AUNTIES EMERGENT: Nikaronhyá'a Dawn Martin with Jodi Lynn Maracle on the Beautiful Entanglement of Art and Language

Nikaronhyá'a Dawn Martin's IG

Silo City: Why Here, Why Now with Jodi Lynn Maracle

Bear Fox website

Laura Couchie is Anishinaabe (Ojibwe), Two Spirit from Nipissing First Nation. She's a multidisciplinary artist and Indigenous language revitalizationist living in Dish With One Spoon territory. Her artistic practice has spanned several outlets over her lifetime including; performance (acting, comedy/improv, dance), music and beadwork. Laura has published op-ed pieces tackling issues such as cultural appropriation and "pretendianism". Her book "No Rainbow" was published in 2018, featuring sensual poetry and prose about love, longing and identity that spans earthly, spirit and human form. In 2022 and 2023, Laura had the honour of serving as a Final Juror for The City of Hamilton Arts Awards. Laura worked for many years in the urban Indigenous community and is a passionate advocate and public educator. Laura is in 3rd year of the Bachelor of Arts in Onkwehonwe Language at Six Nations Polytechnic.

Host OtsistohkwÍ:yo or Melissa Elliott is Kanyen’kehá:ka (Mohawk) from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. She is a mother, auntie, teacher and second language Kanyen’keha/mohawk speaker, storyteller and artist. She is currently working in efforts to decolonize education and language revitalization - working in her 7th year as the Ken Nikanenhá:sas (Little Seeds) Kindergarten Teacher and Kanen’shón:’a (Many types of seeds) Early Years Faculty Co-Chair at Skaronhyase’kó:wa Everlasting Tree School. Otsistohkwiyo is a trained Waldorf Early years teacher and New Adult Educator (NAE) with over 8 years of experience teaching young children and families through traditional Haudenosaunee and Waldorf pedagogical approaches. In her spare time, Otsisohkwi:yo offers training and mentoring on storytelling and utilizing the Waldorf pedagogy to create new forms of holistic, earth based, traditional Onkwehonwe (Indigenous) education. She sits on the Onkwawenna Kentyohkwa Board of Directors and on the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America (WECAN) Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA) Committee. She is passionate about Kanyen’kéha (Mohawk language), grassroots community building, traditional storytelling, puppetry, parenting, holistic healing, and land-based practices. For more information you can contact Otsistohkwí:yo at otsistohkwiyo@gmail.com

Tehota'kerá:ton, Dr. Jeremy D. Green, is Kanien'kehá:ka (Mohawk), wolf clan and from the Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory. As both a scholar and Ontario Certified Teacher (OCT) of Indigenous language learning and acquisition in adult and youth learners over the past 25 years, Dr. Green’s transformative research and teaching is at the forefront of efforts to ensure that Canadian Indigenous languages and traditional cultures not only survive but thrive.

Tehota'kerá:tons completed research to date has focused on diverse localized language acquisition and status planning for indigenous language proficiency development for Rotinonhsión:ni (Six Nations) and other indigenous nations and communities. Tehota'kerá:ton also provides training and information to support these localized indigenous language acquisition planning efforts to create new speakers of indigenous languages focusing primarily on strategic planning for teaching, learning, assessment, evaluation, language use and conversational and ceremonial language and dynamic cultural practices.

Follow Katsitsionni on Instagram

Check out her website: Two Row Productions

Watch her Without a Whisper movie

Indigenous Design and Planning Institute

Contact Gerd's publisher to find her book in English: gollegiella@online.no

Here is the website for Gerd's book: https://samiskbibliotektjeneste.tromsfylke.no/2019/10/23/gerd-mikalsen-fathers-new-mother-tongue/

AUNTIE: Wa’tkwanonhweráton Sewakwékon. On this edition of The Aunties Dandelion we visit with Danis Goulet – a Cree-Metis, award-winning director and screenwriter who is best known for her 2021 film Night Raiders which is set in a dystopian future. The widely popular movie had the highest budget of any Indigenous-led Canadian film and stars Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers as a mother who joins a resistance movement to save her daughter. In Night Raiders – as in all of her films – Danis focuses on how Indigenous worldview can bring new insight and practice to an industry largely devoid of human care and community.

DANIS: The film industry was built to exploit and so if you want to work in the film industry. So if you want to go into the film industry how do we do this in a way that is driven by values and then obviously in Indigenous production you’d be looking at what are your values that come from your community or your specific culture that can inform the film process. 

AUNTIE: Danis spent years advocating for Indigenous creators in the film industry and co-authored a 2013 report for Telefilm with Kerry Swanson that helped lay the ground work for funding, offices and initiatives that now support Native filmmakers – including The Aunties Dandelion – Nya:wen. Danis is a passionate visual storyteller who creates strong matriarchal characters and weaves her own Cree language into her productions as a spiritual guide.

DANIS: It is good for the spirit and any time there is a chance to put it on screen its like those are my favourite things to shoot to hear it. To commit it to screen where you know it is going to live on through this medium. 

AUNTIE: I’m Kahstoserakwathe and we are Yéthi Nihsténha ne Tekarónyakénare. The Aunties Dandelion. We’re focused on revitalizing our communities through stories of land, language, and relationships. And we want to say Nyá:wenkò:wa – or big thanks – to Canada’s Indigenous Screen Office – teyonhkiwihstekénha – for making this podcast possible through their New Media fund. 

We make space here for real conversations to unfold like when we visit in our communities. So take a breath, make some tea –  and listen to your Aunties. And when you are done – please follow us, provide some feedback, and share these visits with others. It helps us continue these visits together.