Events

Anishinaabe Treaty Making with Dawnis Kennedy

Where: Mennonite Heritage Village

When: April 17 at 7pm

Dawnis spoke at our spring event in 2022 and is back at the request of many who heard her last year. 

Dawnis is an Anishinaabe Law Scholar, a Yellowhead Research Fellow, and Member of Roseau River Anishinaabe First Nation. She works at the Manitoba Indigenous Cultural Education Centre in Winnipeg, has a bachelor of law from the University of Toronto, and a Masters of Law and Society from the University of Victoria, focused on Aboriginal rights and Indigenous laws. 

It is fitting that her true name, Minnawaanagogiizhigook, means Happy Day Woman. Although she has faced and witnessed the effects of racism at an early age, Dawnis has maintained her optimism for the future. She finds her greatest inspiration in knowing who she is as an Anishinabe woman, knowledge that has been safeguarded by her family, her community and the Anishinabe people.

Dawnis' family has taught her to work for the community in all that she does: in her career, in the ways she grieves loss, celebrates life, and relates to the world on a daily basis. With this sense of responsibility, she undertook the study of law and Anishinabe inendamowin (philosophy) in order to support her community. She now seeks to find ways to structure respectful relations between Canadian and Anishinaabe law and in that effort to support and sustain today's communities.

She will be telling stories about how she understands Treaty as an Anishinaabe and Settler Canadian. She will be open to your questions and making connections between the experiences of Mennonite Settlers and Indigenous Peoples.

Film Screening with Filmmaker Erica Daniels

Where: Mennonite Heritage Village

When: April 25 at 6:30pm

Dessert, coffee, and tea, will be provided. 

Event Description

The Power of Story — film screening and discussion with Cree/Ojibwe filmmaker Erica Daniels. Brought to you by Hanover Teachers’ Association and the Mennonite Heritage Village.

Stories shape much of our lives and cultures. After centuries of oppression, Indigenous Peoples today finally have the opportunity to share their stories with their community and with non-Indigenous people. One filmmaker making an impact in this space is Erica Daniels, who owns and operates Kejic Productions on an urban reserve in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The 2022 Recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (Manitoba) will be on hand on Tuesday, April 25th, at the Mennonite Heritage Village. The public is invited to hear Erica’s thoughts on Indigenous storytelling, to join us for a screening of her short documentaries. The event is ideal for teachers looking to incorporate local Indigenous stories in their classroom, and for those interested in hearing stories that will help in efforts of reconciliation. The free event starts at 6:30 with refreshments — desserts, coffee, and tea.

Personal Biography:
Erica is a Cree/Ojibway from Peguis First Nation. She is a proud mother, a multi-award winning documentary filmmaker and entrepreneur. Erica established her media company, Kejic Productions, in 2017 and became a full-time entrepreneur fulfilling her passion to share the stories of her community. She started her journey through a program called Just TV, a multimedia program for at-risk youth in the inner city of Winnipeg. Through this program, Erica was able to better her life and gain extensive skills in the media industry.

Along with her passion for storytelling, is her passion to work with Indigenous youth in her community by reconnecting them to their culture and identity. Erica currently runs a cultural program at the Broadway Neighbourhood Centre and is co-creator and facilitator of the Spirit of the Story program, a media training program for youth in SouthEast Child Family Services. The beauty of her culture continuously inspires her work and motivation of sharing knowledge of her elders for future generations.

Business Biography:
Kejic Productions is a multi-award-winning production company that is Indigenous-owned and operated located on an Urban Reserve in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Established in 2017 by Cree/Ojibway Director and Producer, Erica Daniels, Kejic Productions specializes in producing high-end, cinematic documentaries, and community and corporate and videos, music videos and live streaming; as well as marketing and event photography. Kejic is dedicated to creating engaging, powerful stories and strives to deliver captivating and effective digital video content from an authentic Indigenous lens.

