma discrimination and trauma. We're interacting. We're set with settler services And lending to the degradation of our mental spiritual emotional well-being Despite this our people are leaning into the whispers of our ancestors and still continuing to return to our teachings It's been so empowering and beautiful to witness this moment in which I have seen our indigenous partners respond And not just talking about this pandemic, but this moment of the culmination of over 500 years of oppression disease Spam and loss of life state violence global climate crisis and a health crisis all together Instead of falling down We are seeing our communities have indigenous language Classes and learners increase traditional medicine and food harvesting has become more reliable than grocery stores for some rural communities And our people have asserted our own systems of governance to determine how our community responds to this crisis And many of our leaders are encouraging our people to return to the land as protection and healing from this pandemic All of this demonstrates the strength of indigenous systems and our resiliency in time of crisis After all I speak these words as a testament to the resiliency and strength of my ancestors Despite centuries of attempted genocide I am alive and I'm able to introduce myself in my language and I can still hear those whispers of my ancestors in the wind This pandemic has also highlighted the ability for society at large and the colonial government to quickly Act and make drastic changes to the status quo of life as we know it In months countries have walked down millions of people air travel has been crippled conferences and meetings moved online And life as we know it has drastically and fundamentally changed The economic systems we have relied on are falling apart and many people are actually looking to their communities and their neighbors to fill the gaps That capitalism has left The impacts it has had on the global missions is stark and noticeable Imagine what would happen if we reacted to climate change and the systems that brought about climate change and colonization white supremacy patriarchy capitalism consumerism Imagine if we reacted in the same way that we reacted to this virus I have seen communities of care merge met more neighbors and community members I've seen our people stand proud in our culture and rights. I've witnessed the shift in consciousness as a species Moreover, I've been witnessing more people listening and I'm just talking to tv and social media But listening to each other and some are even starting to hear the voices of the land Calling us back to our origins and questioning the reality that we have bought into It's time for us to take a hard look at the root causes of the global crisis. We are witnessing During the last two years my organization indigenous climate action has been talking with communities about the climate crisis And time and time again, we hear these words colonialism patriarchy capitalism white supremacy extractivism And for many of our communities when we say climate change they say it started when the white man appeared on our shores And changed everything about our world Climate changed happened when we were forced off of our lands when our children were stolen when our languages were forbidden When our ceremonies were outlawed and when we were told to stop listening to mother earth And start listening to the ways of greed We must acknowledge that colonization isn't something that's happened It continues to happen right now and shape the world systemic racism is real and true change happens when we address these problems And my organization is invested in dismantling This and empowering our communities to work towards true decolonization and decolonization in its simplest form Is the return of and connections to land If we decolonized our minds our environments and our ways of being in the world The opportunities become boundless I'm not saying we go back to living like we did 500 years ago I'm saying we uplift and acknowledge and recognize that Pre-colonial systems were valid and allowed for flourishing economic educational and governance systems to exist for thousands of years Our current structures are only hundreds of years old and they have damaged the planet in ways our people could never imagine Indigenous peoples our cultures our values our languages our knowledge connect us to the sacredness of mother earth Our voices and solutions are critical to developing climate solutions mitigation and adapt adaptation strategies that would benefit everyone I would also be remiss if I didn't acknowledge what's been happening over the last Few weeks and thank you so much cyrus for your really really great Explanation of what's going on But as we witness the global uprising of black people in the black lives matter and black liberation movements Responding to the continued state murder of black people We have to remember the foundations of this continent are built off of the stolen land of indigenous peoples and the stolen lives and labor of our black relatives and instead of Appreciating us. We have been brutalized criminalized and murdered simply for exists existing The liberation of our black and brown relatives revolutionizes our collective efforts for