This influential board is made of up of noted academics, community leaders and experts from diverse backgrounds and disciplines. They play a vital role in conducting investigations, public hearings and mediation around environmental management in Manitoba. Their recommendations play a key role in helping the Minister of Environment and Climate Change in shaping policy decisions that will influence the province’s environmental future.

Congratulations to these UM alumni and faculty:

Aimee Craft, Chair – Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Law and the Department of Native Studies, University of Manitoba. Craft holds a Bachelor of Arts jointly from the University of Manitoba and Université de Saint Boniface, Master of Law and Society (Victoria), Bachelor of Law (Ottawa).

Cameron Armstrong – (B.Sc., Manitoba) Program specialist at the Youth Climate Lab.

Mark Hudson – Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminology and co-director of Global Political Economy program, University of Manitoba.

Durdana Islam – (PhD, Natural Resources and Environmental Management, Manitoba) Project director and climate planner at Narratives, founder of the Waverley Climate Action Team.

Donald Labossiere – (B.Sc., Manitoba) Former director of environmental compliance and enforcement at Manitoba Conservation and Water Stewardship.

Jennifer L. Schultz – Associate Dean and Professor of the Faculty of Law, University of Manitoba.

John Sinclair – Professor, Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth and Resources and Director of UM’s Natural Resources Institute.

Faculty of Arts Outstanding Professor Award

The Outstanding Professor Award is given to a professor in the Faculty of Arts who has best demonstrated excellence in teaching, outstanding research and who has an exemplary record of service.

This year’s winner, Dr. Tracey Peter, Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminology, has excelled in all of these areas.

Dr. Tracey Peter

She is described by her colleagues and students as a “caring and generous pedagogue, concerned about students as whole human beings” with a “love and passion for quantitative research”. Dr. Peter has an exceptional international reputation as a researcher appearing in books, book chapters, peer-reviewed journals and reports and numerous presentations.

Dr. Peter has a longstanding record of service. She helped to found the Centre for Social Science Research and Policy in the Faculty of Arts and served as it’s acting academic director. She filled the role of associate head, sociology and criminology for four years. She has served on Senate and numerous university, Faculty of Arts and department committees including playing a key role on the President’s Task Force on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and chaired its data sub-committee. Outside UM, Dr. Peter serves as a member of the Journal of LGBT Youth editorial board and is a past winner of the UM Outreach Award. On July 1, 2021, she was appointed Vice-Provost (Academic Affairs) at the University of Manitoba.

In addition, she is a past winner of teaching excellence awards for both the UM Merit Award for Teaching and the Faculty of Arts Teaching Excellence Award and a generous mentor to graduate students and research trainees often described by the phrase “second to none”.

Faculty of Arts Teaching Excellence Awards

Professors and instructors in the Faculty of Arts engage in the excitement of learning and motivate students to challenge their current thinking and to develop their abilities for critical thinking and analysis. Following a nomination and selection procedure, the following individuals received the Excellence in Teaching Awards for 2021.

Established Faculty:
Dr. Veronica Loureiro-Rodriguez, Professor, Department of Linguistics

New Faculty:
Dr. Ryan Giuliano, Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology

Sessional Instructor:
Matthew Sanscartier, Department of Sociology and Criminology

Graduate Student:
Laura Forsythe, Department of Native Studies
and
Michelle Ward, Department of Psychology

“The entire UM community has benefited from the commitment and leadership of each of the retirees,” says Dr. Catherine Cook, Vice-President (Indigenous). “Throughout their years of service, they have been mentors to Indigenous students and colleagues, created safe and inclusive spaces, and centred Indigenous knowledges, perspectives and experiences in their work. In doing so they have broken down barriers for future generations of Indigenous learners, educators and researchers. We wish them a wonderful, well-deserved retirement.”

UM Today asked each retiree to share important moments on campus, accomplishments they were most proud of and a reflection on the students that helped shape their careers. 

Audrey Richard

Audrey Richard, from Camperville, Man., and a member of Sandy Bay First Nation, will wrap up her role as a student advisor and counsellor with the Mahkwa omushki kiim: Pathway to Indigenous Nursing Education (PINE) program (previously Aboriginal Nursing Cohort Initiative) in the College of Nursing, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences. Her work over the years also extended to the Aboriginal Focus Programs, Access Program and many community organizations. 

A stand-out moment:  
Over the years, there have been a number of stand-out moments for me. Everything from travelling to rural and northern Indigenous communities and working with the students there; to celebrating the opening of Migizii Agamik — Bald Eagle Lodge; working with Elders and Knowledge Keepers; and my nomination by the College of Nursing and receiving the Indigenous Award of Excellence: Community Builder (staff).  

