About the Indigenous Research Team's logo

The strawberry plant holds many deep meanings for Indigenous Communities and Nations on Turtle Island (North America). Known as the “heart berry”, the strawberry medicine teaches lessons on connection, peace, love and care¹. It symbolizes life and health² as the first fruit of the summer season, bringing a warm and welcoming tone to the sunny horizons ahead and connecting Indigenous Peoples to the Earth and our cultures, particularly for the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabeg. The word ‘strawberry’ often evokes the image of the sweet red berry instead of the plant, roots, soil environment, leaves and flowers that all work together to grow the berry.

This artwork, representing the Indigenous Research Team and our work intentionally features the strawberry plant in its growth stages to highlight the beauty in the systems, organization and behind-the-scenes work that bring the berries to life. Our emphasis on process, including the teaching that the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of our actions matter, is represented visually here and is meant to demonstrate the care and intentionality we bring to our work. Although the berries are not included in this artwork, we envision the berries as the ‘fruits of our labours’ or the impacts of our team that nurtures Indigenous research at Waterloo.

Starting from the ground up, the roots grow individually but remain in proximity to each other and take the shape of one unified mound of soil. The interconnected soil environment and roots represent our first and most foundational work area, relationships and community-building (within and beyond our campus). Our community connections are at the heart of our work, and we could not be effective as a team without tending to and nurturing all of our connections and relationships.

Moving upwards, the stems and leaves of the plant also carry meaning, as they represent how each of the flowers each stand on their own, grow alongside each other, and stem from a place of connection. They also represent all the supportive teachings, tools, and approaches that we bring to the different areas of work. The last elements of the plant are the flowers. Here, the normally white flowers of the strawberry plant are blooming with colour as they represent three facets of work. 

The blue flower represented the support we provide to Indigenous faculty, students, and staff in a research context. This includes helping to advance the research agendas of Indigenous researchers, identifying and addressing systemic barriers in research administration, supporting Indigenous research throughout its entire lifecycle, and helping Indigenous community members navigate the university’s inner systems and processes in the research ecosystem. 

The purple flower represents how we support non-Indigenous faculty, students, and staff to prepare to collaborate with Indigenous Nations and Communities in research. This work involves education, advising, and development and capacity-building. Our team offers one-on-one consultations, presentations, and custom workshops to assist non-Indigenous researchers in building respectful research collaborations with Indigenous community partners. 

Lastly, the pink flower represents special projects that we undertake to create space for Indigenous Research to flourish. These strategic projects range from larger policy and program initiatives to remove barriers to Indigenous research, to resources our team creates, to key partnerships we nurture with the aim of growing Waterloo's capacity for ethical and meaningful Indigenous collaborations in a research context.