sovereignty and self-determination Our efforts to end centuries of white supremacy and colonization Require us to work together and in this moment. We must support the lead and direction of our black relatives As BIPOC people we are coming together to challenge these systems Advocating for black lives advocating for the planet advocating for life We are not protesters out in the streets. We are protectors protectors of life There's a you know, I have seen our people come out Over and over again and be criminalized simply for trying to speak the words of our ancestors I have seen that in any great undertaking. It is not enough for a man to depend simply on himself We must come together and unite and listen to the voices of our relatives that have been muted for so long The earth is calling us Are we listening? I want to end with a prophecy that I learned from an Inuit elder in Alaska Before the last ice age the people of Turtle Island saw the changes on the land They began to feel the changes and recognized that something of a true significance was happening And it was told that an elder called for a great council to come together And all the people would be invited to come together and they'd have to drop their wars and disputes And at this council, they would be sharing their stories their techniques for survival from harvesting and food preparation from shelter and ceremonies and they would do this because they recognized that despite their differences They were a part of the same collective and their survival was contingent on the survival of their neighboring communities and survive we did It was also said at this great council that it was prophesized That another great change of the land would come once again in the future Except it would be much worse and more drastic And that at that time once again the people of the world would have to come together to share their stories Their strategies their techniques for survival We would have to abandon our wars and disputes and come together for the survival of the collective And remember the collective isn't just humanity. It's all of the animals. It's all of the life on this planet Some say that we are in that time now and we need to come together and we need to act now Another world is possible. The question is will you take the steps to make it happen? That's each other if I can Thank you Thank you, Ariel. This was wonderful Very inspiring and I'm so sorry. We are not Together with people and we can't reach out to each other shake hands, you know say like I'm so happy you're here But I want to take a few moments now We're going to do a q&a with people who are in the zoom rooms But we're going to do something a little different Given our technological setup So I'm going to ask all of the participants who are in your rooms to please Grab a piece of a pen and a piece of paper And write your question on a piece of paper that you can then hold to the camera and Ariel and I are going to take a look at these questions. You'll have two minutes We're going to have this is a symphony of questions and we have a little bit of music to go with it so we'll we will watch and listen to this symphony for two minutes and then We'll pick a few of the questions that Aaron can answer afterwards. We'll have about two Three questions that we can answer. So please get ready your facilitators in each of your room can help you if you need any help and Let's see what you would like to ask It is live on both of us now. I guess it's our turn to answer the questions so many questions So here are a few questions that I had time to jot down but Please feel free to if you have some that you said that grab you feel free to answer them too The ones that I have are will when will sustainability and wellness be valued over GDP? How do we amplify positive changes and how do we remember that the impossible is possible? Hmm Some light questions. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So another one. How do we Feel most connected when do do you feel most connected to the earth? This is one directly for you I mean, I think that that one's probably the easiest for me. It's when I'm out on the land Doing something anything sometimes the best thing for me if I'm having a hard day is just to literally go for a walk Um Going into my community also makes me feel the most connected Yeah, uh, as far as when will we shift GDP to include wellness and sustainability There have been people working on that for over a decade. Um, it's it's hard, you know, there's actually a whole schools on that You know, there's a really great group called can see I don't remember what exactly it's like ecological economics but looking at how we can include like not just Like ecological like thinking of the earth is separate, but the interconnections between humanity Um, I don't know when we'll see that I really do feel that covet has really put a lot of questions into how our current systems are structured And I'm hoping that we'll continue to see that critique As we like uncover ways of like getting back to normal as a lot of people are trying to frame it That we actually really really evaluate what that means like what does getting back to normal and that we uphold systems of wellness because I know for my organization Like healthy