DAY ONE

Time: Friday, September 12, 6:00 PM @ Location: Chief Dan George Theatre
Registration in the Lobby

Time: Friday, September 12, 6:30 PM @ Location: Chief Dan George Theatre
Welcome Ceremony, Protocol
Dance by lək̓ʷəŋən Dance Group, Drumming and Singing by The Hul'q'umi'num' Language & Culture Society

Time: Friday, September 12, 7:15 - 7:30 PM @ Location: Chief Dan George Theatre
Performance: Opening with Tara Morris, Hazel Fairbairn and Kirsten Sadeghi-Yekta
A poetic journey into language: exploring the mechanisms for passing on cultural knowledge and searching for a way to open up our brains, hearts and minds for the festival.
In weaving three biographies in which language, heritage, legacy, raising children and meeting with grandparents, we looked for what connects us as humans. Central to this poem is the intergenerational courage of our Elders.
A celebration of a gathering, opening is also an encouragement.

Time: Friday, September 12, 7:30 PM @ Location: from Lobby Chief Dan George Theatre to Roger Bishop Theatre
Intermission and Location Change

Time: Friday, September 12, 8:00 - 8:15 PM @ Location: Roger Bishop Theatre
Performance: Útszan by Yvonne Wallace
Yvonne Wallace (Ucwalmicw) is from the Lil’wat Nation. She graduated the Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree program at Capilano University and is currently working on her Master’s in Education Leadership at UBC. Her enthusiasm for theatre began while she worked at The Centre for Indigenous Theatre. Later, she graduated with honours from Humber College Theatre Acting program. She has written four plays: “Smothered Sweetly,” “The Last Dance,” “I Will Remember My Language” and “ustzan (to make things better),” a play dealing with language reclamation and her first language fluency progression.
Utszan premiered in Whistler, in 2019, Yvonne’s traditional Territory; and has toured to Dawson City, Whitehorse. She is looking forward to honouring her bookings that were scheduled as playwright and performer as soon as our current situation becomes safe. Yvonne can be found in Lil’wat working on her fifth play, “ReZonance.”

Time: Friday, September 12, 9:15 PM @ Location: Roger Bishop Theatre
Reception in the Lobby: Meet and Greet

DAY TWO

Time: Saturday, September 13, 8:30 AM @ Location: Phoenix Theatre Lobby
Breakfast

Time: Saturday, September 13, 9:00 AM
Welcome
Ceanna Wood and Jill Goranson will introduce the Gratitude Bundle

Time: Saturday, September 13, 9:30 - 10:45 AM @ Location: MacIntyre Studio
Workshop: From page to stage with Tara Morris
Tara Morris (Suwsiw) is a scholar, educator, and theatre practitioner dedicated to Indigenous language revitalization and storytelling. Tara is a performer and researcher with the Hul’q’umi’num’ Heroes Theatre Troupe, using drama to engage communities in language reclamation. Through teaching, research, and performance, she continues to strengthen Indigenous voices in academia and the arts.

Time: Saturday, September 13, 9:30 - 10:45 AM @ Location: Chief Dan George
Workshop: Dancing the Ktunaxa Language by Samantha Sutherland
Exercise your mind and body while learning a new language through dance. Guided by Samantha, you will learn words and phrases of the Ktunaxa language by moving our bodies and using our voice. Ktunaxa is an isolate language with its origins in Ktunaxa ʔamak’is (the Ktunaxa peoples homelands) or what is now referred to as the Kootenay region of British Columbia.

