Indigenous Land Rights at the Center of Scholar Strike Teach-In

Originating with a tweet from Dr. Anthea Butler, Interim Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Scholar Strike and Scholar Strike Canada are two days of teach-ins to educate students about police brutality and violence against Black and Indigenous people.  

As part of Scholar Strike Canada, the Department for the Study of Religion, together with the Centre for Indigenous Studies, will host Solemn Promises on Stolen Land: Policing and Treaty-Breaking on 1492 Land Back Lane. This public, online teach-in will address how Indigenous efforts to protect and reclaim land through exercising their jurisdiction and treaty rights often result in police arrests and violence.  

Focused particularly on the ongoing 1492 Land Back Lane Haudenosaunee reclamation at a real estate development in Caledonia, the teach-in brings together professors from the Centre for Indigenous Studies (CIS) and the Department for the Study of Religion (DSR) at the University of Toronto, as well as researcher Courtney Skye of the Yellowhead Institute. Skye was arrested on September 3 while doing her research at 1492 Land Back Lane. Elder Eileen Antone will open and close the teach-in, which will be moderated by Prof. Susan Hill, Director of the Centre for Indigenous Studies, and includes Courtney Skye, Prof. Kevin White (CIS/DSR), and Prof. Dale Turner (CIS/Political Science).  

Please join the panel September 9th at 12:30pm via this Live Stream Link: youtube.com/channel/UC_0GfdXNSJhhAsvwV0psWaw/live

Speaker Bios

Eileen Antone Professor Emeritus

Eileen Antone is a member of the Oneida of the Thames First Nation, Turtle Clan. A former Director of Aboriginal Studies and the Centre for Aboriginal Initiatives at the University of Toronto, Prof. Antone is a member of the Elders’ Circle at U of T and is currently the Special Advisor to the Dean on Indigenous Issues at the Faculty of Arts & Science. Prof. Antone’s research, teaching, and professional writing has focused on Indigenous knowledge, literacy, and language, the Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address, and the significance of community-engaged learning.

Susan Hill

Susan M. Hill is a Haudenosaunee citizen from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. She is an Associate Professor of History and the Director of the Centre for Indigenous Studies at the University of Toronto. Her areas of research include Haudenosaunee history, Indigenous research methodologies and ethics, and Indigenous territoriality. She is the author of The Clay We Are Made Of: Haudenosaunee land tenure on the Grand River (University of Manitoba Press, 2017). She is the 2020-21 President of the Native American & Indigenous Studies Association (NAISA).

Courtney Skye

Courtney Skye is a Haudenosaunee citizen from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory and a Research Fellow at the Yellowhead Institute. She has led policy development for the public sector at local, provincial, and national levels. This includes a framework for youth development, a strategy co-developed with Indigenous partners to transform the governance, design, and delivery of child and family services, and a strategy to end violence against Indigenous women. Courtney strives to end all forms of colonial violence experienced by Indigenous peoples.

Kevin White

Kevin White is a Mohawk from Akwesasne, with family from the Tonawanda Band of Seneca. He is an Assistant Professor in the Department for the Study of Religion and Centre for Indigenous Studies at the University of Toronto. Kevin started at the University of Toronto in 2019. He was a Fulbright Fellow at Brock University, where he worked with the Indigenous Knowledge Centre at Six Nations Polytechnic. Previously, he was faculty and the Director of the Native American Studies and American Studies Programs at SUNY Oswego. His research focuses on the Haudenosaunee Creation narratives and storytelling as a way of better understanding cultural knowledge and history of those who have long called Turtle Island home for generations upon generations. Kevin aspires to help students and others face squarely the complicated pasts we all share. You can read more about him here.