Stronger Together: DJ Shub kicks off National Indigenous Peoples’ Day event connecting 8 Canadian cities

Stronger Together: DJ Shub kicks off National Indigenous
Peoples’ Day event connecting 8 Canadian cities

Highlights include live performances by Juno winner DJ Shub, JB the First Lady,  DJ Handsome Tiger, and celebrations from Indigenous coalitions in Halifax, Vancouver, Surrey, Cambridge Bay, Thompson, Saskatoon, and more.

Halifax NS — The National Urban Indigenous Coalition Council (NUICC) hosts an online simulcast event on Tuesday, 21 June 2022, connecting eight urban Indigenous communities for National Indigenous Peoples Day.

From downtown Halifax to Cambridge Bay (Nunavut) to a Vancouver Indigenous boat cruise, the event will share stories, music, and interviews from Coast to Coast to Coast. Presented in both English and French, the 150-minute simulcast is co-presented on Eastlink Cable and Eastlink Stream, as well as on a NUICC-hosted Zoom broadcast (registration required) available at NUICC.ca

The event showcases urban Indigenous success stories, such as in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. NUICC interviews Emily Angulalik about her commitment and vision for the Kuugalak Cultural Centre — a $1.7-million facility for the Pitquhirnikkut Ilihautiniq / Kitikmeot Heritage Society — to advance cultural programs and activities for the western Nunavut community, to preserve the Inuinnaqtun language and culture, and to pass down Inuit language and traditional knowledge to people of all walks of life.

NUICC’s music program kicks-off at the Grand Oasis Stage in downtown Halifax in celebration of the Summer Solstice with DJ Shub and War Club Live, and special guests Fawn Wood and Boogat. DJ Shub (Dan General) is a Mohawk DJ and music producer, Juno award-winner, and member of the Six Nations of the Grand River. Known as the ‘the Godfather of Pow Wow Step’, DJ Shub will usher in the flag raising ceremony in Grand Parade.

On the West Coast, NUICC’s music program streams live from Holland Park in Surrey City Centre, with a live performance by JB the First Lady an Indigenous hip-hop and spoken word artist from the Nuxalk and Onondaga Nations. While she tells her own stories through raw rhythms and raps, her goal is to empower other young people through hip-hop or through their own art.

The program also includes children’s programming from Thompson, Manitoba at MacLean Park where Gina Spence, coordinator for Thompson Urban Aboriginal Strategy (TUAS), will host an Indigenous puppet show with Star (puppet woman) and singers performing songs for Indigenous Youth.

More cultural broadcasting will come from Saskatchewan’s City Square Plaza and Victoria Park in downtown Regina for the Red Dog Drum Group & Starblanket Dancers, the Asham Stompers, and Student Drum Group & Dancers, with special guest Conway Kootenay, comedian, actor and champion chicken dancer. Regina’s program is expanded with additional programming from coalitions in Prince Albert with Riverside Square Dancers and Pow Wow demonstrations from Métis nation members.

For practical Indigenous knowledge, NUICC is in Québec, to Val d’Or and Montréal, for a Decolonial Toolbox Launch and live interview with Geneviève Sioui, from the Huron-Wendat nation, and Concordia University’s first Indigenous community engagement coordinator.

Then, the simulcast concludes off the West Coast with an all-native boat cruise from the Native Hip Hop Society, co-hosted by Manik 1derful and DJ Handsome Tiger spinning on the top deck. Handsome Tiger is an Anishinaabe Métis / North African music producer and DJ. NUICC will have an exclusive interview with Handsome Tiger where he talks about the Decolonized Dance Party and his new album, Diaspora.

Join NUICC for this nationally-broadcast Coast to Coast to Coast event in the following time zones on Eastlink Community TV (digital cable and streaming) and on Zoom at NUICC.ca

• 3:30-6pm –  Pacific
• 4:30-7pm –  Mountain
• 5:30-8pm –  Central
• 6:30-9pm –  Eastern
• 7:30-10pm – Atlantic

Program details and schedule available on NUICC.ca

Join the one million urban Indigenous Peoples that live in urban centres in Canada. Add your urban voice to the celebration of National Indigenous Peoples Day. Share your pride: post a photo, record a video and tag #urbanindigenous — we are stronger together.

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About NUICC

The National Urban Indigenous Coalition Council advances the work of urban Indigenous coalitions from nearly every province and territory in Canada. NUICC was established in 2018 to engage urban Indigenous organizations, share their unique stories, raise the profile of local perspectives and issues, and to further advance a national dialogue on the growing numbers of Indigenous People in Canada living in urban centres.