Reclaiming Indigenous Voice and Vision

At a recent conference in Saskatchewan, indigenous and non-indigenous delegates from North and South America, New Zealand, Australia, and Europe addressed cultural restoration and the issues and challenges confronting Aboriginal peoples as a result of decolonization. Their aim was to determine how Aboriginal cultural rights in postcolonial societies can be restored and how to find new approaches for protecting, healing, and restoring cultures and languages of long-oppressed peoples.

Marie Battiste is a Mi'kmaq educator from Potlo'tek First Nations in Unama'kik, Nova Scotia, and a professor in the Indian and Northern Education Program at the University of Saskatchewan. Gregory Cajete is Tewa from Santa Clara Pueblo in New Mexico. Formerly dean of the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, he is currently a faculty member at the University of New Mexico. J. Edward Chamberlin is a professor of English and comparative literature. at the University of Toronto. Erica-Irene Daes is a member of a United Nations Sub-Commission to Protect Minorities, the chair of the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations, and a collaboratrice of the Hellenic Institute of International and Foreign Law. Bonnie Duran, Dr. P.H. is an assistant professor at the Master's of Public Health Program at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Eduardo Duran is Apache/Tewa and currently the director of the Behavioral Services Department, First Nations Community Healthsource, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. L.M. Findlay is a professor of English and the director of the Humanities Research Unit at the University of Saskatchewan. James (Sakej) Youngblood Henderson is Chickasaw, born to the Bear Clan of the Chickasaw Nation and Cheyenne Tribe in Oklahoma. He is a member of the College of Law, University of Saskatchewan, and the senior administrator and research director of the Native Law Centre. Ian Hingley is a teacher at Churchhill School in La Ronge, in northern Saskatchewan, and was on leave to work on a master's degree in the Educational Foundations Department at the University of Saskatchewan at the time of this writing. Linda Hogan is a Chickasaw poet, novelist, and essayist. Currently, she is a professor at the University of Colorado. Poka Laenui (Hayden F. Burgess) is currently the executive director of Hale Na'au Pono, a community-based behavioural health agency in his home community of Wai'anae. Ted Moses is Grand Chief of the Grand Council of Crees of Quebec and their ambassador to the United Nations. Leroy Little Bear is a member of the Blood tribe of the Blackfoot Confederacy. He is the former director of the Native American Program at Harvard University and professor emeritus of Native studies at the University of Lethbridge, where he was formerly department chair. Graham Hingangaroa Smith is currently a professor of Maori education in the School of Education and the pro-vice chancellor (Maori) at the University of Auckland. Professor Smith is of Ngati Apa and Ngati Porou tribal descent. Linda Tuhiwai Te Rina Smith is an associate professor in education and the director of the Research Institute for Maori and Indigenous Education at the University of Auckland. She is a Maori from Ngati Awa and Ngati Porou tribal groups. Asha Varadharajan is an associate professor at Queen's University. Robert Yazzie is Navajo and the chief justice of the Navajo Nation.