 What you are most proud of:  
I am most proud that during my time at UM, I have witnessed more Indigenous presence on campus while making space for Indigenous research and curriculum. I have seen an increase in supports being provided to Indigenous students, as well as other efforts including anti-racism and equity. It has been my honour to be a part of efforts, which my colleagues and students will continue to carry on. 

A reflection on students:
In my work, I am grateful for the relationships built with many incredible and passionate students who I have had the pleasure of meeting and working with. Indigenous students from various backgrounds and life experiences, with many personal and academic responsibilities, applied hard work and resilience and were able to successfully navigate their post-secondary studies. They are now taking on leadership roles and making a difference in their families and communities.   

Dr. Wanda Wuttunee
Photo by David Lipnowski

Dr. Wanda Wuttunee, a member of Red Pheasant Cree Nation, will finish her role as professor in the department of Native studies. Wuttunee was previously the director of the Indigenous Business Education Partners (IBEP) (formerly ABEP) for 20 years. She has spent the last few years raising the profile of the Aboriginal Governance Program, which combines course work in business, Native studies, economics and political studies.  
 
A stand-out moment:  
After 27 years, there are so many. I was particularly happy when I was department head of Native Studies and director of Aboriginal Business Education Partners in the Asper School of Business and for all the great students, staff and colleagues I got to work with. Many wonderful memories! 
 

What you are most proud of:  
I am most proud that I got a chance to make a difference at an awesome university alongside so many caring people that go the extra distance just because that is what they do. 

A reflection on students:  
No matter what I asked my students to do with my challenging assignments, I was so proud of what they shared of their learning journey with me. Future Indigenous leaders, allies and accomplices crossed my path who moved on to create wondrous, impactful changes in our communities. Such a blessing! 

Dr. Yvonne Pompana
Photo by David Lipnowski

Dr. Yvonne Pompana, a member of Sioux Valley First Nation, will end her role as the director of the Inner City Social Work Program (ICSWP). Pompana has had a long career with the program, including time as an instructor, assistant professor and associate professor. In 2013, Pompana was a recipient of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Award for her outstanding contributions to the social work community. 

A stand-out moment: 
Stand-out moments for me were when the Master of Social Work based in Indigenous Knowledges (MSW-IK) Program was approved by the UM Senate and Board of Governors and then funded by the province. The creation of the program was a personal and professional investment of myself and other Indigenous faculty, students and staff, or the Indigenous Caucus within the Faculty of Social Work. MSW-IK became a reality after we had already created the Indigenous Caucus and the Indigenous Helpers Society Inc. Of course, these firsts could only come into existence by each of us collaborating with each other: Indigenous faculty, students and staff and a few allies. 

What you are most proud of: 
What makes me most proud is that I have served as a role model and mentor for Indigenous, immigrant and refugee students, primarily from the ICSWP. Students and graduates across nearly three decades have witnessed my journey from a MSW student whose first employment opportunity was with the ICSWP in 1992 as a student counsellor. They saw me add to that role, as an academic advisor, instructor, assistant professor. They saw me complete my PhD followed with a promotion to associate professor and being granted tenure. The icing on the cake was when they witnessed my appointment to director of the ICSWP. To each student I say, “With hard work and good, supportive people around you, anything is possible!” 

A reflection on students: 
Becoming a university student — most often the first in one’s family — is both scary and exhilarating. Without students of the ICSWP, I would not have had the most rewarding experience of my life. While I taught many courses across the years, the course that stands out for me most is my 10 years of teaching Introduction to University to first year students. From seeing very scared first year students, and then four years later, watching them walk across the stage to receive their bachelor of social work degree, is the proudest moment of my life. The investment into the success of the students and the program have netted me 29 years of working with the best faculty, staff and students. I hope, like many other Indigenous faculty members, I have created a safe space for students to discover themselves, their passion, and to be empowered to make a better world for themselves and the people with whom they will live and work. 

“I grew up knowing that as an Indigenous woman, experiencing violence was going to be a fact of life,” Olson, a member of the Norway House Cree Nation, explains. “I decided to embark on this research because I wanted to understand where the shame I held came from, and why my family and I were more at risk of being victimized.”  

Olson’s research focuses on the ways in which Indigenous women are portrayed in Canadian society and media in relation to the crimes committed against them. “The dehumanization of Indigenous Peoples is at the root of MMIWG2S, which means our resurgence is essential to healing and revitalizing our cultures and communities.” 

Following 2017’s release of Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Knowledge Keeper Leslie Spillett helped form a reading group in the College of Nursing to discuss the executive summary, with the goal of gaining a stronger understanding of the responsibilities the College had in responding and implementing. 

