FNMI Digital Platforms: A Modern Day talking stick to share our FNMI Culture

At a recent Blanket Wrapping ceremony with the Squamish Nation, Chief Ian Campbell said "I would like to hand over this modern day talking stick, the microphone, to our Elder to speak."   The cell phones and video cameras came out right away and people from all Nations and Ages recorded this ceremony.  The songs that were sung were ones that the Elders had given permission to share publicly.  If the Elders say you can do something, then protocol is to listen and do what you are being guided by them to do.  In an ever increasing modern world, where cell phones are the norm and a part of the dialogue tool used by most everyone, it seems quite clear that the best way to reach people, to impact them, to educate them and to share cultural expression is through Media literacy platforms.  As the FNMI program Lead for Learning through the Arts, and as a Mi'kmaq media artist myself, I have watched more and more of our Aboriginal communities come on board and utilize digital platforms like youtube, facebook, Skype and other social media platforms to inform and educate people about who we are and where we come from.  In the past, all of our histories and cultural practices were shared orally and passed down from generation to generation.  We are still doing that today. We are just using a more modern form of record keeping.

I remember the first time our Elder Issapaaki and I skyped into an Artist-Educator training session for the Ontario Arts Council from Fort MacMurray. It was a beautiful moment of discovery for Our Elder.  She was figuring out where to look at the camera, and then where to see all of the faces watching her as she shared her story.  She giggled, she laughed, and as she said, "She healed!"  The Elder was most impressed with the way that she could connect with people across the country to share her culture and her story.
One of the greatest resources that we have on our LTTA digital team is Our Elders in Residence program. This is just one of the ways that we will be able to access more remote communities, through Elder stories and digital platforms created by the LTTA digital team in partnership with Our Elders, FNMI Communities, Classrooms and Artist Educators.  Some valuable resources that the LTTA digital team have recently created are our Elder flip videos which feature different Elders speaking about how they got their traditional names, the impact of residential school, Idle No More and the powerful properties of our medicines.