employees and healthy staff and healthy communities is what we're trying to strive for and without that like We are going to continue to struggle to be out of balance. Um, the other question was Well, god, I've already forgotten sustainability wellness. Uh, how do we amplify positive changes? positive changes, yes so, uh, there's all sorts of really really amazing work being done on amplifying solutions, you know, there's There's a really great show by one of my colleagues called melina labricone massimo called power to the people It's on aptn and it talks about all these amazing solutions coming from indigenous communities across canada Um, I think like, you know, we live in a social media world It's just really amplifying that it's not just all doom and gloom Like I think a lot of our communities despite like living with like inadequate resources funding housing all of this stuff Um, we've seen some really really amazing projects come out of indigenous communities Like and that's like this isn't just limited to canada. Like we've seen the resiliency of communities show up in australia in africa In in asia in, you know, latin america where there's so many Beautiful projects that are drawing on traditional knowledge and our understanding of the land and technologies and bringing about these incredible solutions that uh folks wouldn't have otherwise thought about I I think like looking for them and sharing them and but also recognizing that It's not just about sharing the stories because like the reality that you have to dig and find them Is a testament to the systems that we still live under the institutional racism to continue to try to erase our stories still exists I think more than amplifying stories. It's amplifying the story that we live under these systems of um, you know racism white supremacy capitalism Like we need to be sharing those and then countering them with those stories of positivity because if we only share the positive We can forget about the things that are actually making it so hard to hear those stories Hmm And I had there was also a very specific question um from somebody who teaches kids and is asking what is the one thing I could teach kids I think to be honest a fundamental thing that I didn't realize how important it was for me until I was an adult And recognize that I was privileged to have this was That all my relations the understanding the relationship of the natural world and that we are not just related in some Like sort of who we met it like like oh indigenous people believe that we're related to everything We are literally fundamentally from like a scientific perspective related to all life on planet earth And like we often forget those connections But when we when you grow up with this understanding and respect that like every blade of grass and every bird in the tree And every animal is your relative you have a different relationship with the natural world It's something that is more You have like this innate feeling and responsibility to your family I often talk about like so I think for me like teachers and of young learners Teach them that they are a part of the natural world Teach them that they are related to everything on this planet I really think it'll fundamentally change them for me when I had it. I've been sort of disconnected from my land for many years Because my parents divorced I didn't go up to my territory for a while And then when I went back there it was like decimated by tar sands But because of those foundations of understanding who I was and my relationship to the natural world When I saw the destruction it wasn't just like oh my god. This is terrible it was Like one of the hardest moments for me because it was literally like seeing a family member Like dead on the side of the road I remember the moment like feeling like my chest was like someone was sitting on my chest And like tears came out of my eyes and I couldn't breathe My ears were ringing because I all I could see was all these places That I knew were my relatives my ancestors just destroyed like it was nothing And imagine if we all connected to the land like that from small age how we would not like Allow these types of crazy Mindless cannibalistic projects to exist on this planet And it's going to be interesting to see When you talk about relating, you know caring for something So much has changed with the covid pandemic where suddenly people can see the sky The pollution has dropped down I wonder if that's going to help sort of connect us to a sense of place and wanting to protect and keep something When it's suddenly cleaner I hope so but again it comes down to the fact that like Guess where I also just want to say like I also don't want to be like oh, we're all related So therefore, you know all lives matter and support these narratives because like the reality is is that We are all in the same, you know on the same planet But we haven't all been given the same advantages And so we have to like think about and really question as like like non indigenous non BIPOC folks like where is our privilege playing out in this moment? How do we deconstruct our own complicity in these in these uh perpetuation of these systems of extractivism of capitalism of patriarchy? To ensure that we are moving forward in a way that is