“We can only honour the lives of those who have been taken violently by taking concrete and meaningful action that ensures the full equality of Indigenous women, girls and gender-diverse individuals in our community,” Spillett says. 

The reading group was voluntary and invited guest speakers, including the national inquiry’s executive director at the time, Jennifer Moore Rattray, to share experiences and perspectives to encourage post-secondary institutions to advance the Calls to Justice.  

Spillett advises that some of the many ways individuals can advocate for MMIWG2S is to become familiar with the 231 Calls to Justice, as well as organizing and hosting university-level conversations that examine gender-based violence and intersectional systems of oppression. 

“Engage in community actions like commemoration dates and community vigils while implementing fundamental principles, such as ‘nothing about us without us’ and Indigenous sovereignty as guiding principles to building respectful relationships with Indigenous Peoples,” Spillett adds. 

To partake in advocacy work, Vice-President (Indigenous) Catherine Cook invites members of the UM community to wear red on May 5 – the colour red has been chosen to acknowledge MMIWG2S. “We are responsible to bring visibility and awareness to the violence that is being committed against our Indigenous Women and Girls and our communities, and to encourage others to join the fight for systemic change.” 

A new assistant professor in the departments of Native studies and history, Carleton credits a combination of his university education and a Kwakwaka’wakw family member and Survivor on his partner’s side that revealed the ongoing effects of the residential school system. As a settler scholar of Irish and English descent, Carleton remains committed to raising greater awareness about the residential school system “to ensure that other settlers cannot use their ignorance of the past to justify their ongoing complicity in settler colonialism.”

Shortly after the fifth anniversary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) final report, former TRC chair Senator Murray Sinclair stated that “this history is not going to stay in the past.” This inspired Carleton to action, which led him and his project collaborators to apply for the Indigenous Initiatives Fund at the University of Manitoba.

The project, which is a collaboration between the department of Native studies, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR) and the University of Manitoba Press, will create an accessible learning tool in the medium of a graphic novel called A Knock on the Door. The novel will be illustrated by Kwakwaka’wakw artist Gord Hill.

In the spirit of putting ‘truth’ before ‘reconciliation,’ Carleton says the goal of the project is “to establish innovative linkages on campus to support knowledge mobilization and education throughout Manitoba and Canada.”

“Comics, or graphic novels, are an accessible medium to share information and education,” he says. “They are a transformative tool for empathic and empowering teaching and learning.”

There are plenty of resources that currently exist in educating adults, including the TRC’s publication entitled A Knock on the Door: The Essential History of Residential Schools from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (University of Manitoba Press, 2016), and Carleton hopes to use the publication as the launching point for the graphic novel.

“Many Indigenous comics creators are showing the power of the graphic form as a way of storytelling and consciousness raising, including one of my colleagues and grant collaborator Niigaan Sinclair,” Carleton says. As well, he adds that UM is in a unique position “to be a hub of residential school knowledge,” citing the advantages of having the NCTR on campus, as well as a strong Native studies department. “Collaboration and knowledge dissemination are the main goals for this project.”

Inspired by the TRC’s call to action #62, which calls for “age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools,” both publication and dissemination of A Knock on the Door is to work alongside educators in the K-12 system to develop a meaningful way for young learners to become aware of residential school history.

Awarded $30,000 for the project,  A Knock on the Door is one of eight projects selected this year for a total of $350,514 in funding. The Indigenous Initiative Funds are open to faculties, schools, colleges, libraries and administrative units to support unit-based projects that further the Indigenous Achievement goals and priorities outlined in Taking Our Place, UM’s Strategic Plan.

As head of the department of Native studies, Dr. Miller is responsible for making sure the department grows in ways that support the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, the Manitoba Collaborative Indigenous Education Blueprint, the University of Manitoba Strategic Plan 2015-2020 and other local and provincial agreements. She has worked to make Anishinaabemowin, Cree, Dakota and Michif language classes available on campus. Dr. Miller has also served as a University Senator, on the Faculty of Arts executive, and on numerous committees such as the committee that put forward the recommendations on Indigenous senior leadership, a Task Force on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and the Senate Planning and Priorities committee.

UM Today had the pleasure of sitting down with Dr. Cary Miller to ask her a few questions.

Tell us where you came from.

My heritage is from the St. Croix communities in Wisconsin and Leech Lake in Minnesota. I was adopted in 1970 by my non-Indigenous parents. My parents never hid my background from me. They worked as educators and were very kind. I was adopted into a community, which consisted primarily of blonde Scandinavian kids. It was really tough. I remember I would get asked at the playground to do an Indian rain dance. My parents never knew how to talk me through it because they had never experienced racism.

