This Week In Art/Culture/Entertainment
By John Swartz
The Orillia Silver Band’s last concert of their season is Saturday, June 7 at 7 p.m. at St. Paul’s Centre. I guess you could count their Sunday evening Concert In The Park gig July 13 as their last, but you know what I mean.
They’ll be playing music from movies like Casino Royale, Out Of Africa, ET, 1941, And Rocky. They’ll also play The Cowboys by John Williams, which i can’t wait to hear because nobody ever really plays that one. Another one that’s sure to be a hit of the concert is The Appian Way from Respighi’s Pines of Rome.
Robin Watson and Debbie Silverthorne will duet solo on Count Basie’s Duet , which is been used in many movies, and Michele McCall solos on Skylark, which also has been used in a bunch of movies. You can get tickets online.
Story Time
Last weekend’s Gathering: Festival of First Nations Stories at the Rama Community Hall, produced by Arts Orillia, was enjoyable and informative. Friday evening’s schedule started with words of welcome from Sherry Lawson and Chief Ted Williams. Christa Couture’s story was a life story about events of grief over the loss of her health, the deaths of her children, and divorce. The CBC commissioned a series of short animated films under the title, How To Lose Everything, which is also the title of her book. Each of the five videos is an animated interpretation by different artists.
The program on Saturday included authors who have written children’s books, a short video by Keesic Douglas, and a kind of update on the state of native issues by Christa Big Canoe, who does most of her writing for legal briefs as the director of the Aboriginal Legal Services; she was the lead legal counsel of the National Inquiry Into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.
In her opinion, the needle has not moved very much regarding the reconciliation of Native issues, even though the rest of us might think great strides have been made. She believes the main impediment to progress is the Indian Act, which defines relationships between natives and the government. The problem is getting rid of the Act because of the things standing in the way would also get rid of rights beneficial (treaties) the Native community values.
The afternoon ended with the presentation of the video by author Julie Pellissier-Lush and the reading of three short stories by Stephen Leacock Medal For Humor winner Thomas King. Pellissier-Lush, poet laureate of Prince Edward Island, has been telling the stories of the Mi’Kmaq community and she said this was only the third time the video has been seen.
Just before the lunch break, Darrell York told his story of being a child caught in the 60s Scoop. He and his sisters were taken away when he was 10 years old and he clearly remembers the events surrounding his journey to a home he never asked for because it was also the same day JFK was assassinated.
His sisters went to a different home. It wasn’t until 1986 he returned to Rama, and then it was only for two hours because he came with a friend and was driving. it was the first time in 23 years he saw mother. He returned to Rama permanently in 1988 and now lives in Washago.
Listening to a story made me think of the one Mike Nichols told last year. It boggles my mind how anyone could think taking all these children away from their families with no contact, often for decades, and some of them so young they had no memories of their families was OK.
I became a newspaper reader around that time and I don’t recall a single story about the 60s scoop and I’ve never heard any adults talking about it. As many as 20,000 children were taken from their families and not all of them were adopted by other families in Canada. Many went to U.S. homes or to other countries.
This is similar to, but distinct from residential schools because some of those children went home to their families during the summer. It wasn’t all native children involved I had classmates from the reserve in Sarnia.
This program lasted well into the 1980s. It’s interesting to note the governments of Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta have made official apologies, while the Ontario government has not, even though the Ontario Children’s Aid Society did apologize.
As I listened and digested what I was hearing it made me wonder what my parents and other adults would have thought, said or done about this atrocious program. Remember, I noted not seeing any news stories about this so it’s conceivable the general public truly did not know this was going on. Not a single politician, who would have known, ever raised awareness of this program.
It was decades before these children, now adults, learned about their families, their community, and their identities. Some of them had great difficulty being accepted back into their communities. This whole thing is a shameful blight and it is well past time the Ontario government said the words needed to be said, and took the actions to, at the very least, compensate these people for the injustice done to them.
Native people are just like any other group. Some are involved in uncovering a lost history, some in seeking justice, some focus on the joy of their lives and communities they live in, and others see humour. It seems to me a higher percentage of Native people turn to artistic expression whether it be through music, visual expression, or writing and I think it would be good for the rest of us to pay more attention to the stories they are telling.
