Tag Archives: Willow River Centre

CKMS News -2025-01-15- Exploring Indigenous futurisms at WPL’s Indigenous reading circle

CKMS News -2025-01-15- Exploring Indigenous futurisms at WPL’s first Indigenous reading circle.

dan kellar
Waterloo – 
A new Indigenous reading circle at the Waterloo public library will explore a variety of short stories, essays, and poetry by Indigenous writers.  Amy Smoke, a co-facilitator of the reading circle, told CKMS News “people think we are stuck in the past and only write about ceremony or history”, however, she noted “we write sci-fi, we write all kinds of things”.  Smoke added “we are so much more than our trauma”.

The first book to be discussed is Love After the End, an  anthology of queer Indigenous speculative fiction edited by Joshua Whitehead.

The casual reading circle at the WPL’s main branch is a collaboration with the Willow River Centre.

This show features an interview with self-described “book fanatic” Amy Smoke, an IndigiQueer, two-spirit parent, teacher, and community organizer, and a co-director of the Willow River centre. 

Two dates are booked, January 16th and February 13th from 7-8pm, register at wpl.ca.

Kitchener’s Willow River Centre celebrates National Indigenous Month and calls for more substantial action

The Willow River Centre in Kitchener is advocating for more meaningful support for Indigenous people and culture instead of what they characterize as routine performative gestures from municipalities and organizations.

The Center, which serves Indigenous, racialized, Two Spirit, and LGBTQ youth, is hosting Summer Solstice Saturday on June 22nd to celebrate National Indigenous Peoples Month. The Willow River Centre co-directors Amy Smoke and Bangishimo said that their past efforts on the day have often resulted in overwork and stress.

“It’s been so many years now since the TRC calls to actions came out and still to this day for a lot of organizations and spaces, we’re still considering an afterthought where, where we get emails like the week of before June and these organizations and corporations are looking for somebody to sing and dance for them,” Bangishimo told CKMS News.

The Summer Solstice Saturday will be held on Saturday, June 22nd at the Kitchener Farmer’s Market from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.