Canadian Studies Announcements

In This Issue:

Upcoming Events

• From the Shadows: Reflections on Sanctuary in Montreal Over the Long 20th Century

• Panel: Asserting Indigenous Title to Unceded Wolastoqey Territory

Other Events

• Political Archery and Moving Targets: How Canada Made it a Crime to Perpetrate “Conversion Therapy” and What it Will Take to Fully Eradicate the Practices

• Film Screening: Maliglutit

TOMORROW

From the Shadows: Reflections on Sanctuary in Montreal Over the Long 20th Century

Tues., Feb. 18 | 12:30 pm | 223 Philosophy Hall | RSVP

In the first decades of the twentieth century, the notion of sanctuary was repurposed in an effort to protect migrants and refugees from deportation and create broad-based social justice movements aimed at reforming existing immigration regimes in the United States and Canada. The New Sanctuary Movement, or what has been called the Sanctuary City Movement or Solidarity City Movement, galvanized supporters while also drawing the ire of critics. These movements also called into question the very notion of sanctuary, its purpose, and how social change might be effected.

The city of Montreal, known as Tiohtià:ke in Kanien’kéha and Mooniyang in Anishinaabemowin, declared itself a sanctuary city in 2017. However, in the face of large-scale immigration in the wake of the first Trump administration’s so-called “Muslim Ban” and other restrictions on refuge, it quickly walked back this decision, opting instead to describe itself as a “responsible city”. The ease with which both the declaration and the change in course were effected offers an opening to interrogate the meaning and substance of sanctuary in our contemporary moment as well as the many ways it has manifested historically.

This presentation explores the history of sanctuary in Montreal, a city long characterized by mobility and contested settlement, to interrogate the ways in which the seeking and forging of refuge has evolved. Using a series of case studies, this presentation underscores the shift from secrecy to public sanctuary in particular and raises questions about the extent to which contemporary sanctuary practices can address the fundamental injustices at the core of experiences of refuge and displacement.

About the Speaker

Dr. Laura Madokoro is an associate professor in the Department of History at Carleton University, unceded Algonquin territory in Ottawa, Canada. Her research explores the transnational history of migration, refuge, settler colonialism and humanitarianism in the long 20th century. Her current research focuses on the history of imperial displacements. Dr. Madokoro’s published works include Elusive Refuge: Chinese Migrants in the Cold War (Harvard, 2016) and Sanctuary in Pieces: Two Centuries of Flight, Fugitivity, and Resistance in a North American City (MQUP, 2024). She is also an active member of several research collectives including the Montreal History Group, Critical Refugee and Migration Studies Canada, and the editorial collectives for activehistory.ca and refugeehistory.org.

If you require an accommodation to fully participate in this event, please let us know at least 7 days in advance.

UPCOMING EVENT

Panel: Asserting Indigenous Title to Unceded Wolastoqey Territory

Tues., Feb. 25 | 12:30 pm | 223 Philosophy Hall | RSVP

In 2021, six Wolastoqey communities launched a landmark lawsuit asserting an Indigenous title claim over more than five million hectares of territory in eastern Canada, one of the largest in the country’s history. They assert that the area, which covers more than half of the province of New Brunswick, was never ceded under the Peace and Friendship Treaties which various tribes signed with the British Crown in the 18th century. In a first of its kind, defendants in the suit include not just the federal and provincial governments, but also multiple forestry and industrial companies. The Wolastoqey hope that victory will not only increase their influence over issues from land use to taxation, but possibly even result in the return of land to tribal ownership.

The lawsuit has major implications for Indigenous title claims across Canada, and the Wolastoqey have already scored several key victories in their fight to assert their land rights. In November, a New Brunswick judge ruled that a declaration of Aboriginal title could be made to privately-held lands. And change of provincial government has also softened the province’s stance, opening the door to greater cooperation. Join leading negotiators and legal experts from the Wolastoqey Nation as they discuss the case’s current status; the state of Crown-Indigenous relations; and how the suit could change the future of Indigenous nations across Canada.

About the Speakers

Allan Polchies Jr. is the four-term Sakom (chief) of the Sitansisk Wolastoqey (St. Mary’s) First Nation, located in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Sitansisk is the second-largest Wolastoqey community in the province, and one of the six plaintiffs in the title suit. Polchies has served over seventeen years on the band council, and has led the community through its Indigenous title claim.

Renée Pelletier is a partner at Olthuis Kleer Townshend (OKT) LLP, and the lead counsel on the Wolastoqey title claim. She is a member of the New Brunswick and Ontario Bars, specializing in Aboriginal and treaty rights litigation and negotiation. She teaches courses on land claims and self-government at the University of New Brunswick and serves as co-chair of Osgoode Professional Development’s Certificate Program in the Fundamentals of Indigenous Peoples and Canadian Law. She was awarded the Osgoode Hall Law School’s Alumni Gold Key Award for a Career of Distinction in 2024.

Victoria Wicks is an associate at OKT working on the Wolastoqey claim. She completed her law degree at the University of British Columbia, where she obtained a specialization in Aboriginal Law and worked at the Indigenous Community Legal Clinic. Before joining OKT, Wicks clerked at the Court of Appeal for Ontario and practiced at a litigation boutique. She holds an Honours Bachelor of Arts in political science from the University of Toronto and is a member of the Law Society of Ontario.

If you require an accommodation to fully participate in this event, please let us know at least 7 days in advance.

OTHER EVENTS

Political Archery and Moving Targets: How Canada Made it a Crime to Perpetrate “Conversion Therapy” and What it Will Take to Fully Eradicate the Practices

Thurs., Feb. 20 | Noon | 340 Haviland Hall | Learn more

Approximately 9% of sexual and gender minorities globally are exposed to “conversion therapy,” or organized attempts to suppress or deny the identities of queer and trans people. This talk will review an inter-sectoral action-oriented research program that sought to clarify the scope and nature of contemporary conversion practices during the proposal, debate, passage, and enforcement of anti-conversion practice legislation in Canada, 2019-24. Attendees will learn about the characteristics of contemporary conversion practices as well as how community-engaged research led to shifts in Canadian federal policy.

Travis Salway is an associate professor of health sciences at Simon Fraser University. He is a social epidemiologist who works to understand and improve the health of Two-Spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (2S/LGBTQ) populations. In 2019-2020, he testified for two standing committees of the Canadian House of Commons, resulting in the passage of Bill C-4, making it a crime to practice conversion therapy.

Film Screening: Maliglutit

Fri., Feb. 28 | 7:00 pm | BAMPFA | Buy tickets

Inspired by the Westerns he grew up watching, Canadian Inuit filmmaker Zacharias Kunuk’s Maliglutit (Searchers) strips away some conventional elements of the Western (the arid deserts, horses, and cowboys) to highlight the invincible power of the Arctic landscape and the importance of community and ancestral knowledge for survival. Set in Nunavut, Northern Canada, in 1913, the wife and daughter of Kuanana are kidnapped by a trio of greedy, rapacious men. Calling on his father’s spiritual guide, Kuanana and his son set out to find them. Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq provides the hauntingly effective soundtrack. “An emotionally arduous journey with fierce twists and an unrelenting sense of urgency up until the final, hard-fought frame” (Shane Scott-Travis, Taste of Cinema). The screening will feature an introduction by Canadian Studies affiliate professor Shari Huhndorf.

Writeup modified from original provided by BAMPFA associate film curator Kate McKay.

Canadian Studies Program

213 Philosophy Hall #2308

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