Uplifting and changing the dynamics and moving towards real equity and not again Not just equity for people but equity for the planet and I just I really want to name that because it can be Really easy to fall into like I feel really good. We're all related The land is so beautiful. I'm going to protect this little spot over here But if we don't challenge the systemic root causes that have got us to this place We're doing very little to actually disrupt and dismantle these systems And I think we may have time for one more question somebody asked What are some mitigation strategies that people who work in the theater could Do or push forward? creating more spaces for BIPOC voices and stories to emerge I know there's been a lot of a lot of work being done. I mean even this is a testament to that um, but You know, we have a tendency in There has been a history within the art world to have a lot of like other people Expressing those stories and just allowing us to tell our own stories and really trying to like again look at Where our power where our privilege and how we can create the spaces to allow other people to come in You know when we talk about them in the Black Lives Matter movement right now There's the defund the police and it's like where does those money? Where does that money go to afterwards when we defund the police? Where do we talk start talking about a redistribution of wealth? Because that wealth has been stolen, you know for years We need to start talking about reparations reparations within all sectors of society that have benefited Off of the stolen land and the stolen labor and the stolen lives of BIPOC folks And it's not just black folks not just indigenous folks this this this country has a history of discrimination against chinese Japanese islamophobic like we have a history of deeply entrenched roots of racism and discrimination And we need to start looking at how we like people not we but how systems and people in Positions of power and privilege Can contribute to reparations a redistribution of wealth and creating an equal playing field And making space in that boat. So we're not all just out in the storm willy-nilly Thank you Ariel and if people want more information they can go to your website, right? Yeah, you can check out more information on supporting indigenous climate solutions and strategies Including we're going to be launching some resources and tools with indigenous climate action In the next couple of months or so you can check us out at indigenous climate action dot com And we often host webinars. We're doing some two-spirit webinars coming up for a pride month. So check us out in the next couple weeks Thank you so much We are already halfway through our program for today. So we're going to take a five minute pause Because this is a long time sitting at a computer. So you can have a chance to stretch your legs Let's get a glass of water use the bathroom Please take this time to take care of your needs if whatever you may need at this moment You can also share take this time to share your thoughts with other participants You're welcome to talk about yourself in the zoom room. You can also use the chat on the live stream Uh, we'll have some music. We have some really great performances coming up afterwards so we hope you'll stay with us and It is now 601 eastern time. So we will be back in 10 minutes. Thank you Uh, for those of you just joining us or for those of you who may not have seen me for a while I'm sarah garten stanley and i'm the Co curator for the green rooms along with uh, chantal bill though Um, it's been so wonderful to spend this first bit of the afternoon evening or morning depending on where you are time together Thank you so much for your time And the value of your time being spent with us We really appreciate it in this grand experiment and thank you so much for helping us build This conversation a conversation that we hope can continue to build over the coming days Weeks months and years ahead Um, I am so looking forward to the second half. I'm going to disappear again probably until the end But I just wanted to say hello It's really great to be here and now I'm going to pass it over to chantal bill ado Thank you, sarah. Um, I am chantal bill ado a co curator of this event with sarah And uh, welcome back to the green rooms. Now we're going to shift gear a little bit Uh, because we've been talking of course, um, we're talking about climate change theater all the things that are Intersecting, um, but we also want to not just talk about it, but bring some performance performance and performers into this gathering So, um, I am very pleased to introduce you to erin ball who is Live from kingston, ontario Erin is an extraordinary circus art artist with a unique story And she was inspired to create a performance specifically for us in the here in the green room. So here is erin ball matter to rano I hold a rope with both hands My green dress is covered in vines My mid-length red hair is in a side ponytail and my skin is white I climb the rope slowly to leave my legs standing below They are mannequin legs with plants and vines flowing out of them from the top My own legs end just below the knees Wrapped on the rope I remove my skirt I swing my body Upside down Knee hooked I tend to the