Posted on December 27, 2019 by Emanuelle Dufour
Kakwiranó:ron Cook talks about the First Peoples House and McGill University’s initiatives to support Indigenous students in their academic studies and life on campus.
Since 1997, First Peoples House (FPH) has offered culturally appropriate support services for the university’s Indigenous learners. Often described as a “home away from home,” this dedicated space plays the role of community gathering place, healing, referral, support, tutoring, mentoring and educational guidance and even residence for several students. Some of the activities organized throughout the year include community soup and bannock dinners as well as mid-semester and annual events. In the summer, the FPH, in collaboration with the Faculty of Medicine, organizes the Eagle Spirit Camp, a three-day camp for potential future students aged 13 and 17, with the aim of encouraging them to realize their full educational and personal potential. Other events are organized in collaboration with other groups such as the Indigenous Student Alliance (ISA), a student interest group made up of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students and the Social Equity and Diversity Education’s Office (SEDE). For example, the Indigenous Awareness Week is held each year and culminates in a Pow Wow on campus in the fall semester, and the Indigenous Educational Series is organized, which takes place during the winter term and aims to raise awareness among the student population of Indigenous issues in Canada.
Posted on October 8, 2019 by Jane Gray
Professor Don McCaskill has been a Professor at Trent University for 35 years. He describes the fifty year history of Canada’s first Indigenous Studies Department and his perspectives on Indigenous Studies and the academy going forward. His research interests include Indigenous education, community development, justice and corrections and Indigenous-Canadian relations,. with Professor Don McCaskill is […]
Professor Don McCaskill has been a Professor at Trent University for 35 years. He describes the fifty year history of Canada’s first Indigenous Studies Department and his perspectives on Indigenous Studies and the academy going forward. His research interests include Indigenous education, community development, justice and corrections and Indigenous-Canadian relations,. with Professor Don McCaskill is one of the longest serving faculty members of Trent University’s Indigenous Studies Program
Posted on October 2, 2019 by Anne Marie Jackson
This is one in a set of three videos that talk about life along the Deh Cho (Mackenzie River) and learning to fish.
Passing on knowledge to the next generation about living in ‘the bush’, learning how to camp and how to fish, is important to the Sahtu people of the Deh Cho (Mackenzie River). The people in this video talk about what it means to them to be able to spend time together away from town and for the grandparents to be able to teach their children and grandchildren how to make camp, catch and dry fish, and more. As Judy Lafferty says, “They have to learn for survival . . . It’s our place to teach them, as parents and grandparents.”
Special thanks to (in order of appearance):
- Dennita Lafferty, Participant
- Anna Turo, Participant
- Judy Lafferty, Mentor
- Wilma Manuel, Participant
- Leon Turo, Mentor
- Michel Lafferty, Mentor
As well, special thanks to:
- Anne-Marie Jackson, NCCIE Videographer and Contributor
- Christopher White, Promethean Heritage and Cultural Services, Video Editor
- Andrée Cazabon, Productions Cazabon, Producer
This video and two others in this series are also part of ‘Tracking Change: the Role of Local and Traditional Knowledge in Watershed Governance’, a project that includes listening to Indigenous peoples along the Mackenzie, Mekong, and Amazon Rivers to gather information about “long term (historic and current) patterns of social and ecological change and the interconnections between the health and dynamics of these river systems and that of river communities.” (source: www.trackingchange.ca/about)
Posted on by Anne Marie Jackson
This is one in a set of three videos that talk about life along the Deh Cho (Mackenzie River) in the Sahtu. The topic of this video is how their environment is changing due to climate change.
Judy and Michel Lafferty talk about changes they and other Elders have observed due to climate change in their community and along the Deh Cho (Mackenzie River).
Special thanks to Judy and Michel Lafferty, and to others in their community, for their participation in this video.
