Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD) has donated $500,000 to support Indigenous trades students at Camosun College. The donation will cover tuition, textbooks, and support for students on a case-by-case basis depending on their financial needs. The money will also support an additional Indigenous coordinator position at the college. On Monday, March 13, TD and Camosun College representatives held a cheque presentation at Interurban to commemorate the donation, which is designed to support up to 80 students.
Susan Wilson and Larry Underwood both work as Indigenous Peoples in Trades Training coordinators at Camosun; the funding from TD, which will be spread out over three years, has allowed a third coordinator, Lorri Leonard, to join their team. Both Underwood and Wilson believe that the donation will greatly assist Indigenous students in trades throughout their time at Camosun.
“The three years has been broken up into, obviously, payment plans based on the structure of their payments, but they’ve committed to a coordinator for three years, as it’s a critical piece to the relationship in helping our students feel supported and transitioning into the college here,” says Wilson. “[The money is] going to be allocated for the coordinator, books, tuition, wrap-around support, and those wrap-around supports are going to be many levels depending on the need. So, books, tuition for sure, anything above that… is based on the need of the student.”
Donations like this helped student Theresa Lewis complete her training at Camosun. She met Underwood and Wilson and started on a path that would eventually lead her to become the first Indigenous woman to be a Red Seal sheet metalist in BC. She says that the support from Larry and Susan, as well as financial support from donations, helped her achieve her goals.
“I walked into Susan and Larry’s office and I just fit like a glove and it was just amazing,” Lewis said at the event on the 13th. “Ever since then I have been super focused, super driven. It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows, it’s definitely been hard… However, with the support and funding I was able to push through the challenges and persevere.”
In 2021, the Dennis & Phyllis Washington Foundation, in conjunction with Seaspan, donated $444,000 to be allocated towards women in trades and Indigenous students in trades over a three-year period; Underwood says that he’s seen the positive outcomes that donations like these can have on a student’s life, which is why he’s confident about how beneficial the TD donation will be.
“What we’ve learned with the previous donation, with the Washington Foundation, it really does help with the progression part because we had to get very creative on what supports could be available but there were times where we just said there’s not much we can do,” says Underwood. “What we’ve learned is that even though it was just a project off the side of our desk it was very helpful and beneficial for students returning and progressing into their trade.”
While there is initial funding for Indigenous students for their first year of classes, Wilson believes that more funding is needed for students carrying on in their program.
“That’s why the carry-on support through Washington and Toronto Dominion have been important,” says Wilson, “because there is very limited funds out there for trades for Indigenous learners.”
Underwood says that moving forward it’s important to keep raising awareness.
“I think through events and the recognition that we’ve been getting recently,” says Underwood, “I think it’s good to have these awarenesses and conversations and just to keep moving forward and working together.”