b'TEXTILE ARTTextile projects bring together Indigenous women in a push to heal through clothing and craftwork Become an Oshki-Wenjack student today!S ewing circles have been part of many cultures,Now accepting applications foroffering opportunities for women to share their stories and find healing together. Today, IndigenousFall 2020 thru Fall 2021women across Canada are tapping into this and other textile-related artistic traditions to help bring healing to theirOSHKI-WENJACK delivers unique full time accreditedcommunities in response to Missing and Murdered Indigenouspost-secondary programs through our partnerships withWomen and Girls (MMIWG). colleges and universities. The modern-day adoption of the historic Indigenous jingle dress is an especially touching example of this trend. First created as aor degree at the Thunder Bay campus and while studying in healing garment, young women today are jingle-dress dancing asyour home community for the majority of your program.their own way to bring healing to the world. The tradition has deep roots: the original jingle dress wasSeptember 2020 Programscreated in the early 20th century for a girl named Maggie White Pre-Health Sciences *NEWof Naotkamegwanning First Nation in Whitefish Bay, Ontario. Business DiplomaShe might have been four to six years old and was very ill, says Early Childhood EducationSharona Seymour-Crane, cultural coordinator at Waasegiizhig Police FoundationsNanaandaweiyewigamig Health Access Centre (WNHAC) in Social Service WorkerIndigenous SpecializationWhitefish Bay. Her grandfather had a dream of a dress that made noise, and if she wore that dress and danced in that dress, sheAugust 2020would be healed. And she wore that dress and was healed, and Personal Support Workerfrom then on that dress has been known as a healing dress. January 2021 ProgramMany Indigenous nations across Turtle Island have adopted Indigenous Wellness and Addictions Preventionthe jingle dress, but it has special relevance for the Ojibway ofSummer 2021 ProgramWhitefish Bay. This includes Seymour-Crane, who makes trad-itional regalia for Indigenous women through her own business, Indigenous Classroom Assistant Zazegaakwe. Earlier in her life, Seymour-Crane struggled with Pre-Health Sciencessevere, debilitating panic attacks. Then she received instructionSeptember 2021 Programsabout the jingle dress in a ceremony. Once I started to dance in Bachelor Of Education (University Degree Program) that dress, they told me I would feel better and I absolutely did. I found healing because the sewing actually tamed my anxiety Business Diploma disorder. I no longer have panic attacks, she says.Early Childhood EducationPolice Foundations Recently, Seymour-Crane served on the working group to organize Social Service WorkerIndigenous Specializationan exhibit of jingle dresses for the Lake of the Woods Museum. First, however, because the dresses are sacred, [with] some elders,To speak to someone about enrolling in one of our we went to the roundhouse and we feasted the sacred jingle dresses,exciting programs please contact:and they did a very old ceremony that hasnt happened in Lake of the Woods for a very long time. From the direction of the ceremonyApril Headand the elders, we knew it would be okay to hold the dresses withinCommunity Liaison & 1-866-636-7454 the museum.info@oshki.ca 807-626-1897The exhibit, Shiibaashkaigan: Honouring the Sacred Jingle Dress, was ahead@oshki.capresented in the fall of 2019 and included exhibits and photo- www.oshki-wenjack.ca New Beginningsgraphs of 50 dresses. As well, a book dedicated to the exhibit was published with the aim of sharing the story of the jingle dress with106 Centennial Square, 3rd Floor, Thunder Bay Ontario, P7E 1H3Ontario Native Womens Association33'