The NCRA is hiring two positions that use community radio as a means to help reconcile all Canadians with the lasting legacy of Indian Residential Schools. This project is called Resonating Reconciliation. 

The work was funded by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada 

The Outreach Coordinator position may be based in Vancouver or Ottawa and is a year-long contract of 28 hours a week. The full job description and details are here. The deadline to apply is Monday, March 11. 

The Membership and Project Materials Coordinator position will work out of the NCRA office in Ottawa and is a year-long contract of 35 hours a week. The full job description and details are here.  

For more information, click on the title of this post. This picture was taken during the first Resonating Reconciliation Red Jam Slam in Vancouver, on February 14 2013. For more information about that event, go here. 

After a year of behind-the-scenes work the Ontario Independent Music Archive (OIMA) is ready to launch! Starting on Saturday, January 26th you can check it out at www.oima-amio.ca.

OIMA is an online bilingual repository for new and emerging musicians in all genres to post and share their work with the public.

It also collects, preserves and promotes older independent music from across the province that was originally produced in small batches on vinyl, cassette and CD, making it available to new audiences.

The NCRA is behind the creation of OIMA, along with our partners at the Music Association of Canada, and funded by a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, a leading grant-maker in Canada.

On Saturday, January 26th there will be a launch show in London, ON, featuring performances from local Eastern-European influenced folk act Olenka and the Autumn Lovers; hiphop act Treetop featuring Casper; NFG, the precursor to punk band 63 Monroe; and the electronic psychedelic duo Learning, the Band from Windsor. The facebook page for the show is here.

Then on Friday, February 1st we'll launch the site in Toronto, featuring Hamilton proto-punk pioneers Simply Saucer; Juno-nominated reggae legend and treasure trove of Toronto-Jamaican musical history Jay Douglas and the All Stars; Colombian-born, Toronto-based and rising star of the Alternative Latin scene Lido Pimienta; and new alt-country band The Highest Order. There will also be a book signing by Liz Worth, author of "Treat me like Dirt: An Oral History of Punk in Toronto and Beyond 1977-1981".The facebook page for the show is here.

The press release is attached. Please feel free to contact alan@ncra.ca or call 1-866-859-8086 for more information.

When she was six, Gunargie O’Sullivan went to St. Michael's Indian Residential School in Alert Bay, British Columbia for one year, but never forgot it. Her mother had gone to St. Michael's too, but for a lot longer. Gunargie can’t forget that either. And she recognizes that without people participating in reconciliation, First Nations children are still at risk, just in different ways.

“If you are First Nations, you are in some way a product of Residential School," she says. "But the absence of our perspectives in the media is rampant, and that needs to change."

Gunargie has been using community radio to tell these stories. A new initiative, proposed by the NCRA, where Ms. O’Sullivan is a member of the Board of Directors and the head of the Native Caucus, will ensure she has some company in this important work.

The project, called “Resonating Reconciliation”, will fund 40 community radio stations across the country to each produce a 30-minute radio documentary on the legacy of Indian Residential Schools in their community, with additional funding to provide training to local Aboriginal volunteers.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission and Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada funded the work as part of the Commision’s mandate to acknowledge Residential School experiences, impacts and consequences and create a lasting historical record with a focus on the lived experiences of former students and their families.

For more information click on the title of this post.

As part of our work developing the Ontario Independent Music Archive (OIMA), we’ve hired seven people from across the province to act as on-the-ground coordinators.

They'll be reaching out to current artists, tracking down older music and the musicians who made it, and obtaining permission to include some of that music on the website.

For the full list of Archive Coordinators and their contact information, click here.