{"id":18218,"date":"2019-09-25T09:00:15","date_gmt":"2019-09-25T16:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=18218"},"modified":"2019-10-08T09:33:59","modified_gmt":"2019-10-08T16:33:59","slug":"the-road-to-reconciliation-camosun-college-continues-on-its-indigenization-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2019\/09\/25\/the-road-to-reconciliation-camosun-college-continues-on-its-indigenization-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"The road to reconciliation: Camosun College continues on its Indigenization journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

PART 1: History cannot be changed<\/strong><\/p>\n

Canada was built on colonial power and the abuse of Indigenous people. The past can\u2019t be changed. But Camosun College can, and the changes on campus aren\u2019t restricted to Camosun\u2019s aesthetics. Installments like Na\u2019tsa\u2019maht at Lansdowne or the Cultural Centre in Interurban\u2019s new Alex & Jo Campbell Centre for Health and Wellness are not tokenism or just to say that the college is catching up to the times. These installments are meant to build relationships.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Nearly 25 years since the last residential school closed down, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) has continued to bring awareness to Canada\u2019s past and to make an effort to build a relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. The personal and cultural trauma of residential schools is all too real for Indigenous people but has only recently been brought to light for non-Indigenous people. According to the TRC, the purpose of residential schools was to sever the parental involvement in the spiritual, cultural, and intellectual development of Aboriginal children. This traumatic process was abusive and incredibly harmful to generations of Indigenous people.<\/p>\n

Since our 2017 article on Camosun\u2019s reconciliation efforts, the college has made significant changes. However, the matter is not solely dependent on the college\u2019s Indigenous students and faculty. If we are to build relations, non-Indigenous students and faculty need to live up to the duty of entering a reconciling world.<\/p>\n

PART 2: What has changed at Camosun<\/strong><\/p>\n

Camosun has embraced an Indigenous landscape, and the physical changes are certainly there. Lansdowne especially has focal points that signify Indigenous cultures on campus. Of course, Na\u2019tsa\u2019maht is the biggest landmark, but there are also the elder parking stalls and stairs for visiting elders to use. Ecology classes have worked on switching out decorative plants for indigenous plants to reclaim their native soil.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ey\u0113\u0294 Sq\u0203\u2019lewen director Janice Simcoe says that the implementations, especially on the Lansdowne campus, have not gone unnoticed. She says that these Indigenous structures and gardens were not developed by, or even prompted by, Indigenous staff or students.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Illustration by Tiegan Suddaby\/Nexus<\/em>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThrough Camosun\u2019s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission calls to action, the focus has been how does that happen for Indigenous students at Camosun College? It happens because systemic changes happen, and cultural changes within the organization happen,\u201d says Simcoe. \u201cAn awful lot of work has taken place over time, and we\u2019ve seen that on the grounds. It used to be weird to have an indigenous plant garden; now it\u2019s a source of pride. There\u2019s a bench down on the lawn of the Young building; that is an elders\u2019 bench. There\u2019s stairs that go down there. Those stairs were built for when we do pit cooks, so elders could get down onto the field there without falling\u2026 and Ey\u0113\u0294 Sq\u0203\u2019lewen didn\u2019t build that, the college did. They thought it up; it\u2019s made of indigenous rock, and made by a local company. The bench was made by Indigenous students and given to the elders that were there the day it was opened up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simcoe says that introducing native plants embraces Indigenous culture on campus and strengthens the bond between Indigenous students and the college.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s this physical presence with the plant life,\u201d she says. \u201cThat experiment that Environmental Tech is doing, it\u2019s an experiment about indigenous plants, and about invasive species. We had nothing to do with that, but it was one of the things that came out of this thing called the Innovation Fund.\u201d<\/p>\n

Interurban has a way to go in terms of representing Camosun\u2019s Indigenous cultures through appearance, but with more changes the campus can express its solidarity with indigenous students. As Camosun School of Access dean Ian Humphries says, it\u2019s of great importance to have centres for Indigenous students to feel a sense of community.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, we have a new Cultural Centre in the health building at Interurban. What we\u2019re talking about here is, specifically, space for Indigenous advisors and a place where students can drop in and have some food and check in,\u201d says Humphries. \u201cThat is part of the master planning process, so it\u2019s mixed in with a whole bunch of other stuff, but we hope to be able to specify where exactly we\u2019re going to locate that service area shortly. So plans are underway to address it, we just haven\u2019t been able to get to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Humphries says that there is already a space for Indigenous students at Interurban, but the goal is to expand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is space in the the Centre for Business and Access, on the first floor, at Interurban,\u201d he says. \u201cThere is space there for Indigenous advisors where students can drop in. We just want more space, and better space.\u201d<\/p>\n

