Ontario is represented by several Indigenous groups that spread across Canada’s largest province, namely: Ojibway, Cree Delware, Potawatomi, Oneida, Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga and Tuscarora(1). Métis and diverse Indigenous nations from across Canada will also be represented in Ontario, often due to the large variety of college and university options to study.
Thomas King is one of Canada’s leading Indigenous award winning author, scholar and screenwriter who has captured imaginations with his humour-filled style of writing and brought First Nations issues front and centre for all of Canada and world to see. Thomas King will be most noted for his unique groundbreaking creative force in the production of CBC Radio’s Dead Dog Café Comedy Hour. This radio program gave Indigenous peoples in Canada a mainstream audience with contemporary representations of Aboriginal issues and culture all through a distinct humour created by Tom King. A Guelph University Professor, Thomas King was recognized by his peers in 2003 as the recipient of the Arts and Culture National Aboriginal Achievement Award. In the same year Thomas King was given the prestige of being selected to deliver the Massey Lecture Series which is Canada’s most significant public lecture series that has been graced by world renowned public figures like the late Dr. Martin Luther King and Noam Chomsky(2).
Ojibway from Curve Lake First Nations, Drew Hayden Taylor is an award winning and renowned Indigenous playwright, journalist/columnist, novelist, lecturer and scriptwriter with 20 published works. Drew’s infusion of humour in his works of writing over the past couple of decades has established a powerful medium …to educated and inform the world about issues that reflect and interfere in the lives of Canada’s First Nations(3).
This article is a non-comprehensive and living document that provides an overview of artistic activities in the region. It will be revised as necessary as part of our ongoing process of continuous updates.
1) http://www.aboriginalcanada.com/firstnation/dirfnont.htm
2) http://www.naaf.ca/html/t_king_e.html
3) http://www.drewhaydentaylor.com/biography.html