WWU's Center for Canadian-American Studies to Host 'Canada Week' March 4-9

Western Washington University’s Center for Canadian-American Studies will host Canada Week from March 4-9, featuring exciting campus and community-wide events including a series of film screenings, discussions, guest lectures, student-faculty connection events and field trips.

Canada Week Event Schedule:

Monday, March 4 

Issues on the OTHER Border: 10-10:50 a.m. in Fraser Hall 201

 

Canadian flag

Don Alper, former director of WWU’s Center for Canadian-American Studies and the Border Policy Research Institute, is the featured guest in an informal, interactive discussion of hot topics and issues regarding the U.S.-Canada border. With issues of trade, immigration and security, and in particular the renegotiation of NAFTA currently at the forefront of relations between the two countries, this will be a timely discussion to kick off Canada Week.

Canadian-American faculty and student lunch: 1 – 2 p.m. in Canada House 101

Born from the Ice: 3-4 p.m. at Canada House 101

Join Amy, Julia, Leo, and Parsa, four exchange students from Canada, to learn more about our neighbors to the north! They'll share their experiences living in both the U.S. and Canada, explore the intricacies of the Canada-U.S. relationship, and introduce you to Canada's breadth of culture. Afterwards prove your knowledge with a fun trivia challenge! Prizes will be provided.

Trivia franco-canadien: 6-7:30 p.m. Miller Hall 235 (In French)

Learn about the presence of French throughout Canada! Professor Christina Keppie will give a presentation EN FRANCAIS to introduce and familiarize students with the fascinating uniqueness of Canadian French. Following this presentation, students will have the chance to play a friendly game of trivia EN FRANCAIS to test their knowledge.

Tuesday, March 5

“Edge of the Knife” film screening: 2 p.m. in Fraser Hall 201

“Edge of the Knife” (Haida: SG̲aawaay Ḵ'uuna) is a 2018 Canadian drama film codirected by Gwaai Edenshaw and Helen Haig-Brown. It is the first feature film spoken only in dialects of the Haida language. Set in 19th-century Haida Gwaii, it tells the classic Haida story of a traumatized and stranded man transformed to Gaagiixiid, the wildman. Western’s Director of Linguistics, Professor Kristin Denham, will introduce the film.

Partner Concert: 8 p.m. at Firefly Lounge, downtown Bellingham (21+)

Sponsored by the Consulate General of Canada in Seattle https://partnerband.bandcamp.com/

Partner is funny, but not a joke. Gay but not for each other, as their Instagram tagline reads.

Partner is the "mature" effort of two best friends named Josée Caron and Lucy Niles from small town East Coast Canada. Borne of their bizarre and fortuitous friendship, Partner confidently harnesses the infinite power of rock music to explore a variety of niche yet strangely universal themes. Partner is self-described as post-classic-rock, and are Influenced by acts as varied as Melissa Etheridge, Ween, kd lang, and Prince, Partner delivers a refreshing and vital twist on a classic, prompting you to re-think what you thought was possible in rock. Their enthusiastic and action-packed live set has led them to be named the "best new band in Canada" in the Globe and Mail. Their debut album (In Search of Lost Time 2017) made NPR's All Songs Considered, Stereogum, Noisey, Exclaim, CBC Music, Playboy and many more best of 2017 lists. Partner is genre-defying and terrifying: part musical act, part teenage diary, and 100% queer.

Wednesday, March 6

“10/17 is the New 4/20: A Look at What Canadian Cannabis Legalization Really Means” 10-10:50 a.m. in Canada House 101

The recreational use of cannabis in Canada just became legal on Oct. 17, 2018. Only the second nation to do so, the government of Canada finds itself in largely uncharted territory making this move. Specifically, the Pacific Northwest region has been presented with a unique set of issues that relate to the fact that the northern U.S.–Canadian border falls into federal jurisdiction. U.S. federal law, maintaining that cannabis possession is illegal, is still enforced at the northern border regardless of the fact that it's sandwiched between two legal cannabis markets. While it may be reasonable for Canadian and American citizens to assume that they can cross without consequence given the change in legality, they may be unknowingly incriminating themselves if not properly informed.

