Around 200 residents attended Wilfrid Laurier University’s inaugural MarketFest: In Peace and Friendship event in Brantford’s One Market atrium on Friday, September 27 and Saturday, September 28, 2024.
Darren Thomas, Laurier’s associate vice president of Indigenous Initiatives and associate professor of Indigenous Studies, said that the overall idea for the event came from the history surrounding the One Market building (formerly the Eaton Market Square Mall.)
“This is an idea we came up with because of the historic ties to this land because originally, this land was ceded by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy to be a public market for mutual benefit.” he said. “Somewhere along the line, the Haudenosaunee farmers were actually displaced and were no longer allowed to come and sell, and ever since then the land of Market Square, quite famously, has failed to thrive. When Laurier took over the building, I reminded leadership that we bought the building, we didn’t buy the land…the land is there for mutual benefit and so I asked them ‘what are you willing to do to restore that?’”
He said that while Laurier may not have been the ones to cause the issues surrounding the land, the opportunity to restore it to its original purpose now, in part, belongs to the institution.
“Laurier is stepping up and saying ‘we want to do what’s right’ and the long term hope is to now not only give back Six Nations, but to the City of Brantford as well because again, it’s that idea that this should be a public market for mutual benefit,” explained Thomas. “It’s going to take time, it’s going to take a lot of effort and of course, aging infrastructure is going to take a lot of money, but we’ve got a big vision on how to do it. A lot of that may not see light for 20 years, but MarketFest is a small little signal that we’re going to be starting to make an intentional commitment to restore that mutual benefit to One Market. One of the things we hope to do is to create a space within the former mall where our vendors can sell their goods all year round.”
The event, which was held in celebration of Indigenous artists, artisans, performers, thinkers and makers alike, featured several activities throughout the two-days.
“We’ve had some community knowledge holders and academics sharing a little bit about Indigenization at Laurier, the history in Brantford and in particular, this land,” said Thomas. “We’ve also had both traditional and contemporary artists and performers, so we had the Little Creek Singers here yesterday, this morning we had the Six Nations Women Singers, and this afternoon we’ve also had performances from Lacey Hill and James Wilson.”
On top of the various educational sessions and musical performances, the event also featured a host of craft vendors.
“We have some really great makers selling their wares here,” said Alanah Jewell, MarketFest’s curator and owner of Morningstar Designs. “There’s a lot of beadwork, mainly jewelry like earrings and bracelets, but we also have apparel and other things like home goods, traditional medicines and we also have a lot of illustration prints available as well. Yesterday was pretty busy for us, we probably had a couple hundred people stop in which was great and today’s been a little bit slower, but it’s been really nice.”
With the event held in honour of National Truth and Reconciliation Day, Thomas said it was important to remember what the day is about and why it was created in the first place.
“The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada came out with its final report in 2015 and to be honest, the average citizen in Canada probably doesn’t know what or why we’re reconciling. As a whole, we’ve done such a horrible job at educating folks about Canada’s history because it’s not a nice history and it’s not something people like to promote,” he said. “There’s this ideology that Canada is an awesome country, that the people are so kind and polite and that we live in a socially-just society, but we don’t like to talk about how Canada has been one of the largest human rights violators in the world, both historically and currently. Indigenous people in remote and northern communities still lack all the basic things that are promised to every citizen in this country…the basic human dignity of water, housing, education and housing are still denied to those communities.”
Overall, Thomas said that while people should spend the day educating themselves on the history and reflecting on the hard truths, that they should also be thinking of ways to do better now and in the future.
“When we look at reconciliation or restoring relations, it’s not about laying blame and pointing fingers,” he said. “It’s about, what can we do better and how do we do it? Let’s really think about it and let’s take action.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