Humphries says that Camosun actively reaches Indigenous people who cannot access the college\u2019s campuses.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have partnerships with the W\u0331S\u00c1NE\u0106 school board in Brentwood Bay, Victoria Native Friendship Centre, Songhees Wellness Centre,\u201d says Humphries. \u201cStudents can take courses at those locations, and they are Camosun courses delivered by Camosun staff and faculty. And then they can transition to the campus. We also do, in some smaller communities\u2026 right now we are working with the Pacheedaht Nation, in Port Renfrew, in delivering programming there. Depending on what our funding availability is, we rotate funding through smaller communities and do programming beyond those big three I mentioned\u2014W\u0331S\u00c1NE\u0106, Victoria Native Friendship Centre, and Songhees.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, embracing Indigenous cultures and communities isn\u2019t just seen in permanent structures. Camosun TEL\u0166IN T\u0166E WILNEW facilitator and Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning education developer Dawn Smith says that events and curriculum changes are an integral part of the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things that Ey\u0113\u0294 Sq\u0203\u2019lewen does is a welcome feast every year, and they ask for people to volunteer their time to go there and help cook,\u201d says Smith. \u201cI\u2019ve seen Ian Humphries in the kitchen with his sleeves rolled up, and they\u2019re there into the wee hours of the night helping clean up. To me that\u2019s the real demonstration of relation. When [Esquimalt First Nation chief] Andy Thomas died\u2026 I saw these people that I know in this college that I can depend on for support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Resources for Indigenous students are readily available on campus; however, as Simcoe explains, this goes beyond providing resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cFifteen, 20 years ago, this was the experience all the time of being absolute strangers and aliens within the post-secondary system,\u201d says Simcoe. \u201cExperiencing this on top of personal and family-related traumas, traumas like colonialism and racism, it\u2019s important to change Indigenous students\u2019 experience, because why would you ask any population to experience all of that just to get the education that was freely available for everybody else? If we\u2019re going to talk about reconciliation we first have to talk about Indigenous people\u2019s experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, beyond meeting the minimum requirement of available communal spaces or providing resources to help students, Camosun has support that students can depend on to fulfill their educational needs.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Third-year University Transfer student Morgan Armstrong says that the resources were greatly needed for his education.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t be here if not for the resources provided,\u201d says Armstrong. \u201cI\u2019d say that it\u2019s definitely helped.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the changes on campus have helped Indigenous students, they have also helped build a relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. This is one of the most crucial steps in the reconciliation process. Classes like Introduction to Indigenous Peoples and Indigenous Peoples\u2019 Health have grown in popularity for non-Indigenous students. Tearing down ignorance has helped deepen the understanding between everyone. Smith says that Camosun has made great progress in the past 15 years, and that that is especially apparent in the classes students take.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the college here, we do a better job than other institutions\u2014speaking from experience, and having been at the University of Victoria for 15 years\u2014in terms of TEL\u0166IN T\u0166E WILNEW and [Camosun course] Understanding Indigenous Peoples and how that\u2019s offered to faculty 10 months out of the year,\u201d says Smith. \u201cIt\u2019s essentially volunteered and it\u2019s word of mouth. People take it and recommend others to take it. For students we have IST 120 [Introduction to Indigenous Peoples] and now that\u2019s exceeded its capacity. So many people are interested, and that\u2019s the younger generation, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n

Relations have extended overseas, as well\u2014Indigenous students have been given the opportunity to participate in Camosun field schools, specifically one to build relationships with the Maori people in New Zealand.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re looking at new programming in relational, cultural leadership. We want to do a good job of identifying pathways and connections between Indigenous and non-Indigenous programs,\u201d says Humphries. \u201cA lot of work happened over this last summer looking at domestic and international field schools for Indigenous students\u2014for example, with Maori students and institutions, and supporting students to learn more about international approaches to Indigenization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Equal opportunity is, of course, much needed, but so is fair access for Indigenous students who really need an opportunity to begin with.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThose services include access to Indigenous advisors, and there\u2019s a financial and educational support piece tied to that,\u201d says Humphries. \u201cThere\u2019s access to elders for cultural support. There\u2019s access to Indigenous counsellors\u2014that\u2019s a relatively new position at the college. We hope we can improve on this, but we\u2019ve got a welcoming space at Lansdowne, and we\u2019re working on trying to do something similar at Interurban… I think there\u2019s a number of great programs and courses for Indigenous students and non-Indigenous students. There\u2019s a huge number, through some very generous donors, of awards and bursaries available for Indigenous students.\u201d<\/p>\n

PART 3: How the future can be changed<\/strong><\/p>\n

The question is no longer what our future will look like, because we\u2019re already in the transition toward joining Indigenous students with non-Indigenous students in a gracious celebration of Aboriginal culture. The question is how we do it.<\/p>\n

In terms of the classroom, Smith says that while there are a lot of students in IST 120, there are fewer in TEL\u0166IN T\u0166E WILNEW, a course meant for staff to expand their knowledge on Indigenous worldviews.<\/p>\n

