Since its inception in 1999 through the present the ‘Stories and Songs of the People’ 1 mission, in  simplicity, is to help create a space that engenders and allows for Inter – Nātional participation in the sharing and exchange of knowledge, experiences, cultural practice and cultural expression. Each succeeding event, whether a conference, festival, seminar, presentation or research project has been a unique opportunity to embed this process within a larger global framework, defining space for conversations and collaborative efforts with First Nations, educational institutions, NGO’s, community organizations and wider community members as well.

Along the way these events have encompassed an ever - widening cultural and educational exchange of complex cultural ‘methodologies.’ These methods share a collective intent; recognising diversity as central to how we define what it means ‘to be a human being’ and widening our perspectives to understand the myriad of ways we define our relationship to environment, both traditionally and contemporary. Some key components for ‘Stories and Songs of the People’ also included:

1    For more information see www.storiesandsongs.org

2    Note – For more information see the growing ‘space - definition’ and ‘third space definition’ writings

• InterNātional First Nations collaborations;
• International collaborations;
• Wider community and community organization collaborations;
• Cultural Presentations and Cultural Ways of Expression;
• Identified appropriate methodologies for facilitating presentations and forums;
• The Sharing and Strengthening of Cultural Knowledge and Cultural Practice;
• The Creation of platforms that invite wider community involvement, participation and discussion;
• The recognition of Trauma (Inter-generational and inter-cultural); and,
• A shared understanding for ideas of Cultural Safety.

The “Stories and Songs of the People” project is unique in that the primary purpose is not of a commercial nature, but rather developed as a framework for InterNātional sharing for our collective capacity building. The primary goal is to help Identify, recognize and employ cultural strengths in practice for the myriad of issues common to both First Nations and non – First Nations Peoples - locally, regionally, nationally and inter-Nātionally. From a shared First Nations cultural platform, Stories and Songs of the People  have  engendered  this  participation  while  investigating  commonalities in practice through an array of platforms. These have included areas of Law, Governance and environment; Society and Resource Management; Education; Research Projects; and other Events. (See past events/ history)

From the Stories and Songs of the People activities have arisen two other initiatives of their own right - The InterNātional Indigenous Initiative for Transformative Collaboration (INITC) and the InterNātional Indigenous Peoples Village (INIPV). Established through the instrumental efforts of Stories and Songs of the People, these activities invited a diverse group of participants to experience and share a wide range of topics that help identify our collective understanding of relationships to our environment and each other.