Open events

Led by Brian MacLean and Ayesha Khan, Black Creek Walks,Talks and Dances is an integrated program of land and water based events that were launched in the Jane-Finch and York University neighbourhood in 2022. For Congress 2023, two shorter walking tours of one hour each will be adapted to suit the Congress schedule. Each will centre participants in the Black Creek watershed and demonstrate land-based learning to explore the natural, cultural, treaty and settler history of the area and connections to the living water and land, and be inspired to consider our potential for a sustainable way of life in the face of climate change. We will visit community gardens, learn about thousands of years of Indigenous history in the area, celebrate the aliveness of the Creek, and visit the site of a 600-year-old Huron-Wendat longhouse village that was surrounded by fields where the Three Sisters of corn, beans and squash were cultivated. We will observe Black Creek up close, question its "behaviour" and its meandering course, and ask "what water wants.” Please note this event will be presented in English. Bilingual titles and descriptions are for reference purposes only.