A conversation on returning to Indigenous sovereignty through the reclamation of traditional foods and land-based cultural practices, with our festival's opening ceremony feature, the documentary Foragers, as a starting point. Through thoughtful conversation we aim to draw connections between colonial violence in the MENA region experienced by Palestinians and the colonial violence experienced by Indigenous people here on the Salish Coast and across Turtle Island. This
discussion imagines a future where Indigenous lands are returned to Indigenous hands and Indigenous knowledge is respected, upheld and protected. Together we will dive into what the Land Back movement stands for and break down how as a society we can work together to support Indigenous Sovereignty.
Fateema Al-Hamaydeh Miller is a mixed-race Palestinian Screenwriter, Director and Organizer based in Tkaronto. Her work explores themes of fragmented identity, isolation and connection through grounded "oh no, should I laugh?" comedy. Fateema embraces the humour in discomfort to explore the pains and joys of being human and believes in resilience and resistance through laughter. She is particularly passionate about writing nuanced and humanizing representations of Arabs and Muslims for the screen and creating accessible spaces for marginalized voices both in front of and behind the camera.
Ingrid is a founder of Ancestral Food Ways . Ingrid is an Agroecologist Engineer and a permaculturist, community artist, agricultural worker and a cook. Ingrid is the mom of two little girls who creates space to teach them about their intercultural heritage and growing around the 3 sisters-Milpa in a land based approach. Ingrid is passionate about horticulture and takes care of collective gardens. This year Ingrid and extended family hold an legacy field house residency at Strathcona Park providing land based education programing and access to traditional foods to urban IBPOC communities also works in solidarity collaboration with Harmony Garden hosted by Squamish elders. Ingrid has a background in facilitating workshops around biocultural, agroecology- permaculture and community art projects within intergenerational groups in a holistic approach. She loves travelling to different territories, harvesting medicinal plants for medicinal baths and ceremonies, visiting elders and friends, where she is learning how to be a good guest in relation to their cultural practices.
jaz whitford is a mixed secwe̓ pemc & settler interdisciplinary artist who embodies anti-professionalism & anti-colonialism as a way to move toward a future where indigenous knowledge and ways of being are not only respected, but valued & revered. using a range of materials, forms and mediums they work to investigate and express their lived experience and understanding of spirituality, resistance, ancestral connections, and community care. jaz’s ancestry ties them to cstálen ( adams lake ) in unceded secwepemcúl’ecw in the southern interior of so-called “british columbia” where they had the privilege of being raised close with the lands and waters within their territories & beyond, and it informs their work expansively. living predominantly on the west coast since 2017, the bulk of their work has bloomed within the territories of the Skwxwú7mesh, Səl̓ílwətaʔ, xwməθkwəy̓ əm, and Stó:lō where they have been overwhelmed with the warmheartedness & generosity of the host nations and allied communities.
