In This Issue:

Canadian Culture

• Happy Halloween! Why the modern holiday is distinctly “Canadian”

News from Berkeley

• BAMPFA curator Victoria Sung discusses working with Cree artist Duane Linklater on new exhibit mymotherside
• Reminder: Get your official remembrance poppy from Canadian Studies

External Events

• Canada Seminar: “Constructing the Future of Health Care in Canada”
• Cosponsored performance: Ewako ôma askiy. This then is the earth.
• Last call for tickets: Canadian Heritage Hockey Night: Sharks vs. Canucks
• Canadian films at the 48th Annual American Indian Film Festival (AIFF)
• Remembrance Day Service

CANADIAN CULTURE

Why Modern Halloween is a “Canadian” Holiday

Tomorrow is Halloween, the haunted holiday beloved by children (and adults!) across the US and Canada. While Halloween’s origins lie in an ancient Celtic harvest festival, the modern celebration is a distinctly North American creation. Scottish and Irish immigrants brought their customs west with them in the 19th century, where they evolved into the holiday we know and love today. But while Halloween is often considered an “American” holiday, in fact many of its staple traditions were first reported in Canada!

• Children wearing Halloween costumes was first reported in Vancouver in 1898.
• The first record of trick-or-treating (then called “guising”) was in Ontario in 1911.
• The first recorded use of the term “trick or treat” was in Alberta in 1927.

So whether you’ll be out trick-or-treating, attending a party, or staying at home with a scary movie, a very happy Halloween from Canadian Studies!

Image by Freepik.com.

NEWS FROM BERKELEY

BAMPFA Curator Victoria Sung Discusses Working With Cree Artist Duane Linklater on New Exhibit mymotherside

On Friday, Berkeley News published an interview with Victoria Sung, a senior curator at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), about the museum’s new exhibition by Canadian Cree artist Duane Linklater. The exhibit, titled mymotherside, provides a survey of Linklater’s multidisciplinary career, and Sung was responsible for bringing the show to Berkeley. According to the exhibit description, it seeks to “explore the contradictions of contemporary Indigenous life within settler systems of knowledge, representation and value”.

Mymotherside is the first exhibit Sung has organized since joining the museum earlier this year. In the interview, Sung discusses the process of working with Linklater. Describing him as one of the most “thoughtful” artists she has ever worked with, she expresses how Linklater’s art “interrogates” the institutions that show his pieces. This has particular meaning at UC Berkeley, which has a troubled history with collecting Indigenous arts and sacred objects. Linklater’s work directly addresses the complicity of museums and academic institutions in contributing to the dispossession and erasure of historical and contemporary Native people.

When Linklater visited Berkeley early in October, he made it a priority to make meaningful connections with Native students on campus. For Sung, who strongly believes in making museums welcoming to marginalized groups, it was also important to ensure that the gallery space provided a meaningful space for Indigenous visitors, and to show their cultures as alive and vibrant.

The gallery is therefore hosting several live events in conversation with the exhibition. This week, Canadian Studies is cosponsoring a series of open rehearsals by Alutiiq dance artist Tanya Lukin Linklater, who is Linklater’s wife. Then, in January, the museum will host a roundtable focused on Indigenous knowledge and reviving ancestral practices, featuring Canadian Studies faculty affiliate Beth Piatote. Finally, in February, Linklater will return to Berkeley with his son Tobias to close out the exhibit with a live musical performance.

Mymotherside runs at BAMPFA through February 25, 2024. Admission to the museum is free to UC Berkeley faculty, staff, and students.

Photo of Duane Linklater at BAMPFA by KLC Photos, via Berkeley News.

In partnership with Royal Canadian Legion US Branch #25, the Canadian Studies Program is proud to serve as an official distributor of remembrance poppies. Interested persons may pick up their poppies at our office in 213 Philosophy Hall on the UC Berkeley campus, weekdays between 9am-4pm. While the poppy is free, the Legion gratefully accepts donations towards their Poppy Fund, which directly supports Canadian veterans and their families. Learn more about the Poppy Campaign here.