\u201c[IST 120] has much more of a pull than TEL\u0166IN T\u0166E WILNEW,\u201d says Smith. \u201cWe\u2019ve been running that for 10 years\u2014this is my own understanding of TTW\u2014we have 900 or 1,000 staff and faculty and just over 300 people have taken it in 10 years. We still have a significant amount of work to do, but you have to meet people where they\u2019re at.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Humphries says that there is an impressive number of staff members taking TEL\u0166IN T\u0166E WILNEW, he adds that there is more need for IST 120 and Health 111 [Indigenous Peoples\u2019 Health] to be accessible for students taking different programs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very keenly focused on trying to make, especially, non-Indigenous students aware of courses like IST 120 and Health 111 that they can take as electives,\u201d says Humphries. \u201cOne of the challenges with the electives is it depends on what program you\u2019re in. An associate degree is quite different than a certificate, or our BBAs. They all have different requirements around electives. [I want to] educate folks on what different electives students can take in various programs. So IST courses, for example, are not just for Indigenous Studies students.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indigenization should not be restricted to Indigenous courses, however. While classical forms and techniques from Western culture have been integral to post-secondary education, Indigenous education should be equal in importance in all forms of the classroom. While this is easily accessible in IST classes or in courses that observe a multitude of cultures, how can we remind each other that we are on Indigenous land? Information and knowledge willingly shared from culture to culture isn\u2019t necessarily restricted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn July, we had a number of students go to the Ara Institute of Canterbury,\u201d says Humphries. \u201cAs part of that trip, the [Camosun] program leader for Indigenous Studies, Todd Ormiston, made a stop at the University of Hawaii\u2014this is the Oahu campus\u2014and [was] engaging the Ara Institute and the University of Hawaii for some new programming at the college.\u201d<\/p>\n

Humphries adds that sharing knowledge and researching on campus is another aspect of building a more trusting bond between Indigenous cultures and education systems.<\/p>\n

\u201c[With] policy development, we\u2019re coming up with an Indigenization policy at the college. We\u2019re looking at an Indigenous research centre\u2014what that would look like, and synergies between that and applied research,\u201d he says. \u201cFinally, [we\u2019re] working with other island corridor institutions, so UVic, Royal Roads, VIU, and North Island [University], to implement, maintain, and continue our TRC recommendations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simcoe also pushes for the importance of Indigenous cultures in post-secondary schools and in all classrooms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe glory of Canada was held up without good discussion about how that happened\u2014no knowledge of ecology, knowledge in sciences, psychology, business,\u201d says Simcoe. \u201cKnowledge that Indigenous people have been carrying for millennia was completely ignored. That knowledge emerged from Europe, and had some connection with Greece and Egypt, but never on this land with our people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The way we can reach this ideal future, one where there is a great bond among all Camosun students and staff, is through embracing the culture that we have. Simcoe understands that problems lie within greater powers, and she says that the reconciliation process is far from over.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way for Indigenous people\u2019s experience to change is for those who have power and control of systems to change,\u201d says Simcoe. \u201cBecause the systems have to change; they\u2019re not just going to happen and it\u2019s not just Indigenous people\u2019s responsibility entirely, and it\u2019s not within their power to make these changes. All of us, from the executive right to the people who take care of the facilities, everybody\u2019s got some responsibility in how they impact Indigenous students. It\u2019s been three years since Camosun started working on its formal Indigenization and reconciliation project. There\u2019s been a lot of willingness; so far there hasn\u2019t been a lot of resistance from Camosun employees. If there\u2019s anything that unites all of the groups, it\u2019s that we\u2019re here because of the students.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Smith agrees that problems lie in the greater system, she says that changing students\u2019 mindset is something that can be done within the next few years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re faced with racism and discrimination that continues today,\u201d says Smith. \u201cThat\u2019s something Canadians haven\u2019t really been willing to admit. Reconciliation is really hard to imagine when we still live under the Indian Act and racist policies and the way we\u2019re seen in Canadian society, as well.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Smith says that there is a divide within non-Indigenous students in terms of reconciliation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s 30 percent that are for Indigenization and reconciliation, then there\u2019s 30 that are on the border\u2014they\u2019re kind of interested, really haven\u2019t done anything\u2014and then there\u2019s this 40 percent who really just don\u2019t want anything to do with it,\u201d says Smith. \u201cThat\u2019s how we see it unfolding, so for me, it would be getting that 30 percent off the fence, building up the other 30, and shifting that 40 to the [middle ground]. <\/b>How do I bring people together? Because people like that need to feel safe when they come into a room where I am here because they think I\u2019m gonna hit them with all of this colonial guilt\u2026 <\/b>I think when we do, we\u2019re going to see Indigenous student populations say they feel safe in all spaces, not just certain places.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PART 1: History cannot be changed Canada was built on colonial power and the abuse of Indigenous people. The past can\u2019t be changed. But Camosun College can, and the changes on campus aren\u2019t restricted to Camosun\u2019s aesthetics. Installments like Na\u2019tsa\u2019maht at Lansdowne or the Cultural Centre in Interurban\u2019s new Alex & Jo Campbell Centre for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,240],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18218","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-september-25-2019"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18218","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18218"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18218\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18220,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18218\/revisions\/18220"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18218"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18218"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18218"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}