plants below I push the legs away Swing up I am upside down I spin crescent moon shape I swing spin Scissor legs around shoulders Quick roll forward I hang hands free Scissor legs climb strong arm hold Knees hooked I turn to the side Arms hold rope Knees hooked Horseshoe shape I swing upside down Split leg behind back Little leg slides through small space Upside down I wrap Body weaved in front of rope Drop to knees upside down Scissor legs Swing, spin Upside down Sideways roll down Near the bottom of the rope I hang upside down Gaze at legs Descend and sit on ground I gaze at the legs Disclaimer Rope is physically demanding and unpredictable The descriptions are pre-recorded and may not match the timing I support defunding the police and Black Lives Matter If you like this piece, please donate to Black Lives Matter Toronto I hold a rope It is suspended from the ceiling I hold it with both hands I wear a green dress that is covered in... Thank you Erin for this amazing performance Really, really amazing performance And I just want to point out that We've been talking Ariel actually talked about Patriarchy and we have just An amazing Amazing group of powerful women Today Yeah, as I see Because of course we have None of us have experienced this whole thing In its entirety We've just been talking to people separately And seeing and talking about things separately But seeing it all in a row I'm really pleased to be able to share Those women with you So next is a youth climate activist Aiden Tomkinson Also from Kingston Who is one of the organisers Of the Fridays for Future events in Kingston In Ontario Some of the loudest voices Demand and change over the past Have been the voices of young people Who are worried about their future And for good reasons Following in the footsteps of Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg Who founded the Fridays for Future movement Youth around the world Are making their voices heard And urging politicians to act now And one of those Young voices belongs to Aiden Tomkinson Who is going to tell us A little bit about what she's been doing Aiden Tomkinson And I am a youth activist and justice seeker Now some people's brains turn off When I say I'm a youth climate activist I hear it all the time Those climate activists who strike on Fridays Are just trying to get out of school By following a recent trend I'm going to ask you right now If you did turn your brain off Turn it back on because today I want to explain to you my perspective On being a youth climate activist Today I'm going to explain to you Why I am involved in activism How I got involved And ways that you or people around you Can get involved and why it is ever so important That you do so Ever since I was young We have talked about how our Earth was suffering I have fond memories when I was little And we'd be camping and it was ingrained Into me to always respect the nature around me I have been fortunate To be raised in an environment that values Both the Earth and having respect For the things around me As I have gotten older I have seen more And more how this is not consistently The case for others Sometimes I still find it Shocking that others still do not understand The importance of respecting our Earth Much of the disrespect is not Their own fault but stems from a lack of Awareness, education And submersion into a mindful environment I felt the need to Increase people's awareness around the growing Climate crisis so as to avoid the Shocking unawareness that can be seen now I want to plant the seed For people to take it upon themselves To defeat their ignorance towards the problem And educate and be aware of the problems That humanity is facing Mindfulness and respect is everything If you have Not felt angry, saddened Or fearful by the direction of our World is heading, you are not Educated enough People need to become motivated to act Which is what I want to help people feel I felt the need for several reasons I feel deeply For those who are struggling and will Struggle the most through the consequences Of humanity's actions and crimes against Our Earth. Our Indigenous Communities in Canada who are suffering without Safe drinking water, oil spills and Friending on their territories and Canada Believing that they have a right to their grounds Homeless populations who will be Unprotected from the rash environmental Disasters, young and old who will be More at risk, young babies And infants being born onto the sick Earth without a say and so Many more vulnerable populations That there are too many to list My heart sinks with the thought Of people and animals of all Kinds suffering due to humanity's own Unforgivable mistakes And yes, I say Unforgivable because humans have known For decades upon decades that there Was a need to protect our Earth And yet I still meet People who value themselves, money And greed over our Earth Who should be everyone's number one Priority. Our Earth Home, Mother Nature Permits us to live on this Earth And it is not the other way around Without the Earth, humanity is nothing. Overall, I think The need to act was due To my empathetic nature for feeling For those who are suffering, my frustration People for their lack of education And my want to educate those around me. I have always known That there was a