Facilitator: WWU student Erin Dahlman-Oeth

It’s Fun to Stay in the USMCA: The new NAFTA and what it Means for Canada-U.S. Relations: 1-2 p.m. in Communications Facility 023

This talk, by Ross Distinguished Professor Ted Alden, will cover the extremely contentious negotiations that took place over the new NAFTA, how the deal came together, its prospects for passing the Congress this year, and what it means for the U.S.-Canada relationship.

“Zachary Richard, toujours batailleur (Cajun Heart)” film screening (free): 6 p.m. in Miller Hall 138 (In French with English subtitles)

Presented at the United Nations in Geneva, this film is a winner of 15 national and international awards. The  film’s director, Canadian Phil Comeau, will be on hand to introduce the film and lead a Q&A.

Thursday, March 7

Read the North: 1:30-4 p.m. in Canada House 101

Join Kyla Sweet, the Center for Canadian-American Studies K-12 specialist,  for a special Educators event called “Read the North.” We’ll have a large display of Canadian children’s books and authors, Canadian snacks, and take a trip to Western’s Library for a behind the scenes tour, a deep-dive into the CLIC collection and the chance to sign up for the WhatOne card, which allows you access to the entire WWU Library collection and interlibrary loans from across the nation. Discover local books, Coastal Indigenous authors and enter for lots of giveaways. Resources available in English, French, and Indigenous languages.

Treaty Rights and the TransMountain Pipeline: 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. in Academic West 204

Speaker Patti Gobin has over 25 years of Community Development experience with the Tulalip Tribes. See more at: https://huxley.wwu.edu/speaker-series/gobin-treaty-pipeline.

“The Accountant of Auschwitz” film screening: 5:45 p.m. at the Pickford Theater, downtown Bellingham

Cost: $6.50 students, $11.25 general admission

Seventy years after World War II, Oskar Gröning, one of the last surviving members of the SS, goes on trial as an accessory to the murder of 300,000 people at the Auschwitz concentration camp. Introduced by Professor Sandra Alfers, director of WWU’s Ray Wolpow Institute for the Study of Holocaust Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity; Sponsored by the Consulate General of Canada in Seattle and the Ray Wolpow Institute for the Study of Holocaust Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity. Western Professor Sarah Zarrow will introduce the film.

Friday March 8

Canada-U.S. Student Archive Conference: 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (Registration required)

C/AM 331 Day trip to False Creek: Noon – 5 p.m. Vancouver, BC

            For more information please contact David Rossiter at rossitd@wwu.edu.

 C/AM 430: Western Division of the Canadian Association of Geographers: All Day, Victoria BC

            For more information please contact Pat Buckley at patrick@wwu.edu

SERIOUS TRANS VIBES: Noon in Communications Facility 125

            Presentation by French-Canadian web comic artist Sophie Labelle. See more at: https://www. serioustransvibes.com/

CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS: Heart Berries, Part I: 4:30 p.m. in Communications Facility 110

In Part 1 of 2 scheduled talks in Bellingham, author Terese Mailhot will discuss writing through stereotypes and stigma as an Indigenous woman. Her discussion will focus on the first chapter of Heart Berries, which is an assertion of how she would like to be read, how her story is difficult to share, but necessary to her family's legacy and history. She will explore what it meant to her to write the book, and how it subverts reader expectations. She will also discuss how trauma, abject poverty, and colonization can stigmatize and damage an individual's psyche. Sponsored by the Consulate General of Canada in Seattle and Fairhaven Village Books.  See Terese Mailhot’s interview on the Daily Show at: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v= 5busoO0KLqM.

Saturday, March 9

CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS: Heart Berries, Part II: 7 p.m. at Village Books

Join us for Part 2 at Village Books on Saturday, March 9th at 7pm where Terese Mailhot will read excerpts from Heart Berries. In between, she will discuss the form and structure of the book, and how they relate to the overall themes of her memoir.Sponsored by the Consulate General of Canada in Seattle and Fairhaven Village Books. See more at: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v= 5busoO0KLqM.

            For more information please contact Christina Keppie, director of Western Washington University’s Center for Canadian-American Studies, at (360) 650- 3930 or christina.keppie@wwu.edu,  visit https://canam.wwu.edu/canada-week-2019/, or check out its Facebook page @canamwwu .