Department of History Faculty Member Receives Canada Council for the Arts Grant

Congratulations to the Department of History’s Kelly Saxberg, who has been awarded a Canada Council for the Arts grant for a project called the "Reconciliation Through Art Tour.” This project began a decade ago with the scanning by Lakehead students and alumni of the personal papers of Susan Ross and Sheila Burnford. The files and scans are now in the Thunder Bay Museum and available to researchers. These documents include a large number of Ross’s sketch books from her travels to numerous First Nations in Northern Ontario and to hamlets in the Arctic. Using this material Kelly has directed documentaries such as “Silent Cries” and "A Tale of Two Qallunaat“, both of which are currently on the festival circuit. In addition to the films, Kelly developed the "Reconciliation Through Art Tour” which involves sending an art installation and copies of Ross’ sketch books to the communities she and Burnford visited in the 1960s and 1970s. The sketches and writings of these intrepid women are unique in that they visited these communities at a time when the only outsiders were people visiting in an official capacity. Ross’ sketches and Burnford’s stories offer insights that cannot be found elsewhere because they went to learn and not to regulate, exploit, and/or report. In partnership with the Thunder Bay Museum and a number of communities, organizations, and galleries in Northern Ontario and across the Arctic, the "Reconciliation Through Art Tour” will include the installation, workshops, sketch books and Kelly's latest films. Kelly will also travel with the tour to select communities and ensure that copies of the sketch books are available for future generations.