Please visit the University of Waterloo's Office of Indigenous Relations for the latest initiatives.
Jean Becker is the University of Waterloo’s first Senior Director of Indigenous initiatives. On January 29, 2020, the Indigenous Speakers Series presented Jean in conversation with Lori Campbell, Director of the Waterloo Indigenous Student Centre.
Students in a fall 2019 Digital Arts Communication course on digital storytelling produced beautiful and compelling short documentaries around the theme of Truth and Reconciliation on Turtle Island.
Jean Becker will join the University of Waterloo on January 13, 2020 in the newly-created Senior Director, Indigenous Initiatives position in which she will provide strategic leadership to articulate a University of Waterloo-specific response to the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action, and identify systemic and systematic changes that move beyond the Calls to Action by creating a long-term vision for the University.
On September 18 the 2019-20 Indigenous Speakers Series opened with Jesse Thistle, a Métis-Cree-Scot from Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. His bestselling memoir, From the Ashes (Simon and Schuster Canada), chronicles his life on the streets and how he overcame trauma and addiction to discover the truth about who he is. His scholarship is focused on intergenerational and historic trauma of the Métis people, and also reflects on his own past struggles with homelessness.
The Faculty of Arts and the Waterloo Aboriginal Education Centre (WAEC) are co-sponsoring a new Indigenous Speakers Series highlighting the voices of Indigenous artists, writers, activists, and leaders from across Turtle Island. The series offers UWaterloo students, faculty and staff opportunities to learn from, understand and engage with Indigenous issues.
The Mush Hole Project at the Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School was previewed by several media outlets, including our own Waterloo Stories. Here they are with links to the full stories:
A new installation at the Art Gallery of Guelph is part of a project that came out of the Truth and Reconciliation process for survivors of Indian residential schools.
Sociology doctorate Emily Milne (PhD '15) has received nationwide media coverage when research from her dissertation on family-school relationships among Indigenous peoples was recently published in two journals, including the Canadian Review of Sociology.
Mino Ode Kwewak N’gamowak (Good Hearted Women Singers) are an Indigenous and non-Indigenous women’s drum circle following the teachings of Community Elder Jean Becker, who began this group in 2003.
Erika Iserhoff says she’s done playing nice. From the genocide of indigenous people in residential schools, to the appropriation of their imagery and clothing by modern brands and designers, the multidisciplinary James Bay Cree artist says there’s long been a tradition of others trying to “tell us what our culture is.”