In 2021, the Faculty of Native Studies established the Light Fires: Indigenous Prison Arts and Education Project. The project is grounded in over 13 years of community-based education, organizing, and engagement with partners across both Alberta and Saskatchewan who work alongside incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people. Light Fires has three interwoven commitments: arts-based education in and beyond prisons; critical Indigenous prison studies research; and advocacy with and for incarcerated people.
Light Fires brings together educators, artists, knowledge holders, activists, researchers, and community members with lived experience of the carceral system. The intentional bridging between multiple communities, both inside and outside prisons, is a priority for the project, as we understand that serving incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people requires us all to bring our hearts, spirits, and minds together to find creative approaches to care.
Naming the Project
The name Light Fires comes from Cree prisoner justice advocate and relative Cory Charles Cardinal. Cory transitioned to the spirit world in June 2021, but the spirit and strength of his art and advocacy continues to be a spark that ignites the flame of our collective work
In his poem “A Warrior's Expression,” Cory writes about lighting a fire of solidarity through the power of community and story:
Inmates unite lost ways are found
They stand together
A primordial code in traditional
Cultures remembered
Old wise elders speak tales of truth
To young lost youth light fires
Inside the hearts of men prevail….
Cory was a poet who used his art as a form of self-expression and a tool of resistance to the prison system. During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, he used his talent for writing–including letters, journals, and poetry–to alert government officials and community advocates to the unsanitary and unsafe conditions inside the Saskatoon Correctional Centre. In response to institutional and government inaction and unwillingness to protect incarcerated people during this time, Cory co-organized a number of hunger strikes at jails across Saskatchewan. In an interview with Prison Radio, he spoke of the initial hunger strike in 2020 as a “spark” that “took off like wildfire.”
Light Fires recognizes the incredible tenacity and persistence of Cory and his relatives on the inside, and the work that they did to ensure that prisoners’ voices were heard. Their collective action reminds us of the importance of solidarity and community support in building towards a future where everyone is cared for and free from oppression.
Naming the project “Light Fires” acknowledges our responsibility to continue to tend to the flames.
