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The place of birth is a part of the political landscape of Aboriginal peoples and the Canadian state. This paper explores the notion of birth place and the relationship between Aboriginal people and the land and water through the notion of 'carrying water'. Based on qualitative interviews with elder women who practice Midewiwin ceremony, this paper explores ceremonies surrounding birth and the relationship that is created through these practices. By understanding the importance of the continuance of ceremony for individuals and communities, a new understanding of the current state of maternity care in Aboriginal communities emerges and extends to broader discourses of indigenous rights. The paper concludes that in the ceremonial practices of a group of Aboriginal women in Manitoba, the generalized discourse of realizing rights becomes an intimate and complex process of place making through the relationship of bodies and landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses about the life and works of Canadian artist Norval Morrisseau. According to the article, Morrisseau was born in 1931 at Sandy Lake Reserve in the northwestern part of Ontario. He grew up alongside his Anishnaabe grandparents. It was the Midewiwin society's trait of making sacred drawings on birchbark panels that depicts and record their oral traditions and initiation rites that became Morrisseau's pictorial influences in becoming an artist. It says that Morrisseau was criticized by local elders for exposing their sacred images to mainstream art. Certain works of Morrisseau were reflected including, "White Man's Curse", "The Gift" and "The Land", paintings which expresses meaning through bodily form and aesthetics reflecting Midewiwin influences.

Analyzes the application of the Midewiwin conceptual framework of stories to Gerald Vizenor's novel "The Heirs of Columbus." Discussion on the elements of the Midewinin creation story; Interpretation of the story of Columbus as the creation story of European dominance in the U.S.; Illustration of how elaboration acts to reshape the dominant narrative of Christopher Columbus.