About

CULTURAL EDUCATION THROUGH THE ARTS

     In 2014, the United Nations officially declared that CANADA’s relationship with the Indigenous Treaty Nations was officially broken.  This only six years after the Government of CANADA gave an official apology for the history of colonial oppression, treaty violations and residential school policy enforcement that today is still not being recognized as acts of genocide.  The political and social climate has been evermore increasing to a state of inevitable change and the citizens of CANADA have been misinformed and misguided on the events in history with far too much focus on wars and next to nothing to do with Treaties and diplomatic successes that shaped our Nation to Nation peace.  This is now changing, the real story is being uncovered and current leaders and educators alike all agree this is a priority for all to learn who live here now.  The success of this message being heard is attributed in a large part to the Truth, Reconciliation and Forgiveness movement that has given voice to those who have been left unheard for so long; CANADA's Treaty Partners.  

     Our school systems alone cannot provide the experience our future generations need to understand the truth in a good way to restore the compatibility among the minds of the People and the gift of forgiveness is a better world created together with our minds as one good mind and our hearts as one good heart.  This is where this business will fill a fundamental need within our educational institutions in providing real, authentic, interactive and empowering experience to our future leaders.  

     

     Madwejiwan, is a sole proprietorship owned and operated by Steven Baranyai out of Niagara Falls, ON.  The name is pronounced MAD-WEH-JIH-WAN, and in the Anishinabek language, this word refers to the sound of moving water.  It is a name of many meanings and metaphors that can be imagined living here along the Niagara River and surrounded by the lakes on either side of this beautiful region.  If one stops and listens to the sound of the flow, figuratively and literally, one may begin to hear a language of life in ones own heart that has always been there.  The Elders say the water, being the lifeblood of Mother Earth, has a Spirit and a pulse.  The intention of Steven in creating this business is to help shape our future generation’s world by educating our youth and sharing his story of growing up in Canada.  Since birth in 1977 as a Canadian Aboriginal, an Indian, a First Nation, an Ojibwe, a Hungarian, an Anishinabe nini, a white man, a red man a mixed blood, a half breed and how he was able to discern all of this outer information to make sense of who he was and why he was here.  This illuminated the path of reconciliation for him and helped to restore this sense of compatibility within himself, his family and community.    

     

     Steven provides cultural education through the arts of story telling, dance, music and show and tell.  Steven is gifted in creating safe space for an interactive learned experience to unfold as he has over 30 years of experience in public speaking and musical endeavors.  This combination not only sustains the entire classrooms attention for an hour but also offers a meaningful experience while looking at some uncomfortable aspects of his story that, in the larger picture, will continue haunting the past, present and future of Canada until healed through truth, reconciliation and forgiveness.  

Inspirational Quotes:

“Let us put our minds together and see what life we can make for our children." – Chief Sitting Bull, Leader of the Lakota Peoples (1831 – 1890)

"To create change in 1 year, plant rice; to create change in 10 years, plant trees; to create change in 100 years, educate children." - Confucius

“I would have been better pleased if you had never made such promises than that you should have made them and not performed them.”
— Chief Shingwaukonse (“Little Pine”), Leader of the Ojibway Peoples (1790-1854)

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”
― Albert Einstein, A leader of the 20^th Century (1879 – 1955)

“The history of science shows that theories are perishable. With every new truth that is revealed we get a better understanding of Nature and our conceptions and views are modified.”  Nikola Tesla, A leader of the 20^th Century (1856 – 1943)

“Music is the movement of sound to reach the soul for the education of its virtue.”  - Plato

“The arts, quite simply, nourish the soul.  They sustain, comfort, inspire.  There is nothing like that exquisite moment when you first discover the beauty of connecting with others in celebration of larger ideals and shared wisdom.” – Gordon Gee