\u201cThey host us in their community,\u201d says Mitchell. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve been putting on this feast for 27 years, where we welcome new Aboriginal students to the college, and also to have the local First Nations be welcoming them into their traditional territory. So it\u2019s really a way of acknowledging whose territory we\u2019re on.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n While the Welcome Feast is a tradition 27 years in the making, there is a new addition to the festivities this time around.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have had a partnership with a university in New Zealand [Ara Institute of Canterbury], and the students from that program are coming here and are going to be at the feast this year,\u201d says Mitchell. \u201cIt\u2019s just an acknowledgement of them being here at the college for two weeks on an exchange.\u201d<\/p>\n Mitchell says that Camosun sent students from the Indigenous Studies program over to New Zealand last year; this year, the students visiting Camosun are from the exchange university\u2019s Indigenous Studies program. The invitation to Camosun\u2019s Welcome Feast will allow them the opportunity to experience local Indigenous culture. The event is open to all new and returning Indigenous students and is a welcoming celebration of the new school year.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAll Indigenous students attending Camosun College, whether it\u2019s upgrading, college prep, any of the programs [are welcome],\u201d says Mitchell. \u201cAnd we usually invite faculty who teach in the specific programs\u2014not all programs\u2014but in Family Support, Indigenous Studies, in College Prep, we try and invite the faculty to come as well.\u201d<\/p>\n The Welcome Feast event will start at 5:30 pm, with welcoming words from an MC.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c[The] MC\u2014which is a member of the Dick family\u2014welcomes people to the territory, acknowledges why we are all gathered, and it\u2019s just as a welcoming for all the new students coming in and an opportunity for them to get to recognize whose territory they\u2019re on, and meet key people within the college that they need to know,\u201d says Mitchell. \u201cAll the advisors will be there, and faculty and staff from Ey\u0113\u0294 Sq\u0203\u2019lewen.\u201d<\/p>\n After the welcome, there will be a feast\u2014a massive undertaking for Mitchell and Simcoe, who work together to purchase and make the food for the event.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cook for about 300 people,\u201d says Mitchell. \u201cWe have everything from smoked salmon and bannock to salads and turkey with all the dressings, coffee, tea, and desserts, and it\u2019s a huge, huge feast.\u201d<\/p>\n Mitchell says that after the dinner, the Lkwungen dancers will also perform for the guests.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe whole concept of this is for students to recognize whose traditional territory they\u2019re in,\u201d says Mitchell. \u201cIt\u2019s considered our New Year\u2019s. It\u2019s a new year that\u2019s starting, and we want students to be welcomed to the traditional territory by the local people.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/29095817773_ce70c5cd94_o.jpg\")
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