Monthly Archives: October 2024

Happy Thanksgiving and Indigenous Peoples’ Day! 🍁

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A newsletter from a fellow Canadian organization in the Bay Area.

Canadian Studies Announcements

In This Issue:

News from Berkeley

• Happy Canadian Thanksgiving and Indigenous Peoples’ Day!

• Canadian Studies attends Fleet Week reception in San Francisco

Upcoming Events

• Stop-Motion Storyteller: Film Screening & Talk Back featuring Amanda Strong & Bracken Hanuse Corlett

• Artist Talk: Amanda Strong and Bracken Hanuse Corlett

External Events

• Two Canadian films at the San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Canadian Studies wishes a very happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian friends! As we celebrate this day of gratitude, we want to express our heartfelt appreciation for your unwavering support for our program. Our friends form a vibrant community that bridges the US and Canada; this Thanksgiving, let us reflect on the shared values that unite our nations. Your engagement is crucial to fostering a deeper understanding and appreciation for Canada and its diverse peoples. Thank you for being a part of our community!

Image: Thanksgiving turkey designed by Freepik.

… and Happy Indigenous Peoples’ Day!

Canadian Studies also wishes our readers a very happy Indigenous People’s Day. This holiday, which honors the first inhabitants of North America, started here in Berkeley in 1992. As a program that engages substantially with Indigenous issues, we feel it is important to acknowledge the living communities across the US and Canada that have persisted through centuries of colonization and marginalization. We encourage all our friends to take some time today to learn about the Indigenous cultures native to your home region.

Image: Indigenous Peoples’ Day celebration in Berkeley. Photo by Quinn Dombrowski on Wikimedia Commons.

Canadian Studies Attends Fleet Week Reception in San Francisco

Canadian Studies leadership was honored to attend a private reception held Sunday aboard the HMCS Regina as part of San Francisco’s Fleet Week celebrations. The event, hosted jointly by the Canadian Consulate and the Royal Canadian Navy, marked the first time a Canadian ship had taken part in Fleet Week for over five years. The event aimed to build personal connections between attendees from both sides of the border.

During the reception, Commodore David Mazur, commander of Canada’s Pacific Fleet, and Rana Sarkar, Consul General of Canada in San Francisco, gave remarks stressing the importance of US-Canada security cooperation at a time when the liberal international order is increasingly under threat. Guests in attendance included members of the diplomatic corps and consuls for several nations, representatives of the Canadian-American business community, and members of the Canadian and US armed forces. Among the latter was Read Admiral Richard W. Meyer, a Berkeley graduate and current deputy commander of the United States Third Fleet. We issue our sincerest thanks to the Consulate for inviting Canadian Studies to participate.

Left image: Program co-director Hidetaka Hirota poses with Canadian Studies staff and board members, and staff from the Canadian Consulate.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Stop-Motion Storyteller: Film Screening & Talk Back featuring Amanda Strong & Bracken Hanuse Corlett

Wed., Oct. 30 | 7:00 pm | BAMPFA | Buy tickets

Over the past decade, Michif (Métis) artist Amanda Strong has created an exceptional collection of animated films depicting Indigenous realities, stories, and dreams to build a compelling cinematic counterpoint challenging colonial histories of Indigenous peoples. Using stop-motion techniques to animate meticulously crafted three-dimensional puppets and objects, Strong creates magical worlds—uncanny mirrors to our own—in which her stories unfold. This program, presented in collaboration with the Arts Research Center and the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, represents an extensive retrospective of her work and includes her collaborations with Wuikinuxv and Klahoose artist Bracken Hanuse Corlett, her partner in life and art. Eight films are included in the screening.

This event is free for UC Berkeley students, staff, and faculty with a Cal 1 Card. Other guests may purchase tickets via the link above.

Artist Talk: Amanda Strong and Bracken Hanuse Corlett

Fri., Nov. 1 | 4:00 pm | BAMPFA | Buy tickets

Award-winning animators and multimedia Indigenous artists Amanda Strong (Michif) and Bracken Hanuse Corlett (Wuikinuxv and Klahoose) share insights on the creation of their films, including their current project—nine years in the making and now on the cusp of its world premiere—and their frequent collaborations. This artists’ talk is copresented by the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive and the Arts Research Center, which is sponsoring Strong as its Artist-in-Residence and Corlett as a Visiting Artist.

This event is free for UC Berkeley students, staff, and faculty with a Cal 1 Card. Other guests may purchase tickets via the link above.

If you require an accommodation to fully participate in one of the above events, please let us know at least 7 days in advance.

EXTERNAL EVENTS

Two Canadian Films at the San Francisco International South Asian Film Festival

Oct. 18 & 19 | San Francisco, CA | Learn more

3rd i’s 22nd annual SF International South Asian Film Festival presents groundbreaking cinema celebrating inspiring stories from South Asia and its diaspora. Two Canadian films will be shown as part of the festival:

The Queen of My Dreams (Oct. 18) is the feature-length directorial debut by Canadian filmmaker Fawzia Mirza. It explores the complicated bond between a Queer Pakistani grad student and her conservative Muslim mother through a Bollywood-inspired journey from Karachi to rural Canada. At its TIFF premiere, it was voted one of Canada’s Top 10 films of 2023.