I always knew that I would learn about myself and identity as an adult. I started doing this in my 20s. During my undergraduate degree, there were no Indigenous classes. This is part of what motivated me to get graduate degrees and bring those classes into the academy. I finished my MA in 1995 and PhD in 2004. I would say between 1995 and 2004 is when Native studies departments and courses started becoming much more common.

What brought you to the University of Manitoba?

I felt like I was just a checked box, even after teaching at the University of Wisconsin for 15 years. I had trouble getting the opportunity to teach graduate courses on Indigenous content history because the history department did not consider this important for their graduate students to learn. In 15 years, I was asked to do one guest lecture in a U.S. history course. It was very much, “We are so glad you’re in our department and have all this Indigenous history, but we don’t see what that has to do with U.S. history.”

Reconciliation in Canada has changed that narrative. As colonial nations, both the United States and Canada have taught history that is not complete – history that is an origin myth rather than a true accounting. Reconciliation embraced as widely as it is in Canada holds the possibility that we may move to an honest narrative of the historical past from kindergarten to higher education. Helping us move toward that goal is something I really wanted to be involved in.

What are your priorities for the department and/or campus?  

I am strongly involved in providing education for faculty members across the university. It is part of the university’s strategic plan to increase the infusion of Indigenous content into courses across the curriculum; however, many of our faculty have not been trained in this content and so are hesitant to adjust their syllabi, justifiably fearing that they could misstep and unintentionally reinforce misconceptions out of unintentional ignorance rather than move reconciliation forward.

To address this, our faculty has been involved in delivering training across the university through workshops, drop-ins, book clubs and teach-ins, but none of our initiatives has been as important or as effective as the Summer Institute. We held it last summer over 10 weeks from April through June for 30 faculty members. Exit surveys show that most will be revising courses as a result. We did sessions on culture, historical context, common academic stereotypes, fragility, privilege, microaggressions, barriers faced by Indigenous students, as well as a full day in the community at Turtle Lodge at Sagkeeng First Nation. Each week, faculty had assigned readings and the opportunity to write response papers to address topics they missed raising during class. I have applied for funding to run this institute four times within the next three years during the summer and the school year so more faculty will have the opportunity to participate.

The department of Native studies also has drop-in hours every other week for faculty and staff to come and ask questions about reconciliation and decolonization, their course content and assignments, and other questions they may have concerning Indigenous content. Through such programs, we are helping faculty to see that infusion of Indigenous content is more than just cultural awareness – it requires an Indigenous content literacy that will help them see where they need to adjust the narrative not just since 1492, but wherever settler colonialism is expressed in western sources. The impetus to colonize and exploit did not spring forth as a new thing at contact; it has deep roots that we need to more consciously and critically engage with in our classrooms.  So while some are modifying their classes to include discussion of Treaty 1 signers or Louis Riel’s inner circle, others are discussing Roman expansion in terms of settler colonialism – and that is part of reconciliation too. Reconciliation is not just reframing how we discuss Indigenous people; it is about how we reframe discussions around power relationships in history, in classrooms, in practicums and in contemporary Canada.

What advice would you have for Indigenous students?

Believe in yourself. Every day, we are making the university a more inclusive place for Indigenous students, where you don’t have to leave your identity at the door but can be your full truest self on our campus. We may not be there yet, but we are getting there. Know that folks like myself, Christine Cyr, Catherine Cook, Ruth Shead and many others are here working for you daily.

Eager to learn more about reconciliation? Check out the book club hosted by the department of Native studies. Dr. Miller will present at the next event on her book, Ogimaag: Anishnaabe Leadership 1763-1845, on Dec. 11 in room 111 in St. John’s College.

Dr. Miller will also be a panellist for Visionary Conversations – “What does a decolonized Canada look like?” This event also takes place on Dec. 11 at 7 p.m. at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights.

This school year, for the first time in the University of Manitoba’s 142-year history, four Indigenous languages will be available for students to learn.

For years, multiple levels of Ojibwe and Cree have been taught in the Department of Native Studies, but — due to demands from students and Indigenous leaders — two more have been added: Michif and Dakota.

“Indigenous languages are the best way for us to understand Indigenous cultures and communities,” Native Studies Department head Cary Miller says. “It’s an exciting time.”

It’s been a long road for my department — our 45th year, the second oldest Native Studies program in the country. We’ve taught Indigenous languages since our beginning, but we still haven’t done one thing we dream to do: produce a fluent speaker.

We’ll take a step towards that this year though.

