What's On Past Events: 

Town Hall: Indigenous Voices

Main Stage

Hosted by Arts Etobicoke in partnership with Soundstreams.

We want to know: what role do the arts play in uncovering and highlighting Indigenous experience? Can they help in providing insight into shared history? We believe the arts play a crucial role, but we want to hear from you.

Join Soundstreams, host Arts Etobicoke, and special guest speakers, including composer Ian Cusson, mezzo-soprano Rebecca Cuddy, and artist, activist, Knowledge Keeper, and historian Philip Cote, for a lively discussion with Soundstreams Founding Artistic Director Lawrence Cherney and staff.

What to Expect

  • 6:30-7:15pm – join us for a Watch Party of Encounters: Indigenous Voices (followed by a brief intermission)
  • 7:30-8:15pm – the Town Hall: Indigenous Voices discussion, reflecting on the broadcast and broader themes connected to it.
  • Sharing visual examples of Philip Cote’s work.
  • Live audience Q&A

Once you sign up, we’ll be sending out a link to join us on Zoom before the date. Please make sure to have Zoom downloaded.

Featured Guests

Ian Cusson, composer
Rebecca Cuddy, mezzo-soprano
Philip Cote, artist, activist, Knowledge Keeper, and historian
Lawrence Cherney, Soundstreams Artistic Director
Emma Fowler, moderator and Soundstreams Interim Executive Director

This program is dedicated to the hundreds of Indigenous children whose graves were recently discovered at former residential schools in British Colombia and Saskatchewan, and countless others that remain missing or undocumented.

From the 1830s until 1997, more than 150,000 Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families and sent to residential schools as part of a systematic attempt by the Canadian government to “remove the Indian from the child.” Many never returned to their home communities.

In 2008, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission concluded that at least 4,100 children died at these institutions, and it is likely that number is much higher.

Encounters: Indigenous Voices and Town Hall: Indigenous Voices are supported by TD Bank Group.