Kejic Productions is dedicated to training the next generation of Indigenous storytellers. Through mentorship and training, Indigenous youth receive opportunities for on-the-job opportunities such as working on set as well as post-production training with industry-standard equipment.

Here at Kejic Productions, we believe that Indigenous stories should be told through an Indigenous lens. That way, we are ensuring that our culture, language and heritage is shared authentically in collaboration with the community to honour stories and protocol respectfully and truthfully.

Business and Personal Accomplishments:
2022 - Recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (Manitoba)
2022 - Powwow Pitch - Business Pitch Competition - 1st Place Winner
2021 - Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business - Young Entrepreneur Award
2019 - Full Circle of Educators - Trailblazer Award – Arts
2019 - Indigenous Film Award – National Indigenous Music Awards
2013 - Manitoba Aboriginal Youth Achievement Award – Arts 
2012 - City of Winnipeg Youth Role Model Awards – Arts

Stories from the Homeland with Reid Bouvier and Friends

Where: The Public Brewhouse and Gallery, Steinbach, Mb

When: May 10th, at 7:00pm

Snacks will be provided.


Reid Bouvier is a Métis citizen from the community of San Clara/Boggy Creek, Manitoba. He is a descendant of the original Bois-Brûlés, or burntwood people who emerged from the westward expansion of the fur trade in the 1700s. His father’s family settled in the Red River Settlement around St. Francois Xavier and the surrounding area in the early 1800s. These people were called the White Horse Plains Métis and traveled with the hunting brigades out of St. Boniface and Pembina before the disappearance of the buffalo. His ancestors were some of the original Métis peoples to occupy the lands alongside the Assiniboine and Red Rivers. He is a direct descendant of Métis leader Cuthbert Grant, and his family still lives in the area where he was born in 1793.  He has family connections in San Clara, Winnipeg, St. Francois Xavier, Turtle Mountain, Batoche, and across the Métis homeland in the historic territory, The North-West.  


Today Reid is a high school teacher in Hanover School Division. In the past he has worked for Louis Riel Institute and the Manitoba Métis Federation. As an educator he includes his own experiences, as well as the knowledge gained from spending time with knowledge keepers and elders in the various communities he’s traveled. He received his post secondary education at the University of Manitoba and graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in Education in 2014. His focuses and passions are Canadian History and Indigenous Education and he is actively teaching those courses today. He wants to bring these stories and lessons to his students because he believes that they are both interesting and important; especially as we move forward into the challenges of the 21st century as our youth navigate a changing world.

PAST EVENTS

Unpacking the Doctrine of Discovery with Josh Dueck

Where: Mennonite Heritage Village

When: September 29 at 7pm

All My Relations series, Unpacking the Doctrine of Discovery with Josh Dueck, September 29, 7pm

The Doctrine of Discovery has become a buzzword in the media and in conversations connected to Truth and Reconciliation. This evening’s conversation will unpack this and better equip Settler-Canadians in more thoroughly understanding how historic wrongs have created present barriers for Indigenous people. It will challenge us to consider what our next steps are towards meaningful reconciliation.

Blanket Exercise

Where: Mennonite Heritage Village

When: September 29 at 7pm

All My Relations series, Kairos Blanket Exercise, September 13, 7pm 

This fall MHV will be hosting a truth and reconciliation series about Indigenous and Settler relations.  This event is a collaborative event together with the Hanover Teachers' Association.  The Kairos Blanket Exercise (KBE) will is developed in collaboration with Indigenous Knowledge Keepers and educators, and is an interactive and experiential teaching tool that explores the historic and contemporary relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in the land we now know as Canada. During this workshop, participants walk on blankets representing the land and into the role of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis peoples. They are guided by trained facilitators, including an Indigenous Elder, who cover pre-contact, treaty-making, colonization, resistance and much more. Participants read scrolls and respond to cues in the script. The KBE concludes with a debriefing, conducted as a talking circle. All participants should bring along a blanket that can be laid on the floor and walked on in socks or bare feet. Participants will be asked to remove their shoes and are welcome to bring slippers if desired. Space is limited and you can RSVP by calling MHV, emailing Monica Martens (indigenous@hanoverteachers.ca) or booking on our website (mhv.ca).