problem with our world. It wasn't until recent years That everyone around me also did not realize The gravity of the problem that humans Are faced with. I found Especially my hometown of Kingston People were shielded from the severity Of the climate crisis. We are very safe from the impacts Of the climate crisis where we live And we should be very grateful for that. But because of this People are ignorant towards the communities Who are struggling in the world, so In return they have no motivation To act. I want to change this through educating People and making them mindful of issues That are ever so apparent in our world. Several years ago I did this mostly Through sharing important articles and news On my social media platforms And discussing important things with my friends And family. I was always Actively educating myself So that I could educate the people around me. I soon realized that This was not enough. So I started striking from 10 To 2 in front of City Hall Following the popular movement of Friday's For Future. Prior to COVID-19, myself and Members of the community have been striking For over a year. By doing so, I was able to make A stand for the fact that we care about the climate Emergency. It allows us to Have an open platform to educate people About the issues in the world And making personal connections With people. Speaking of connecting with people Through my activism, I have become involved In many groups such as 350 Kingston, Cincture Rebellion, and have participated In several other conferences and symposiums. In small steps I became aware Of the need to develop connections And be able to talk to a bigger group of people Like I am here today. I urge you to take the steps towards Indulging in the necessary activism Because we need everyone's skills. I have met some awesome people Through the course of my activism. My fellow direct action activists But also artists, healers, Media workers, even politicians Who are all fighting for a uniform cause. I am telling you this Because I want to make it clear That we do not have to participate In huge rallies Or put yourself way out there to act. Everyone is at their own comfort level Within their activism But that does not mean that we don't need your help. Through art, Media, music, and maybe even Methods that have yet to be invented Each one of us can become Part of something bigger than ourselves. So today, I am not going to Tell you to commit to the strikes Or participate in any civil disobedience But I do want to tell you to act In any way that you can Able your already present-bodied skills. If you have been thinking Of doing something, please do not let Anyone or anything stop you. We are so fortunate to live In a world full of endless resources, Voices, and organizations. In conclusion, I cannot Wait to see the rise in activism Over these next couple years And see the amount of people using Their voices to spread the messages That we spread. I would love to speak to you if you have any Questions or an idea on how to start Activism initiatives within your community. Seriously, I would love to hear from you. Communication is so important, Which we've learned now especially. You can reach me through The Fridays for Future, Kingston, Instagram page, or Facebook page. And that's it. Thank you so, so much For listening. I really do hope to Hear from some of you. Thank you so much, Hayden. I want to just come back for a second And say that we heard a disclaimer After Erin's performance Earlier and I should have mentioned That we were supposed to hear this Disclaimer before her performance But before, because of technical Difficulties, it was moved To the end. Now, climate Activism takes many forms. And we're going to hear a lot About that tomorrow. But for now, I would like To introduce you to Ariel Martz of Oberlander Who is an artist and community Organizer, who is going to Talk about moving between Professional Theatre and Climate Activist Spaces. So welcome, Ariel. Thank you, Chantal, so much. And thank you, Hayden. Wow. I just Want to take a breath before I start my timer. Thank you to everyone who's spoken. So, my name is Ariel, and I'm going to try and not talk too Fast, but I couldn't cut down my notes Anymore, so, and I can't see any of You yawning or getting bored, so I can Do whatever I want. My name is Ariel, as I said, If I've been a Yiddish Maid, I'm Currently coming to you from the Occupied and Stolen Lands of the Musqueam, Skolmish, and Tisleweta Nations. My grandparents came To the island as refugees from Europe During a time when Two full generations of my people Were murdered in Europe and the Middle East So my relationship to this land Is complex, and if it Weren't for the colonization of Canada I don't know if I'd be alive So I keep trying to Work in a good way To live on this land in a Way that honours that while Acknowledging that I wasn't invited And I have a lot of work to do. I want to talk a little bit today about My work as a window into talking More about deconstructing the Ideas of what we consider expert And professional, and I want to Start by saying that I'm in no way An expert on anything I'm going to talk About, but I believe in the power Of personal stories to open up the places Where our experiences intersect And I also want to offer