Stories from the Multicultural Grandmothers of Edmonton and Treaty 6 Territory

Dylan Lightbourn • February 19, 2019

Circle Teachings is in the planning and networking stage of our long awaited Stories from the Multicultural Grandmothers of Edmonton project!

We need our community's help to get the word out to grandmother representatives from different faith and cultural communities in Edmonton, potential sponsors, and educators who might have other kinds of valuable input as to how this project should take shape!

How we arrived at the opportunity to do this project

Circle Teachings has been working closely for the past five years with Indigenous Elders, grandparents, and storytellers in Edmonton, Alberta.

That work has been done in collaboration with the Kohkom Kisewatisiwin Society of Edmonton, Alberta.

Our mission in working together is to build relationships, and create quality printed resources with teachings from Indigenous Elders and grandparents to support the resilience of our communities and Edmonton youth.

The Kohkom Society has multicultural membership and supporters, in addition to a broad spectrum of multicultural Indigenous members, and there have been countless requests for a Stories from Multicultural Grandmothers project. This would include grandmothers local and international (whose descendants live in Edmonton) who are from a variety of cultural and faith backgrounds.

"A project that connects young people to the teachings of multicultural grandmothers in their community to foster respect, resilience, and peaceful coexistence."

Including multicultural grandmothers in one publication facilitates curiosity in, acceptance of, and respect for other cultures’ customs and traditions.

"This is about relationship building."

Our vision for Edmonton’s multicultural future is that not only are people from all different cultures welcome to live here, but that they can keep their cultures alive in Edmonton and share them in the spirit of relationship building, and common values.

"We wish for other cultures to feel welcome and respected when they come here, to learn about cultures Indigenous to the land they live on, and to share their own in respectful ways." 

What you can do to help

  • Share this announcement with your network
  • Suggest grandmothers from your community that would be open to participating as an oral storyteller
  • Talk to us about what you would like to see as a result of this work
  • Connect us with sponsors, or sponsor the project

Fundraising

If funded adequately, this project will result in a calendar showcase with 44 pages, 10,000 words, and 65 photos; video teachings from interviews with multicultural grandmothers; audio material that can be used later in other ways such as a podcast, posters, blog posts, and more.

This project is groundbreaking in that it is lead and informed by Indigenous grandmothers who are active leaders in multicultural community building in Edmonton.

We require immediate sponsorship for this project in order to move forward. Please support the work we are doing together with Edmonton grandmothers from Indigenous and multicultural backgrounds to connect with youth and educators to make Edmonton a better place.

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