(Ottawa, ON) – May 8, 2024 – On this week’s episode of Roots and Hoots, host Gordon Spence is thrilled to be joined by artist and filmmaker Shelley Niro. Shelley is a member of the Six Nations Reserve, Turtle Clan, of the Bay of Quinte Mohawk. In this interview, Shelley and Gordon discuss the evolution of Shelley’s artistic process and her recent film Café Daughter.

As a multidisciplinary artist, Shelley uses a variety of mediums such as painting, beadwork, photography and film, to challenge the stereotyping of Indigenous Peoples, and to feature themes of family, love and storytelling in her work.  Shelley sees the doing and the completing of projects, as some of the most important aspects of her longevity as an artist, and she shares how inspiration for her work presents itself all the time.

Shelley enjoys the process of filmmaking and describes it as a rich art form. Most recently, Shelley wrote and directed the film Café Daughter, based on the play of the same name by Kenneth T. Williams, both of which are inspired by the life and experiences of Dr. Lillian Eva Quan Dyck, OC – the first Canadian Senator of Chinese and Cree descent.  Of the film, Café Daughter, Lillian has expressed: “It’s like a story of Reconciliation – on the individual personal level. Now that Canada is in a period of Reconciliation, Café Daughter is the perfect story of one girl reclaiming her pride despite what was taught to her by the school system and the intergenerational shame she inherited from her Cree mother, an Indian Residential School Survivor.”

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Sharing stories helps to dispel myths and furthers the processes of Truth and Reconciliation in Canada. This conversation between Gordon and Shelley, speaks to the changing of times and what more needs to be done on the journey to Reconciliation.

Streaming on demand for Café Daughter begins May 7th. For more information on the film, please visit: https://cafedaughter.com/. Shelley’s first retrospective exhibition: Shelley Niro: 500 Year Itch, will be on display at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, ON from June 21 – August 25, 2024.

The LHF is a national, Indigenous-led, charitable organization that has been working to promote healing and Reconciliation in Canada for over 24 years. The LHF’s goal is to educate and raise awareness about the history and existing intergenerational impacts of the Residential and Day School Systems and subsequent Child Welfare System on Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit, and Métis) Survivors, their descendants, and their communities to promote hope and healing in Canada. The LHF works to encourage Canadians to address discrimination and injustice in order to contribute to the equity, dignity, and respectful treatment of Indigenous Peoples.

The LHF has close to 30 educational exhibitions that promote awareness of Indigenous history that are free to borrow and is working on making exhibitions available online. LHF also has curriculum for K-12 and for adults, along with Activity Guides, Workshops and Training, two Podcast series, all aimed at educating Canadians about Indigenous history and the shared history of Residential and Day Schools, the Child Welfare System, and other colonial acts of oppression. The LHF works to develop empathy and understanding so as to eliminate ongoing racism against Indigenous Peoples and to foster Reconciliation in Canada. 

For media inquiries:
Teresa Edwards, B.A. JD.
Executive Director and In-House Legal Counsel
Legacy of Hope Foundation
Phone: 613-237-4806 Ext. 303 info@legacyofhope.ca