Time: Saturday, September 13, 9:30 - 10:45 AM @ Location: Roger Bishop Theatre
Workshop: Finding Your Voice by Laura Cranmer and Amanda Wager

Time: Saturday, September 13, 10:45 AM @ Location: The Lobby
Break

Time: Saturday, September 13, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM @ Location: Chief Dan George
Workshop: Minoosh Doo-Kapeeshiw by Charlene Van Buekenhout
Minoosh Doo-Kapeeshiw” was created by Charlene and first premiered at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival digitally in 2022 and live in 2023 since then it has played outside on the grass, in community halls, and in its renovated interactive language workshop form, on the banks of Assiniboine River, and in the snow! Other Michif language theatre projects include “Doo-Pashkishok Lii Padrii” which has been performed and transformed both as a family theatre piece and a racy burlesque all in the name of language revitalization, as well as various Michif Clown explorations and performances throughout Treaty 1.
Charlene played Josephine-Marie (lead role/ narrator) in Manitoba Opera’s Li Keur: Riel’s Heart of The North and was honoured to work with French Michif language keepers through that process. Charlene was the Script Carrier for Tara Beagan’s Rise, Red River in 2024 produced by TCM, PTE, and Article 11 and carried forth language preservation through translations and edits of this new work in Anishinaabemowin, French, and English surtitles.

Time: Saturday, September 13, 12:00 PM @ Location: The Lobby
Lunch

Time: Saturday, September 13, 12:45 - 1:45 PM @ Location: MacIntyre Studio
Workshop: Working with Languages that you Don’t Speak with Deneh’Cho Thompson & Pedro Chamale
Pedro Chamale, founding Artistic Director of rice & beans theatre, and Deneh’Cho Thompson, Associate Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, both facilitate multilingual theatre and performance that includes language(s) that they do not speak.
This collaborative workshop explores principles and techniques that promote language learning, fluency, and inclusion in performance. Through the sharing of experiences and the testing of ideas, the collective of this workshop will develop and articulate ways of working that suit their own contexts. Methods that allow non-speakers to facilitate shared language proficiency have the potential to broaden the impact of language revitalization and reclamation efforts and to promote further inter-Nation-al knowledge sharing and exchange.
Join them for fun and games, and maybe we will all learn something new!

Time: Saturday, September 13, 12:45 - 1:45 PM @ Location: Chief Dan George
Workshop: Accessing Language Through Blood Memory with Ceanna Wood & Jill Goranson
Join Ceanna Wood & Jill Goranson in a one hour workshop that will explore voice, body and imagination through sound, movement and writing practices. Jill and Ceanna will lead you through practices that explore the natural world, the sounds that exist in it, and the knowledge stored in our bodies all with the intent to activate your blood memory. Participants are invited to write, move, and use their voice to whatever level feels comfortable for them.
Ceanna and Jill will also guide participants in creating their own Gratitude Bundles during the festival—a practice designed to help you connect with the natural world and reflect on what you are grateful for. Find Ceanna and Jill at the Wellness Table throughout the weekend to receive instructions and materials to make your bundle.

Time: Saturday, September 13, 12:45 - 1:45 PM @ Location: Roger Bishop
Workshop: How far do you go (to make theatre in a minority language)? with Wessel De Vries
To direct the first play in the endangered Kven language, playwright and director Wessel de Vries traveled far away from home. Far above the polar circle (where it was cold an dark) rehearsals started at Kvääniteatteri, and a lot of big challenges had to be faced. What do you do if your actors don’t speak the minority language the play is in (because there are no living actors that can speak it)? How will you connect with the audience when the majority does not speak the language as well? How will you cope with the community that speaks the language (of for whom the language is vital) and has opinions about your play? How do you find the freedom to make a piece of art instead of only a piece of language emancipation?
All these questions will be discussed in this workshop: the obstacles, solutions, despair and hope. There might be a lot of challenges when you make theatre in a minority language. You have to go far. But most of the time it’s worth it. Because after the challenges we faced in Northern Norway, the artistic product was fulfilling: emancipatory, filled with language, and art at the same time.

Time: Saturday, September 13, 1:45 PM @ Location: The Lobby
Intermission

Time: Saturday, September 13, 2:00 - 3:15 PM @ Location: Chief Dan George
Performance: Scenes from the Nanaimo Indian Hospital by Laura Cranmer and Amanda Wager
Counselling/emotional support (@ room 141) and post-show talking circle available for this performance.