EXTERNAL EVENTS

Canada Seminar: “Constructing the Future of Health Care in Canada”

Tues., Oct. 31 | 9:00 am PT | Online | RSVP

The Weatherhead Canada Program at Harvard University welcomes Dr. Jane Philpott, Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences and Director of the School of Medicine at Queen’s University in Ontario. Dr. Philpott is a medical doctor, a professor of family medicine, and former member of Parliament. From 2015 to 2019 she served as Canada’s Minister of Health, Minister of Indigenous Services, President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government. She played a lead role in policies that shaped the country: bringing Syrian refugees to Canada; legislating Medical Assistance in Dying; negotiating a health accord with resources for mental health and home care; improving infrastructure for First Nations; and reforming child welfare to reduce the over-apprehension of Indigenous children. She is currently the chair of the Ontario Health Data Council, vice-chair of the Ontario Life Sciences Council and was recently appointed as a commissioner to the Global Commission on Drug Policy.

Ewako ôma askiy. This then is the earth.

Nov. 1-4 | BAMPFA | Learn more

Canadian Studies is pleased to cosponsor artist and choreographer Tanya Lukin Linklater’s performance Ewako ôma askiy. This then is the earth. at BAMPFA. This cyclical series of dance rehearsals will respond to the exhibition Duane Linklater: mymotherside, and feature Canadian dancers Ivanie Aubin-Malo and Ceinwen Gobert. The public is invited to view the in-situ, unfolding processes of embodiment, gesture, and sensation. Lukin Linklater is compelled by audiences viewing open rehearsals, or the process of making dances. Through experimentation, structured improvisation, prompts from objects in exhibition, place, and writings, she facilitates a choreographic process. Lukin Linklater is staying with this slow unfolding, refusing to culminate these processes in finished performances. In this way, she centres the intellectual, affective, and physical labor – and relational aspects – of making dances. The open rehearsals are free to the Berkeley community with their Cal1 card, and included in the public’s entrance to BAMPFA.

Last Call for Tickets: Canadian Heritage Hockey Night: Sharks vs. Canucks

Nov. 2 | 4:30 pm | San Jose, CA | Buy tickets

The San José Sharks, Digital Moose Lounge, and Canadian Consulate in San Francisco are pleased to bring you a special Canadian Heritage Game Night! Join fellow hockey fans in a dedicated Canadian zone at this family-friendly event. Your VIP tickets will get you pregame lounge access, Canadian smoked meats and poutine, and a few special surprises. Ticket sales close tomorrow, Tuesday, October 31.

Canadian Films at the 48th Annual American Indian Film Festival (AIFF)

Nov. 3-11 | San Francisco Bay Area | Buy tickets

The Consulate General of Canada in San Francisco is pleased to support the 47th annual American Indian Film Festival (AIFF). For 48 years, the Festival has been a pillar in San Francisco for independent film, showcasing cutting edge cinema by and about Native peoples. Almost every day features works by Indigenous Canadian filmmakers, starting with an opening night screening of Bones of Crows: the story of a Cree matriarch that unfolds over 100 years and chronicles her survival through Canada’s residential schools and a WWII posting as a Cree code talker for the Royal Canadian Air Force. View the full schedule here.

Remembrance Day Service

Sat., Nov. 11 | 10:00 am | Petaluma, CA

Join US Branch 25 of the Royal Canadian Legion, representing the San Francisco Bay Area, for their annual Remembrance Day Service from Liberty Cemetery in Petaluma. Guests are welcome at the cemetery. The service will also be streamed live via Zoom; if you are unable to join in person, please register here to join the online feed. Please direct questions to US Branch #25 President Michael Barbour.

Canadian Studies Program

213 Philosophy Hall #2308

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