the idea That we don't need to have shared Experiences in order to fight for Each other and that I can accept That I can still be your accomplice So I'm really Still an emerging artist in most Ways. I'm pretty young, thank goodness But I hope that every Room that I go into I can help question Ideas of what is a professional Who gets to talk, who gets to interrupt And who is a real artist I trained as an actor first But at the same time I was always Kind of doing parallel work as a Climate justice organiser And even though I was in theatre school I never really felt able To call myself an artist I wasn't convinced that I had this thing That they talk about called talent And I definitely didn't feel pretty enough To be in film and TV But I was starting to do this work In community organizing that I felt Was really meaningful and I was learning How to listen deeply and act out Of a place of justice. At first I just went to meetings And I listened for months and then I Started to take on tasks and I felt That I was elected president of a campaign On campus and most importantly I was learning that What I had been taught about environmentalism Actually needed to be a much deeper Struggle for decolonization, Anti-racism and re-indigenization Of the system And after I graduated Theatre school I wasn't sure I was a Real artist at all so I took six Months off from the arts and I spent Time at unistone camp during that fall And unistone is a frontline settlement That's about ten years old now You've probably heard of it This year when the military went to invade The settlement to start building one of The many pipelines that Is slated to go through that area But this was some years before that And I want to talk about An elder that I met there At unistone camp There was an elder there named Brian Grandbois And he was one of these really cool Older gentleman who was a lifelong warrior He'd been at so many of the major Struggles like Oka crisis Gustafson Lake, Elsa Pogtog And he wore only camo Only camo always And he used to ask me to ride in his car Into town with him because if he had A young white woman with him the cops Were less likely to stop him And that made me feel so special Brian escaped going to residential Schools as a kid because his Grandparents hit him in the forest When the Indian agents came to take His way so he grew up with his culture In his language in the bush And I was like hiding children In the forest well as a Jew I have those stories in my families too And the most beautiful thing that Brian told me was that in his language Then a aerial which is My name Is a word and it means thunder And I think that's also aerial Derange's the meaning Of her name too so I feel a special Connection in my language it means God and I thought that was the most Beautiful thing that a word can exist In two languages from completely Different places and I Hold that with me always I feel really Blessed by that gift and Brian Passed on last year Since then I Lived out or visited about five Frontline camps including helping to Start a camp on the steps of BC Hydro headquarters where we lived for Three months to protest the sightseed dam And the flooding of the peace river valley And I was also a Know your rights trainer at the watch House camp led by the Tisleweteth Nation and Burnaby Mountain in 2018 But I want to be careful about how I Talk about these frontlines because I Don't want to speak for them and I Really encourage you to look them up And learn directly from the people Who have started them and who are Living there since then I have Done a show in a bug a performative Flooding of Christy Clark's lawn Which was quickly surrounded by And I made the news so that was the Success shows at fringe festivals In parks in more traditional Festivals and theaters a show on a Yacht a touring show for one Audience member at a time which is a Conversation about climate grief Which has taken place under a tree At a conference and other places And many many other shows that I Don't have time to talk about I'm running out of time but I Will share I'm going to share my Email in the chat especially for My career has looked like or what might Be possible because it's All possible and you're already An artist and what I Can do more and more is to marry My organizing work with my theater Work which I didn't think would be Possible and the work I Make is very rooted in community Well-being audience care trauma Informal processes decolonization Uplifting youth voices Decentralizing access etc For the past three years I have Run the youth program at the college in Vancouver where I get to raise up young Voices and give away resources to People who don't usually get them and More than that I get to help youth That I work with run their own programming And see themselves as artists and as Agents within their own communities in New ways when it comes to Down to it what we don't Need is more allies we need Accomplices and to me that means Wherever I have privilege I give it away Wherever I have power or resources I give it away and I try to hold Every door open behind me Climate change we know doesn't exist In a vacuum it's only possible because Of systemic disenfranchisement And theft from indigenous black and Disabled and queer bodies So to me every movement