The Equity and Inclusion Office, the Indigenous Student Services and the Race, Racism and Racialization Working Group (R3) invite Black, Indigenous and Racialized students, staff and faculty to gather in holding space for Afro-Indigenous solidarity to celebrate the unique beauty within shared identities as well as find connections through common experiences with one another. We are honoured to have Ann Marie Beals, Keisha and Joy Henderson as our speakers with Aaron Parry as facilitator.

Ann Marie Beals (they/them) is a Two-Spirit Indigenous-Black L’nuwey – a mixed-blood African Nova Scotian and First Nation Mi’kmaq from the territory of Mi’kma’ki. Ann Marie is a graduate student at Wilfrid Laurier University and a story sharer working on the ProclaimingOurRoots.com project. Stories from this project revolve around Afro-Indigenous identity and relationships with Indigenous and Black communities. Their research explores the health and wellbeing of their communities in looking at the effects of colonial legacies of oppression and violence, and lack of acknowledgement of Indigenous-Black identity in the settler nation-state known as Canada. Ann Marie shares Afro-Indigenous voices in uplifting the sacred stories of strength, self-assertion, and consciousness-raising, through the lived experiences and knowledges loudly resonating in Indigenous-Black communities.

Joy Henderson (she/her) is an Afro-Lakota Child and Youth Care practitioner living in Scarborough Ontario. When she is not busy parenting her three sons, she works to push the conversation of equity in her field and disrupting Eurocentric and systemically oppressive norms. She is a parent organizer for public education, as well as involved in various organizations and agencies in her Scarborough community. She has also written about and is honoured to speak to people about the unique historical and current landscape on Afro-Indigeneity, in addition to brave discussions about Black and Indigenous solidarity, community, relationships and the brave vulnerable spaces we need to occupy to get there.

Keisha (they/them) is an urban reconnecting n?hithaw kaskit?withiniw from Toronto but who has grown up around the world. They are Jamaican and Nihithaw (Woods Cree) from treaty 6 territory and a band member of the Lac La Ronge Indian Band. Keisha is the child of a 60s scoop survivor, and currently lives on their reserve with their grandmother. Keisha has found more pride and grounding in reconnecting with their community than anything else, but they are also in their last year of Indigenous Studies. Their artistic focus and passion in life are around reclamation of identities and language revitalization.

Aaron Parry (he/him) is a fourth-year student studying Indigenous Studies, Anthropology, and African & African Diaspora Studies at McMaster. He is a writer for TRAD Magazine, an exec on the Black Students Association (BSA) and is involved with other Black community initiatives at McMaster and in Hamilton.

To register please email narrora@mcmaster.ca or tbomber@mcmaster.ca using your McMaster email and include “Black-Indigenous Celebration [First name, Last name] in the subject line“.

For more information about the event page please go to: equity.mcmaster.ca

This event is partnered with the Equity and Inclusion Office, Indigenous Student Services, OPRIG Mcmaster, Race, Racism and Racialization (R3), and PACBIC Working Group.