Thank you for visiting the Office of Indigenous Relations. We work collaboratively on and off-campus to advance the goals of the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action, creating a long-term vision for the University, grounded in decolonization. Explore this website to learn more about our work and the ongoing Indigenous relations at UWaterloo. Connect with us at https://linktr.ee/uwaterlooindigenous
University of Waterloo Territorial Acknowledgement
The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is centralized within the Office of Indigenous Relations.
Stay Connected with our Seasonal Newsletter
Sign-up for Indigenous Connections, our seasonal newsletter and we will keep you up-to-date on what we are working on, ways you can engage with our office, and provide resources to strengthen and apply your knowledge. Read our latest edition here.
Bridge: Honouring the Lives of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit People
Working with Shatitsirótha' Waterloo Indigenous Student Centre (WISC), the Office of Indigenous Relations (ORI), the Sexual Violence Prevention Response Office (SVPRO), and 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, Dr. Sorouja Moll initiated Bridge in 2015 to create a space for all University community members to learn about the crisis as they reflect upon their responsibilities, share in speaking the names of the lives taken to honour and remember as the red fabric is tied to the bridge between Environment 3 and United College. For the Opening Ceremony, each year we are requesting volunteers to read the names.
The gesture to name, remember, and honour the 5000+ missing and murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two Spirit People across the many Nations in Canada is an active engagement in learning about the depth of the crisis in the Canada while resisting and (en)countering the existing silence that continues to shroud it. Originally installed in Montreal in 2009, as The Writing Names Project, Moll's research-creation initiative is a counter memorial and is part of a meaningful and sustained collaborative intercultural praxis between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities.
University of Waterloo Indigenous Commitment Ceremony
Events
Métis 101
Presentation on Métis culture and history, including with the ethnogenesis of the Métis, "Who Are the Métis?", their unique and rich culture and language. Why did they disappear in history? Where are they today? Online, 2-hour workshop in a small group setting.
To register, please visit https://uwaterloo.gosignmeup.com/public/Course/browse?courseid=7100.
2022 TD Walter Bean Professorship in Environment
The Meaning of Ice: Co-production of knowledge and community action in a changing Arctic
Drawing on experience from over two decades of close collaboration with Inuit communities in the Arctic, Dr. Fox will illustrate the powerful ways our understanding of the changing Arctic climate can be advanced when we link Inuit knowledge and visiting science. She will use examples from community-led research, land-based programs, and harvesting to show how co-produced knowledge, Inuit self-determination in research, and supporting community-based action are fundamental to addressing climate and environmental challenges in the Arctic and beyond. Dr. Fox will centre Arctic weather and sea ice in the story, and connect to the works of her colleague, friend, and photographer Robert Kautuk, whose photography exhibition accompanies this year’s lecture.
This event has limited capacity. If attending in person, please RSVP by Monday December 5th. Should you register and no longer be able to attend, please contact Vesti Powell.
2022 TD Walter Bean Professorship in Environment
The Meaning of Ice: Co-production of knowledge and community action in a changing Arctic
Drawing on experience from over two decades of close collaboration with Inuit communities in the Arctic, Dr. Fox will illustrate the powerful ways our understanding of the changing Arctic climate can be advanced when we link Inuit knowledge and visiting science. She will use examples from community-led research, land-based programs, and harvesting to show how co-produced knowledge, Inuit self-determination in research, and supporting community-based action are fundamental to addressing climate and environmental challenges in the Arctic and beyond. Dr. Fox will centre Arctic weather and sea ice in the story, and connect to the works of her colleague, friend, and photographer Robert Kautuk, whose photography exhibition accompanies this year’s lecture.
This event has limited capacity. If attending in person, please RSVP by Monday December 5th. Should you register and no longer be able to attend, please contact Vesti Powell.
To learn more, please visit https://uwaterloo.ca/environment/td-walter-bean-professorship-environment.
To register, please visit https://imodules.uwaterloo.ca/s/1802/21/event.aspx?sid=1802&gid=2&pgid=2748&content_id=4114Registration.
News
It's Giving Tuesday!
Today, people across our campuses and around the world will come together in support of their communities and the causes they care most about to create a better world for all. Today, you have the opportunity to be a hero, and make a difference in the lives of UWaterloo students by joining the Giving Tuesday movement, and making a charitable gift to the University of Waterloo.
Waterloo’s Giving Tuesday campaign features 43 exciting challenges, including two special ones for our own faculty and staff to support. Your gift to one of these challenges — or to any Giving Tuesday challenge or fund of your choice — can help unlock up to $2,000 in additional funds to make an even greater impact on the experiences of our students.
Please make your gift before midnight tonight. For more details, visit Waterloo’s Giving Tuesday website https://uwaterloo.ca/giving-tuesday/
To donate to Indigenous Relations, check out https://imodules.uwaterloo.ca/s/1802/cf20/interior.aspx...
ERS 275 Indigenous Sustainability Entrepreneurship
- Sign up to join ERS 275 Indigenous Sustainability Entrepreneurship! This course consists of having an various Indigenous Entrepreneurs across different industries (beauty, fashion, agriculture, health & wellness, and more) come join our class each week to speaks to their entrepreneurial journeys, their connections to the environment, sustainability, and so much more! Readings and further learning materials focus on relevant topics from each week’s entrepreneur’s field/industry. Notably, our course will give students a unique opportunity to help our Indigenous Entrepreneur’s solve sustainability related issues/problems that they are currently facing. Offering students well rounded, deep learning that they can benefit from beyond the classroom! This course is has no prerequisites and is open to all students, of any faculty, of any year! Just reach out to Dr Leonard about course permission code to sign up to join today! For any questions or more information please contact Dr Leonard at kelsey.leonard@uwaterloo.ca.
#ROCKYOURMOCS
GIVEAWAYS! November 13-19 is #rockyourmocks
week! In honour of the U.S National Native American Heritage Month (November), we rock our mocs in unity and celebration of Indigenous identities. Follow our social media channels and participate in our giveaway contest, or simply rock your mocks with style and pride! To learn more, please visit https://rockyourmocs.org/