Time: Saturday, September 13, 2:00 - 3:00 PM @ Location: MacIntyre Studio
Workshop: Felt Understanding: Learning SENCTON Language and Remembering Stories with Lauren Jerke and Lyndsey Henry
In this workshop, participants will engage with storytelling and drama as powerful tools for learning, connection, and language revitalisation. Building on a previous lesson we taught at ȽÁU, WELṈEW̱ Tribal School to middle school students, where students told W̱SÁNEĆ stories and then brought them to life through performance, we will invite this group to take part in a similar process. Participants will work collaboratively to share stories, embody them through drama conventions, and reflect on the meaning and impact of the experience.
Alongside the storytelling and drama, Dr. Lauren Jerke will share insights into the role of drama in supporting language revitalisation and cultural learning by valuing intuition and felt understanding. Lyndsey Henry will reflect on how this work has impacted her SENĆOŦEN Language class, highlighting the connections between drama, student engagement, and community knowledge.
This workshop is designed to be participatory, reflective, and respectful. It honours Indigenous knowledge systems by centring story and relationship, while offering practical approaches for educators and learners interested in drama, language, and cultural renewal.

Time: Saturday, September 13, 3:00 PM @ Location: Outside the Phoenix Building
Cedar Brushing

Time: Saturday, September 13, 3:45 PM @ Location: The Lobby
Intermission

Time: Saturday, September 13, 4:00 - 4:30 PM @ Location: Outside the Phoenix Building
Outdoor Performance: Traditional Hoop Dance by Jay Genaille
Jay Genaille paints a unique story through the art of this Traditional Hoop Dance presentation. Jay will engage with the audience by offering an introduction and a short bio, speaking about how he has revitalized his language through dance. Then, he will share some of the teachings around the hoop dance and provide a better understanding by explaining the meaning behind each formation, showcasing a 15 minute performance in honour of our animal relatives of the Land, Elders, Ancestors, community, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Men and Women and the Children who never made it home. Finally, he will close the show with motivational, inspirational, and encouraging words, leaving time for Q&A.

Time: Saturday, September 13, 4:45 - 6:30 PM @ Location: Chief Dan George Theatre
Banquet/Dinner with Performances

Time: Saturday, September 13, 5:30 PM @ Location: Chief Dan George
Performance: Slip Away by Samantha Sutherland
Slip Away, a solo created and performed by Samantha Sutherland explores themes of loss and hope relating to the endangered state of the Ktunaxa Language. What happens when individuals are motivated by fear? What work needs to happen to develop a sense of hope for our future? This solo shares accounts of the current efforts toward preservation of the endangered language, and showcases dreams of how it may continue to be enlivened in the future.

Time: Saturday, September 13, 5:45 PM @ Location: Chief Dan George
Dance by Git Hayetsk Dancers
The Git Hayetsk Dancers are an internationally renowned dance group led in partnership by artist and carver Mike Dangeli (Nisga’a, Tsimshian, Tlingit, and Tsetsaut Nations) and Dr. Mique’l Dangeli (Tsimshian and Tlingit Nations), Assistant Professor of Indigenous Arts in the Department of Art History and Visual Studies at the University of Victoria.
Git Hayetsk means “people of the copper shield” in Sm’algya̱ x, the language spoken by the Nisga’a, Tsimshian, and Gitxsan Nations. The copper shield is the highest form of ceremonial wealth shared among their people as well as other First Nations along the Northwest Coast. Their dancers are bonded by their connections to the Sm’algya̱ x speaking peoples with distinction in their family ties to the many other Nations in Northern British Columbia, the Yukon, and Southeast Alaska. Since 1999, they have shared their songs and dances at ceremonial and public events in urban and rural communities through Canada, the US, and abroad including Austria, Malaysia, Germany, and Japan.
The Git Hayetsk Dancers challenge themselves to learn and practice the artistry of dance, song composition, choreography, and regalia-making to the standards of wealth, power, and prestige embodied by the copper shield. With deep love and respect for their communities, they draw their strengths together to give life to the songs and dances of their ancestors as well as bring to life new ones that reflect their experiences as First Nations people today.

Time: Saturday, September 13, 6:30 PM @ Location: Chief Dan George
Closing ceremony
With Collective Singing led by the Hul'q'umi'num' Language & Culture Society