The Shorts
- Anne Walker’s Coulson Concerts series is happening again this summer. the schedule is: Katherine Wheatley and James Gordon June 22, Gathering Sparks (Eve Goldberg And Jane Lewis ) July 27 and Anne September 28. All concerts are at 2 p.m. and you can get tickets online.
- Arts For Peace is back. it will happen June 22 at the Leacock Museum from 1 to 4 p.m. This time around they have a rain location at St. Paul’s Centre. This is a family event with lots of activities for kids. Admission is free, but they will take donations.
- The celebration of life for Suds Sutherland is June 22 at Hawk Ridge Golf Club from 1 to 4 p.m. there will be a graveside service at 11 a.m. at St Andrew’s/St. James’ Cemetery the same day.
- The Orillia Youth Centre has another fundraising concert June 27 at Quayle’s Brewery. The Ronnie Douglas Blues Band and the great duo of Andrew Alli And Josh Small from Virginia will be playing. It’s outdoors in a tent I’m told is about the size of the pub tent during the early years of the Mariposa Folk Festival. You can get tickets (selling well) online. Another fundraiser, Farm Fest, is happening June 29 with Andrew and Josh, along with Kay Silver out in Sebright; get tickets online.
- The Canada Day committee has updated their website and it’s time to sign on as a volunteer, or apply to be a vendor.
- Bleeker has a new video out and you can watch Florida on youtube.
- Battlescarred is entered into an online contest called America’s Next Top Hitmaker and you can vote for them here.
- Coldwater has a blues festival happening June 7 at the legion. See Rick Robichaud, John Simon, Sandy Clark, and The Coldwater Blues Band. It starts at 1:30 p.m.
- Sunday evening band concerts at the Aqua Theatre start June 22 with the Orillia Concert Band. There will be music every weekend of the summer starting at 6:30 p.m. There will also be music on Friday nights starting in July, and there will be an artisan market too; vendors can still apply to be part of the market.
- The Orillia Museum Of Art And History has the 28th annual International Women’s Day Show in the main floor gallery. also see Orillia: Then And Now a collection of historical photos of Orillia landmarks and buildings contrasted with recent photos of the same by Samantha Vessios; June 14 at 11 a.m. OMAH opens two exhibits related to Gordon Lightfoot – a permanent exhibit of their acquisitions of items from Gordon Lightfoot’s estate, Gordon Lightfoot: Turning Back The Pages, and an exhibit of photos of Gord taken over the years by Edwin Gailits (1970s era) and, Deb Halbot, at the Mariposa Folk Festival called Voices Through Time: A Mariposa Journey; now is the best time to get tickets for OMAH’s Music For The Museum event, November 1. Jacquie Dancyger Arnold, Hugh Coleman, Ross Arnold, Blair Bailey, Laura Kelly, and Gail Spencer are performing… Cloud Gallery’s Collector’s Corner features works by Kerry Walford… Peter Street Fine Art is featuring photographic work by Mike Bailey’s many travels to Africa, and it’s called Out Of Africa… Hibernation Arts’s guest wall has work by David Crighton (reception June 14 at 1 p.m.) and a group show up for the month of June.
- Quayle’s Brewery has Chris Lemay playing June 7; Kat Chabot is in June 8; Kamie Drake June 12 Kyle McAdams June 13 and My Missing Piece June 14… the Hog ‘N Penny has an afternoon jam session every Sunday with Sean Patrick and others… Lake Country Grill has a comedy night happening June 14 with Jimmy England, Dair Shendale, Matt Lund, Jake Leland Bryon Johnston, Rochelle Bechard and Owen Yaz. Get tickets online… Jim Cronk plays the ANAF Club June 15… Higher Ground (Brewery Bay, 2nd floor) has Choir Revolution’s Hallelujah: A Sing-Along of Anthems June 11 (tickets); and they have Lake Country Pride’s pre-Pride Day Parade party June 13; no admission or reservations (it’s a fundraiser, donations accepted), performance by Champagne Top’Her.
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia and Images Supplied) Main: Orillia Silver Band
