![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/IMG_4440-e1654287511167.jpg\")
<\/a>Now, as executive director, his role shifts slightly, but Ormiston still aims to influence Indigenous education and transform it locally, as well as internationally.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest responsibility of this is to help guide Indigenous education within the college, and within our Indigenous communities that we\u2019re connected to locally, as well as nationally and internationally,\u201d he says. \u201cI often say this: you want to create the lateral transformation, or lateral change, on the ground within… and then the vertical is really trying to ensure that students can move up, or increase their knowledge about Indigenous peoples and histories.\u201d<\/p>\n
Throughout Ormiston\u2019s various roles at Camosun, he\u2019s developed and carried a powerful philosophy that has helped him achieve this change at the college.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy own philosophy is that Indigenous awareness creates understanding, which then creates a form of consensus,\u201d he says, \u201cand I honestly believe that then creates transformation for people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evidence of Ormiston\u2019s goals at Camosun has already taken shape with a new certification in Ways of Indigenous Leadership and Learning, which starts in September.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s unique about this is we\u2019re going to have up to 14 learners from New Zealand and Canada do what is called a blended program,\u201d he says. \u201cPrimarily online, there are two opportunities where Canadian students can go to New Zealand and two courses where students from New Zealand will come over and meet the students face to face… The students will go out and camp on the land and learn about Indigenous land-based practices. It\u2019s quite unique.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ormiston is keeping an eye on the Centre\u2019s future, too. He has big plans for it, hoping that with these new unique programs he\u2019s implementing, the Centre will eventually be able to become self-determining.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I hope is that Ey\u0113\u0294 Sq\u0203\u2019lewen will become an institute within an institute,\u201d he says. \u201cWe will become self-determining in deciding what our centre will provide as services that will be self-sufficient, meaning that we can have our own admin, our own direction, and yet still be connected to the college\u2019s strategic plan.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since Ormiston will be executive director while a flood of new students arrive at Camosun in the fall, he hopes that Ey\u0113\u0294 Sq\u0203\u2019lewen continues to be a warm and inviting space for all students.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the biggest thing within Ey\u0113\u0294 Sq\u0203\u2019lewen is we want to continue to create a welcoming space for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students,\u201d he says, \u201cto learn from each other and be able to understand different ways of knowing and doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ormiston says that it\u2019s important to create a space like that for new and returning students, as well as a place that nurtures kindness and respect, especially with the current state of the world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI often say it takes one warrior at a time as we start to understand different ways of knowing and being and appreciate diversity that can spread… especially in a world where there\u2019s so much anger and hate,\u201d he says. \u201cWe need to espouse the values of love and respect and honour and trust and sharing those kind of things. Those are really important.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" From Criminal Justice student to Indigenous Studies program chair to executive director of Ey\u0113\u0294 Sq\u0203\u2019lewen, or The Centre for Indigenous Education & Community Connections, Todd Ormiston\u2019s time at Camosun College has truly come full circle. Ormiston became chair of the Indigenous Studies program in 2017, and in that time he\u2019s had an immense influence and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22749,"comment_status":"closed","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":[13,269],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-june-8-22"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22718","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=22718"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22763,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22718\/revisions\/22763"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22749"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}