{"id":20241,"date":"2020-11-16T09:05:57","date_gmt":"2020-11-16T17:05:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=20241"},"modified":"2020-11-17T10:10:36","modified_gmt":"2020-11-17T18:10:36","slug":"ccss-first-nations-director-vows-to-work-hard-long-hours-for-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2020\/11\/16\/ccss-first-nations-director-vows-to-work-hard-long-hours-for-students\/","title":{"rendered":"CCSS First Nations director vows to work hard, long hours for students"},"content":{"rendered":"

For new Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) First Nations director Richard Doucet, who is a first-year Camosun Indigenous Studies student, being in politics gives him a chance to have a voice that can be used for the benefit of people around him, who he cares about. Doucet, who is Indigenous, knows that wasn\u2019t always the case in this country. Growing up, his father told him stories of being told he couldn\u2019t use the public washroom or take the school bus. Today, Doucet has seen people be discriminated against in stores, and he has a lot of anxiety around reconciliation, because while we have taken a few of the right first steps as a society in recent years, there is still a long way to go. But it comes down to healing yourself first, he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just something that really, really was hurtful, and that really bothered me for a lot of years; you know, wanting to stand up for [my father] as far as that goes,\u201d says Doucet. \u201cOver the course of decades, there was a lot of healing involved, and he still told the same story, but it was in a proud way instead of being in an angry way, because he found that healing\u2026 once you heal yourself and once you know who you are in this world, it\u2019s just going to make a big difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Camosun College Student Society First Nations director Richard Doucet (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Doucet shares that sentiment with Camosun students who come to him hurting due to the many different types of discrimination they\u2019ve experienced. Understanding how other people think and where they are coming from is key because colonialism is still very much in effect, says Doucet.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only way we\u2019re going to break that cycle is by everybody communicating and getting on the same page to change everybody\u2019s perception,\u201d says Doucet, adding that one of the main reasons he enrolled in the Indigenous Studies program at the college is because it\u2019s really important to focus on this current generation. \u201cI want to experience what the youth are experiencing, and you have to be there with them in order to experience those anxieties and those problems.\u201d<\/p>\n

Doucet says his primary job is going to be capturing the voice of students at Camosun, and that comes down to hard work and putting in the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd really, really working hard\u2014working long hours\u2014 to try and put through whatever objectives I can to make a difference,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Doucet says that many issues facing Indigenous students are a result of financial barriers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndigenous students, the majority seem to really, really have a problem with financials. It definitely is an issue; it\u2019s just something that will be big on my agenda. We\u2019ll go back to connection, and people you know, and talking to the right people. If there\u2019s programs that can be set up to where funding is even more available, I want to be the first one in line to try and get those implemented through the council. I really, really want to make that an objective and try and find more funding for our Indigenous students.\u201d<\/p>\n

The best way to combat struggle is to be completely open, says Doucet. As an example, he says, if students are having an issue with a teacher, he can be the one to send off an email in a very positive way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want, just, 24-hour access with them,\u201d says Doucet. \u201cThere is no time that students, or people in general, [don\u2019t] have issues\u2026 During these times when COVID is around, I think that\u2019s just the best way to go about it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For new Camosun College Student Society (CCSS) First Nations director Richard Doucet, who is a first-year Camosun Indigenous Studies student, being in politics gives him a chance to have a voice that can be used for the benefit of people around him, who he cares about. Doucet, who is Indigenous, knows that wasn\u2019t always the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20255,"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":[9,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20241","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-webexclusive","category-campus"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20241","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=20241"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20241\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20257,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20241\/revisions\/20257"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}