The 2022 Outstanding Achievement Award winners are: 
 

Outstanding Achievement Award for Visual Arts 
CHRISTI BELCOURT

The Celebration of Nations Outstanding Achievement Award for Visual Arts is bestowed upon Indigenous artists who produce culturally based and inspired art that reveals thoughtful conceptualization, explores meaningful subject matter, evokes feelings and emotions, resonates with appealing aesthetics and composition, and is exemplary of technical skill. As one of the most prominent Indigenous artists in the country, Christie Belcourt's paintings are housed in the permanent collections of the Gabriel Dumont Institute, National Gallery of Canada, Canadian Museum of History, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, and in the Parliament.

For her vivid imagination as a Métis artist whose creations reflect the interconnectedness of nature and human beings, and that focus on myriad issues including Indigenous identity and sovereignty, education, justice, and truth and reconciliation, we confirm as the recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award for Visual Arts, Christi Belcourt.
 

Outstanding Achievement Award for Performing Arts 
TOM WILSON

As a musician and songwriter whose work goes back to The Florida Razors in the early 1980s and Junkhouse and the Rodeo Kings in the 1990s, to the solo albums Planet Love and Dog Years in the 2000s, to taking on the fictional moniker of Lee Harvey Osmond for the production of his 2020 JUNO Award-winning album Mohawk, in the category of Contemporary Roots Album of the Year, this artist has earned his credentials many times over.

Perhaps it is synergistic, his taking on a new character and name for his last album, given that it wasn’t until mid-life that he learned the parents who raised him were not his birth parents, but that, in fact, he was adopted and his biological parents were Mohawk from the Kahnawake Territory.

“My music and my art is a continuation of my long way home. It is my way of showing honour and respect to a culture that I’m just shaking hands with," says Tom Wilson.

We congratulate the recipient of the Celebration of Nations Outstanding Achievement Award for Performing Arts, Tom Wilson.
 

Outstanding Achievement in Intellectual Advancement
KAHENTE HORN-MILLER

As associate professor in the School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies at Carleton University, Kahente Horn-Miller's works have centred on the development of Haudenosaunee-specific research and pedagogical practices. Her research interests include Indigenous methodologies, Indigenous women, identity politics, colonization, Indigenous governance, and consensus-based decision making.

Her governance work and community-based research involves interpreting Haudenosaunee culture and bringing new life to old traditions. Her performance piece, We are Her and She is Us, is a modern telling of the Haudenosaunee story of creation that centres on Sky Woman and her fall to earth. 

For her role as a mother to four daughters, her concentration on subject matter of interest and consequence to women, for being an associate professor in the School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies at Carleton University, and for increasing Indigenous content in classrooms across disciplines, we honour in the category of Outstanding Achievement in Intellectual Advancement, Kahente Horn-Miller.

Outstanding Achievement for Language and Culture
TOM PORTER

For a lifetime of service to the people, of teaching Haudenosaunee philosophy, principles, values, morals, and traditions, and for being the former director of the Akwesasne Freedom School would have been enough qualification for him to earn this award. However, as an organizer of the historic White Roots of Peace, the traditional Indigenous educational caravan that launched from Akwesasne and traveled to Indigenous communities all across the United States and Canada during the 1970s, Tom Porter became extremely well known and in demand for his compelling and motivational oratory filled with poignant lessons, instructions, guidance, and love.

As a result, it is impossible to quantify his impact across North America and beyond. However, from a qualitative perspective, we know that his contributions are profoundly significant. For serving as a language and cultural interpreter of the highest order; for influencing the lives of thousands of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people by encouraging them to embrace decency and kindness; for serving as a consultant on numerous projects and programs, including for the New York State Penitentiary System for Indigenous inmates; and for his authorship of several books and publications which teach about Haudenosaunee traditions, we confirm as the recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award for Language and Culture, Tom Porter.

Outstanding Achievement for Empathic Tradition
DIANE LONGBOAT

Diane Longboat is a professional educator with a graduate degree in education who has lectured and taught at universities across Canada and at national and international conferences on self-healing, personal transformation, and spiritual renewal as the guiding force for achieving individual health, family health, community health, and responsible nation building.

For providing safe contemplative learning experiences not only for Indigenous people, but all people; for creating a healing centre and ceremonial destination on nine acres of land in Six Nations of the Grand River; for dedicating her life’s work toward helping others; we confirm as the recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award for Empathic Tradition, Diane Longboat.

Outstanding Achievement for the Two Row Alliance
TOM MCCONNELL

Every now and then there emerges a person who has the ability to evade or overcome the barriers and impediments that prevent peoples of varied cultures and perspectives from engaging in the exchange of knowledge and holding rational conversations. And, of course, when it comes to communicating Indigenous histories and current events; the layers are very deep (their antecedents being distant to most Canadian citizens) and therefore require sustained dialogue to advance cross-cultural understanding and mutual respect.
 
This remarkable communications professional brought to this task not only extensive experience, but an honest recognition of the task and what it would take to make a difference. For playing an instrumental role in creating space for the One Dish One Mic radio show on 610 CKTB; for enabling the transition of a podcast created by Karl Dockstader and Sean Vanderklis to that of a radio broadcast that brought to life the stories, issues, cultures, and music of Indigenous, Métis, and Inuit peoples; for supporting Indigenous journalism and the freedom (literally) of Indigenous reporters to report on complex and contentious issues; and for prompting One Dish One Mic to be carried by the BellMedia system across the country; we confirm, in the category of Outstanding Achievement for the Two Row Alliance, Tom McConnell.
 

(CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: Tom Porter, Tom Wilson, Tom McConnell, Kahente Horn-Miller, pictured with Celebration of Nations Artistic Producer Tim Johnson and Celebration of Nations Artists Director, Michele-Elise Burnett.) ALL PHOTOS BY JILL LUND

Celebration of Nations is part of a long-term vision of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Kakekalanicks and the City of St. Catharines. It aims to build on the Two Row Wampum that promotes all Nations walking together, in parallel, with respect, compassion and understanding to cultivate an inclusive community for our shared future. It is intended to provide opportunities for national and international visitors to actively participate in an inclusive and engaging community gathering that will foster a greater sense of belonging, support meaningful reconciliation, and leave a lasting legacy of goodwill for future generations.

Kakekalanicks’ mission is to promote Indigenous art and artists to broad-based audiences and acts to educate the public about the deep-rooted beauty and uniqueness of each Nation's culture, heritage and traditions through the medium of the arts.

The FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre is a 95,000 square foot cultural complex comprised of four state-of-the-art performance venues and an outdoor space located downtown St. Catharines, Ontario on the shared traditional lands of the Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation and many other Indigenous people from across Turtle Island. The PAC hosts a signature presentation series of international and local performing artists and plays a vital role in the renaissance of downtown St. Catharines, serving as the catalyst in modernizing the area and reinforcing the brilliance of Niagara region’s diverse cultural cluster. The PAC aims to provide meaningful opportunities to bring our community together in a place of mutual understanding, empathy and respect through the arts.

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For all media inquiries and interviews please contact:
Jordy Yack Communications Coordinator,
FirstOntario PAC 905-688-5601 x3614, 
jyack@firstontariopac.ca
www.firstontariopac.ca
 

Header image: Outstanding Achievement Awards 2022
 Photo by Jill Lund