June 10, 2021
The Canadian League of Composers is listening, learning, and taking action in response to ongoing conversations surrounding race and Canada’s colonialist history. Our organizational structure, and the artistic practices for which we have advocated since the organization’s founding 70 years ago, are deeply rooted in European colonial culture. We continue to privilege a European framing of music creation and have remained silent on key issues such as the simultaneous appropriation and suppression of Indigenous and other colonized cultures and artistic practices. These colonial assumptions no longer align with the values we wish to uphold, nor do they adequately serve the members of our contemporary composition community.
To help us identify issues and navigate change as we embark on this process to decolonize our structures, assumptions and practices, the CLC has contracted Naheyawin to conduct an analysis of our organization through an Indigenous lens. Established in early 2016 by siblings Jacquelyn and Hunter Cardinal, Indigenous-owned and operated Naheyawin aims to reinvigorate the spirit of peace, friendship, and understanding that forms the foundation of the Numbered Treaties. Offering services, including community engagement and Indigenous awareness workshops, Naheyawin ultimately strives to foster the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples to move toward a good future by working together.
Our work with Naheyawin is already under way and will continue over the coming months. Through interviews with stakeholders, and analysis of our policies and programming, Jacquelyn and Hunter Cardinal will help us identify problems and blindspots, and will work with us to design concrete steps for change within our organization and the field of composition at large.
We are honoured to be starting this journey with Naheyawin. We will be sharing information and stories about our learning, progress and the actions we take as we move through this process.