As well, special thanks to:
- Anne-Marie Jackson, NCCIE Videographer and Contributor
- Christopher White, Promethean Heritage and Cultural Services, Video Editor
- Andrée Cazabon, Productions Cazabon, Producer
This video and two others in this series are also part of Tracking Change: the Role of Local and Traditional Knowledge in Watershed Governance (trackingchange.ca), a project that includes listening to Indigenous peoples along the Mackenzie, Mekong, and Amazon Rivers to gather information about “long term (historic and current) patterns of social and ecological change and the interconnections between the health and dynamics of these river systems and that of river communities.” (source: www.trackingchange.ca/about)
Posted on by Gabriel Maracle
This video is of a round table involving Indigenous Elders and educators held at Trent University on November 23, 2018. The topic of the round table was integrating Indigenous Knowledge into the academy. The panellists recognized substantial positive changes have been made at Trent such as the new mandatory half credit in Indigenous Studies for […]
This video is of a round table involving Indigenous Elders and educators held at Trent University on November 23, 2018. The topic of the round table was integrating Indigenous Knowledge into the academy. The panellists recognized substantial positive changes have been made at Trent such as the new mandatory half credit in Indigenous Studies for all students and the continued incorporation of Indigenous Knowledge in the Indigenous Studies PhD program. There was also recognition that more work needs to be done. Issues raised included incorporating more IK into the university as a whole which includes more land based learning, using Indigenous names for places and buildings, and more financial support for bringing in Indigenous elders to teach at the university. The members of the round table were:• Doug Williams (Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg), Elder, Director of Studies Indigenous Studies PhD program, Trent University
- Doug Williams (Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg), Elder, Director of Studies Indigenous Studies PhD program, Trent University
- Barbra Wall (Potawatomi), Faculty department of Indigenous Studies, Trent University
- Dawn Lavell-Harvard, (Odawa), Director of First Peoples House of Learning, Trent University
- Coty Zachariah, (Haudenosaunee), Moderator of round table, Trent University
Student Special thanks to Aye Min Latt, Videographer.
Posted on July 29, 2019 by Anne Marie Jackson
Essential to living along the De Cho is having a firm grasp on the life skill of fishing; a skill that is passed down from one generation to another.
The people of K’asho Got’ine (Fort Good Hope) harvest fish from the Deh Cho (the Mackenzie River) and pass this knowledge on from generation to generation. Although fish-harvesting techniques have changed throughout colonization and amongst generations, some people still retain important practices that do not separate them from the land. Harvesters like Judy and Michel, the Elders in this video, are one of a few families who still practice land-based harvesting ‘out on the land’ in specific harvesting camps outside the community. One change in harvesting techniques that has become more common is harvesting within the community. With full-time jobs and their children committed to education, it is difficult for those who harvest to go ‘out on the land’ for extended periods of time. Some find it more accessible to set nets close to the community and harvest outside their houses with teepees at their doorstep. Other inevitable changes to traditional harvesting techniques include adapting to non-traditional tools with the help of technology and modern materials. Amidst all of these changes in traditional harvesting practices and techniques, Judy and Michel, the Elder teachers, still emphasize the importance for them to remain each year harvesting fish ‘out on the land,’ hence – “Luge k’e rahtse deh, we live with the fish.”
Special thanks to (in order of appearance):
- Wilma Manuel, Participant
- Judy Lafferty, Mentor
- Michel Lafferty, Mentor
- Anna Turo, Participant
As well, special thanks to:
- Anne-Marie Jackson, NCCIE Videographer and Contributor
- Christopher White, Promethean Heritage and Cultural Services, Video Editor
- Andrée Cazabon, Productions Cazabon, Producer
This video and two others in this series are also part of Tracking Change: the Role of Local and Traditional Knowledge in Watershed Governance, a project that includes listening to Indigenous peoples along the Mackenzie, Mekong, and Amazon Rivers to gather information about “long term (historic and current) patterns of social and ecological change and the interconnections between the health and dynamics of these river systems and that of river communities.” (Source)