Introducing the panellists

Reid Bouvier  

Reid is a Métis teacher in the Hanover School Division.  He carries knowledge of the journey of his family after being displaced from the Red River Settlement in 1870.  He also carries knowledge of the Métis as “Forgotten People” and about the relationship of the Métis with First Nations Peoples.  Reid is a citizen of the Red River Métis and a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation.

Dawnis Kennedy

Minnawaanigogiizhigok is a second degree Midewiwin (Way of the Heart) person and was raised as Ogijiidaakwe (Warrior woman/Woman of a Big Heart) by the Ogijiidaa Society of and elders of her home community Bagwaanishkoziibing (Roseau River Anishinaabe First Nation). She is of both European and Ojibwe Anishinaabe lineage and is dedicated to reclaiming both traditions in her life and in her work. Minnawaanigogiizhigok is dedicated to the pursuit of Minobimaadiziwin (Good Life). She seeks and creates opportunities to live life from her heart. She builds on the good choices her family, mentors and friends made in their lives: their choices to work hard, raise their families, put down alcohol, help their relatives, support the people and reconnect to Midewiwin, living the ways of life, languages and traditions that our ancestors sent forward to us. In the footsteps of her all ancestors, Minnawaanigogiizhigok continues to learn and to grow, taking joy in this good life and doing what she can to support others who seek to do the same. 
Dawnis carries knowledge of the 1908 land surrender as well as other stories specific to how those currently living in Roseau River Anishinaabe First Nation have been affected by the colonization of their land and their people.  Dawnis is a research fellow with the Yellowhead Institute and a Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation Scholar. She currently works at the Manitoba Indigenous Cultural Education Centre in Winnipeg.

Joseph Wiebe

Joseph is a professor of Religion and Ecology at the University of Alberta. He recently received an Insight Development Grant from SSHRC to begin research on his next book project, which is on the influence of settler colonialism on environmental imagination and religious identity. This project is a case study of how one agrarian community perceived Indigenous people during settlement in North America. It tells the story about the role Indigenous people played in the settlement narratives Mennonites constructed as they were adapting their religious identity to the prairie landscape.

Elder Harry Bone

Knowledge Keeper Dr. Harry Bone, C.M. is from the Keeseekoowenin Ojibway Nation.  Knowledge Keeper Bone has worked tirelessly throughout his life to bolster Indigenous rights. He has served extensive terms in many fulfilling roles such as Chief and Director of Education. He also served as a CEO at the West Region Tribal Council, a Director of the Manitoba Indian Education Authority, he is a graduate student in political studies at University of Manitoba, and he was a Student Advisor and Lecturer. He was a Director of Native Programs for the Federal Government, a Vice-President of Aboriginal Cultural Centres of Canada and currently sits as Chairperson of the Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba (TRCM) Council of Elders and Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) Council of Elders. Knowledge Keeper Dr. Bone is experienced in First Nations Governance, he has led delegations that have met with all levels of government while being instrumental in projects such as the Oral History Project and the Historical Atlas of First Nations in Manitoba.  Knowledge Keeper Dr. Bone and Knowledge Keeper Doris Pratt co-authored Untuwe Pi Kin He – Who We are: Treaty Elders’ Teachings.  Like Knowledge Keeper Dr. Bone, the book aims to inspire people through compassion, reason, humility and human dignity. His distinguished achievements in leadership, scholarship and public service have been recognized by many individuals and communities who have touched by his work. The University of Manitoba honoured Knowledge Keeper Dr. Bone with an Honorary Doctor of Law degree for his trendsetting work that continues to advance Aboriginal education in Canada. In December 2017, Elder Bone was announced as an appointee to the Order of Canada “for his contributions to advancing Indigenous education and preserving traditional laws, and for creating bridges between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and communities.”