Dear Jassi (Oct. 19) tells the ill-fated love story of a young woman from a wealthy Indian-Canadian family who defies her family when she falls for a working-class man while visiting relatives in the Punjab. The film weaves a tragic true story into a gripping Shakespearean tale of injustice with a haunting, chilling finale.

Berkeley students, faculty, and staff can receive 50% off ticket costs by using the code “50_off” on all online film purchases.

Canadian Studies Program

213 Philosophy Hall #2308

WEBSITE | EMAIL | DONATE

Canadian Studies Program | Univ. of California, Berkeley 213 Philosophy Hall #2308 | Berkeley, CA 94720 US

San Francisco Fleet Week Canadian Reception

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Mr. Rana Sarkar
Consul General of Canada

and

Commodore David Mazur
Commander Canadian Fleet Pacific Royal Canadian Navy

Cordially invite you and a guest to the:

2024 San Francisco Fleet Week Canada Reception onboard

His Majesty’s Canadian Ship Regina

Earlier this evening, Comrades Michael and Lisa Barbour represented Branch 25 at the 2024 San Francisco Fleet Week Canadian Reception. His Majesty’s Canadian Ship Regina is a Halifax-class frigate that has served in the Canadian Forces and Royal Canadian Navy since 1993. Regina is the fifth vessel in her class. She is the second RCN vessel to carry the designation HMCS Regina.

Since her first deployment in May of 1995, Regina has participated in numerous Operations and Exercises in the Middle Eastern, Indo and Asia-Pacific regions. Regina’s last deployment was in 2019. She carries a crew of 240 including an embarked Royal Canadian Air Force, Air Detachment with a Sikorsky CH-148 multi-role helicopter.” To read more about the Regina, click here.

Below are some pictures of the Regina and from the reception.

What’s NEW and FREE shipping this week!

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An item from the Legion Magazine.

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Happy Thanksgiving! We are so grateful for you.

Wine Mug—Time flies when you’re having fun

Water Bottle—It’s a good day to have a good day

Blessing of the Fleet Interfaith Service at the Presidio Chapel

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Note this event related to the San Francisco Fleet Week that is upcoming. As a reminder, the Royal Canadian Navy will be represented at San Francisco Fleet Week.

The Consulate General of Canada is pleased to support the Royal Canadian Navy’s participation in San Francisco Fleet Week 2024. Public tours of the HMCS Regina will be offered at San Francisco Pier 15/17 on Saturday, October 12 and Sunday, October 13, from 10:00 am – 3:30 pm on both days. All tours are free of charge, available on a first-come, first-served basis. More details, including the ship tour guidelines and code of conduct, are available via the San Francisco Fleet Week website and app at https://fleetweeksf.org/events/ship-tours/

Interfaith Center

at the Presidio

Unleashing the Power of

Interreligious Cooperation

The service will be livestreamed at this link

P.O. Box 29055, San Francisco, CA 94129

(415) 561-3930 (office) * (415) 686-2639 (cell)

www.interfaithpresidio.org * mailto: presidiointerfaith@gmail.com

Researchers identify remains of Franklin expedition skipper

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An item from the Legion Magazine.

A daguerreotype of Captain James Fitzjames taken in 1845 and sold at Sotheby’s in September 2023. The remains of Fitzjames, who commanded HMS Erebus, have been identified by DNA and genealogical analyses. [Sotheby’s/Wikimedia]

Researchers identify remains of Franklin expedition skipper

STORY BY STEPHEN J. THORNE

They are the last known communications from the storied Arctic expedition led by John Franklin, found by a search party stashed in a stone cairn at Victory Point on the northwest coast of King William Island in May 1859, 11 years after it was written.

Scrawled in the margins of a preprinted Admiralty form, the so-called “Victory Point Note” bore two messages. The first, dated May 28, 1847, said the ships Erebus and Terror had wintered in ice, that Franklin was commanding, and all were “well.”

By April 25, 1848, however, the situation had deteriorated markedly.

ATTENTION CANADIAN MILITARY FAMILIES : Did you or a family member receive VAC disability benefits between 2003 and 2023?

On 17 January 2024 the Federal Court approved a settlement in a class action involving alleged underpayment of certain disability pension benefits administered by Veterans Affairs Canada (“VAC”) payable to members or former members of the Canadian Armed Forces (“CAF”) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (“RCMP”) and their spouses, commonlaw partners, survivors, other related individuals, and estates (the “Settlement”).

If you received any of the disability-related benefits listed below at any time between 2003 and 2023, you may be entitled to compensation under the Settlement. As the executor, estate trustee, administrator, or family member of a deceased class member who collected VAC-administered disability benefits, you may also be able to claim on behalf of the estate.

Bowmanville prisoners of war. [U-35.com]

The Battle of Bowmanville

STORY BY ALEX BOWERS

“Wherever possible,” read a detailed Allied military plan for Operation Jubilee, “prisoners’ hands will be tied to prevent destruction of their documents.”

The order was a recipe for disaster on what would be a disastrous day in Dieppe, France, on Aug. 19, 1942. There, some 6,100 Allied troops—4,963 Canadians among them—endured nine hours of hell as the German defenders cut them to ribbons. The Dieppe Raid incurred about 3,000 casualties, amounting to almost half the original assault force; of those, more than 900 Canadian dead littered the bloodied shingles and wrecked commune, while 1,946 were taken prisoner.

Searching the washed-up bodies and burnt-out vehicles, the victorious Germans found the orders. Hitler was outraged—and it was destined to get far worse.