Manitoba duo, Izzeddin Hawamda and Aaron McKay are part of the One Land, Two Hearts: WhereWeStand project, a live multimedia storytelling project bringing together Indigenous participants (Mi’kmaw, Cree, Ojibway, Inuit and Métis) and newcomers in Canada to express the commonalities of identity and belonging in the colonialism of Canada. Fourteen artists are paired together, Indigenous and immigrant, sharing their storytelling in film, art, dance, spoken word, song and multimedia.
It’s world premiere was held in February 2024 at the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford and at the Canadian Museum of Immigration Pier 21 in Halifax. Co-producers, Cyrus Sundar Singh, an immigrant from India, and Anishinaabe Kwe filmmaker, Nicole Lee wanted to bring communities together through this experience.
McKay is Anishinaabe from Rolling River First Nation and lives in Minnedosa, Man., while Hawamda is Palestinian who came to Canada 18 years ago and lives in Winnipeg. While Izzeddin has felt displaced and loss of his stories, McKay wants to reconnect through culture, language and the land.
Izzeddin is a member of the Rotary Club of Winnipeg and volunteered to meet HIP’s first Youth-to-Youth Experience participants when they visited in March 2023.