NationTalk: Niagara Now – On Saturday, Oct. 26, from 1-3 p.m., the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum will host a book launch of a seminal anthology, “Landscape of Nations: Beyond the Mist,” co-edited by Tim Johnson and Rick Hill.
The launch will include a 45-minute presentation, followed by a book signing with several of the book’s contributing authors.
This beautifully illustrated 256-page coffee table book features contributions from 17 authors and scholars, leading Indigenous knowledge holders, numerous photographers, mapmakers and artists and chronicles the history of Indigenous peoples here in Niagara since the end of the ice age.
General editor, Rick Hill is a renowned educator of Indigenous cultures, histories and arts and currently serves as an Indigenous innovations specialist at Mohawk College.
“It is amazing to think that for some 13,000 years, my ancestors have been living within the beautiful environs of the Niagara Peninsula,” said Hill. “And that my relatives continue to call this place our home. The land continues to inspire us and continues to sustain us as Indigenous peoples.”
It is the land that provided the conceptual inspiration for the book, according to Tim Johnson, concept and managing editor.
Johnson is the senior adviser for heritage and legacy with the Niagara Parks Commission, senior adviser to Plenty Canada and serves on many boards as an Indigenous cultural adviser.
“The Niagara Escarpment is an unmistakable landmark that has aided human wayfaring and navigation for millennia,” said Johnson. “It is one of the grandest environment stages ever created, and upon this stage, the Niagara Falls performs without fail each and every day.”
By peering through the mist and the shrouds of history, their book reveals previously unknown insights and revelations of the Indigenous experience, in particular the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabek cultures, and dispelling various versions of “the truth” using a variety of sources, including archaeological data and British Indian Department records.
Published by the Niagara Parks Commission, in association with Plenty Canada, Six Nations of the Grand River and the Clench House Foundation, the book will be available for purchase at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum, or can be purchased in advance at notlmuseum.ca
Said the editors: “ [This book is] in honour of our elders whose commitment to the Seventh Generation provided us with guidance and inspiration, making our lives purposeful and this work possible.”
Barbara Worthy
Special to The Lake Report