towards Justice is also climate justice And that's what I hope to do Through my work as An artist and a community organizer Thanks Thank you Ariel Thank you for making yourself so Available I'm sure some people will be Happy to reach out to you and I want to tell you that looking at you On the screen you are definitely pretty Enough to be on cinema On film So next Music can also Be a form of activism so The Toronto based group LAL Which is known for making electronic Music that puts Community first is going to be Next Rosina Casey and Nicholas Murray Have been holding down Canada's underground DIY music scene for decades They started performing Separately in hip-hop and spoken word And then came together as music And live partners LAL works tirelessly To make the future that they envision A reality in the here and now Here they are And we're really great people like us To perform today It's pretty heavy times And I feel like many of us Come from different places Have been dealing with these things For way longer And so many of us Have been preparing But yet we're not Completely prepared so This is going out to everyone Who's dealing with all kinds of Shit Particularly those who are Marginalized or racialized Dealing with different abilities Who may be sick Who may be dealing with Mental health stuff Shout out to the QT Bipop community in Toronto And our friends And yeah So we're going into a song called Dark Beings and it's on our record Called Dark Beings and it's Dedicated to Indigenous knowledge Dedicated to humanity And how we've sort of forgotten That knowledge that we must reach back And put that back into our bodies Into our spirits, not just into our hearts Something new If you add fire to The equation Still don't know what to do Thank you, Lael, Rose and Nick Thank you for this wonderful performance At the beginning Of the opening picnic today Which is this event, before we went live On the live stream Composer, sound artist And musicologist Matt Rogalski Who is here with us Working in the background so you can't see him Recorded the participant In our eight cities Saying hello in their own city Specific way And then over the last two and a half hours Matt has been editing these Sound files to compose the piece That you're about to hear Which is titled Hello Remix Thank you, Matt I hope everybody enjoyed this We're almost at the end of our time together For today Because we're going to be here again tomorrow And Friday But before we wrap up, we have one more offering The last two months Have been challenging in so many ways But it's been truly Amazing to watch how An overwhelming number of us Have risen to the occasion Often putting the well-being In safety of others above our own And I have to say that In a world where there are so many reasons To despair, I find hope In this I find hope in seeing that we can Actually be there for each other Tomorrow we have a series Of presentation and conversation Scheduled where we'll have the opportunity To talk with several guests But for now we want to offer you A chance to breathe So please sit comfortably Close your eyes if you'd like Take a deep breath The next 10 minutes are for you Enjoy one breath Many bells by sound artist Debashish Sinha Well, beautiful Thank you I stretched at least three times through that Beautiful music, beautiful work Everyone, thank you for a Fantastic Time together That's it for today I want to thank everyone in all Everyone who managed to make their way Through the registration So that we could record All of the All of the things I am feeding back a little bit Right at the end of the day I just want to say thank you to Derek Chan, Murdoch Sean, Frank Donato Tracy Guptill, Angelica Schwartz Stuart Leger, Charles Douglas And Molly Braverman Amazing facilitators who have been In the rooms with all of you Making this I hope an experiment and collecting And then gathering into the larger groups We hope you'll join us Tomorrow between three and seven Eastern Standard Time For a series of conversations And again tomorrow evening Between 9 and 11 for another conversation And Cyrus Marcus Ware He's going to be back to DJ the It's going to be awesome The schedule And all the links are available on the NAC website or at Fulda And there's a whole slew Of programming happening tonight It's been amazing spending this time with you I want to pass it over to Chantal For one more moment just to say Chantal, you were an incredible host And it's been a pleasure Making this work with you tonight Thank you to everybody Chantal, a few words Sarah for inviting me on this project And letting me be a part of it Thank you to everybody who joined us I'm very pleased to Spend this time with you to I'm Based in New York, New York Started to reopen on Monday So it's like oh maybe now we can Get a little closer to each other And this is a way to start Getting closer to each other So I hope you will be with us tomorrow And on Friday People coming to talk with us And we hope you'll be there And one last thing to say This is co-created together So this is part of the work We're going to keep working together And on the last day on Friday We hope to make a special piece with all of you And all the new people Who come and join us So thanks again and we will see you tomorrow See you soon