Voice for Indigenous community says Ford government 'have no concept of the history of this country'

Samantha Kinoshameg says she is worried about the future of the Barrie Native Friendship Centre's digital media lab and annual powwow with the recent cuts to the Indigenous Culture Fund. Shawn Gibson/BarrieToday

Samantha Kinoshameg says she is worried about the future of the Barrie Native Friendship Centre's digital media lab and annual powwow with the recent cuts to the Indigenous Culture Fund. Shawn Gibson/BarrieToday

Anger and confusion erupted in the wake of the provincial government’s decision Friday to make cuts to the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) and particularly from the Indigenous Culture Fund (ICF).

The OAC will see base-funding cut in 2018-19 from $69.9 million to the 2017-18 level of $64.9 million, while the ICF will see $2.25-million chopped from that program.

The ICF was set up in 2017 by the province’s former Liberal government in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

Jennifer Podemski is an award-winning film and television producer, as well as an actor, who has long been a voice for the Indigenous community within the arts.

The Simcoe County resident said the cuts were a step back from the direction that the province should be going.

“This fund was created to fulfil a need,” Podemski said. “It was created to address the legacy of systemic abuse and racism where practising of Indigenous culture was forbidden.

"As we, the Indigenous artists, focus on reclaiming our culture and identity, it’s essential that our system supports us in that endeavour," she added. "The removal of this fund is an act of systemic racism. It means that someone looked at this program and decided it wasn’t important.

"Clearly, this person and his team have no concept of the history of this country, where laws and legislation forbade Indigenous people to practise their culture, speak their language and exist as sovereign nations." Podemski said. "This act of removing this and other programs like it reinforces those racist and patriarchal systems that many Canadians have risen above.”

The Barrie Native Friendship Centre (BNFC) held a benefit concert last year to raise money for a digital media lab for the younger generation to build an online presence for the local gathering place.

With the centre hiring students to work and learn through the digital process, it is an uncertain future for projects already underway.

BNFC executive director Samantha Kinoshameg says she isn’t too sure if the cuts will affect the media lab, but is very concerned on the impact they could have on the annual BNFC Pow Wow, which will be celebrating 30 years in 2019.

“It is a large cultural and social event that we have every year and we want to make sure that we can support our artists and our community,” said Kinoshameg. “There is a powwow every weekend in Ontario during the height of the season and so many people that work their summers around the events and travelling to each of them.

"The other thing too is not only does it bring everybody together, but it infuses whatever local economy that you’re in," Kinoshameg added. "I couldn’t tell you much we bring into the city of Barrie when we have ours. So many people come for the weekend; they come early and stay a little bit later and it definitely gives back to the local economy while being a wonderfully bonding event for people, too.”

Local artist Aylan Couchie has many works of art geared toward her Indigenous background, one of which is the piece H.I.O Big Chiefs, displayed atop a condominium on Essa Road.

Couchie had recently been working on a project with the goal of digitally archiving some of the oral histories and stories about the land and community, from Indigenous elders. Such a big project would have benefitted from the ICF, but the cuts would likely make that impossible, Couchie said.

"Because the Indigenous Culture Fund provides such an open scope within their funding guidelines, it was the perfect progra to apply through," Couchie said. "The community-building these projects could have provided is a huge loss.

"The Truth and Reconciliation Commission created the framework which, at its core, sought to impose systemic changes, but also provide the tools for communities to rebuild after the devastation of residential schools," Couchie added. "When the Ford government cut these funds, they essentially told our community that they have no interest in conciliation or concern for our children's future."