It’s long been said that languages shape the way people think about, act and interact with the world.

For Indigenous communities, languages are integral to identity, cultural continuity and survival as nations. Language, of course, is not the only expression of a people but is often one of the most important.

Read the full column from Niigaan Sinclair here.

There are likely not many university students who follow a straight path to the end of their degree. After all, in addition to academic growth, the university experience is largely considered to be a time of immense personal development.

It certainly was for Noah Wilson.

“I came into university with the average mindset: ‘I just want get my degree and get out of here’,” says Wilson.

During his first two years at the University of Manitoba, Wilson’s focus was on athletics. As a defensive lineman for the Winnipeg Rifles, he ensured school remained a priority but his extracurricular activities were almost exclusively on the gridiron. He knew he wanted to study something with an Indigenous focus but what that was didn’t become clear until his second year.

“I always kind of knew going into university I was going to take the Introduction to Native Studies course but after I took it, it changed my perspective,” says Wilson. “At the same time I started, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was closing their report and there were a bunch of events going on. I heard Murray Sinclair [LLB/79] speak and that changed my outlook about what I wanted to do for my degree.”

So, in Wilson’s second year, he jumped into the Aboriginal Governance program, which opened up options for business, political studies and Native studies. And, around the same time, he decided to put his football aspirations on hold. Instead, he joined the University of Manitoba Aboriginal Students’ Association (now the University of Manitoba Indigenous Students’ Association), first serving as the director of finance and the next year, as president. He also served as the Indigenous student representative on the University of Manitoba Students’ Union (UMSU) council.

“That was an amazing experience, being able to meet so many different people and get involved in so many different activities,” says Wilson.

Building off of fellow student Chance Paupanakis’ ReconciliACTION platform – a grassroots Indigenous movement based on the TRC Calls to Action – Wilson found momentum for change. They prioritized the TRC’s 16^th Call to Action, to create university and college degree and diploma programs in Aboriginal languages, first in introducing the campaign and passing it unanimously in UMSU, then nationally at the Canadian Federation of Students’ annual general meeting.

“Everything aligned perfectly and the right people were there at the right time. I definitely can’t take all the credit because there were a lot of people who contributed, including everyone who was on council,” says Wilson, who credits both his peers and the support from everyone at Migizii Agamik – Bald Eagle Lodge. “Pretty much the entire Migizii staff have been a good support to me throughout my whole university career. They definitely do a good job of making you feel included.”

Wilson found mentorship with a number of people. Elder Norman Meade, Elder Marlene Kayseas, student advisor Carl Stone and Ry Moran, the director of the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NCTR), all made an incredible impact in Wilson’s student journey. While Wilson and his peers were developing the ReconciliACTION campaign, they walked across campus to the NCTR to see if they would like to be involved.

The meeting had a tremendous impact.

“They were having a meeting and he invited us in. [It was] literally this huge meeting in this boardroom with the nation’s leaders in Reconciliation, and he sat us down and we observed. It was crazy to have that experience,” says Wilson.

It also taught him a valuable lesson. Even though the discussions at the time were specifically about Reconciliation, Wilson saw how important inclusivity was in moving forward in all aspects. As he’s leaving university, Wilson thinks about how he can continually pay it forward, allowing other groups of students to continue to carry momentum with the wheels of change.

This perspective reminds him about graduation, celebrating with Indigenous students at the 30^th Annual Traditional Graduation Pow Wow.

“I think the Grad Pow Wow is amazing,” says Wilson. “It’s a representation of Indigenous peoples reclaiming space within institutions that historically were used to suppress our culture and our language and our expression of celebration. I think by reclaiming the Grad Pow Wow – to celebrate Indigenous students who, in a lot of cases, overcame a lot of barriers that other groups in society don’t actually have to face – it’s an opportunity for Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to connect over Indigenous culture, the Pow Wow. That’s an awesome thing to have at the university.”

Looking back, Wilson calls his road to his bachelor of arts and his experience at the U of M “transformative.”

“I went into university with a goal and eventually reached that goal, but it wasn’t followed as what was first planned. The road is always winding and I think it set me on a pathway that without it, I wouldn’t have had the experiences and opportunities to meet people, to do different things. There was definitely a struggle between me transitioning from my football, my athlete identity, to this change-maker or activist. But in the end, those struggles are what define your university career – because when you come out the other side, you see it was worth it in the end.”

“I grew up knowing I was Métis. I was never ashamed of it, but I didn’t know anything about it,” states Jenna Vandal, who is graduating this spring with a bachelor of arts, with a major in Native studies and a minor in geography.

A true advocate for the environment and Indigenous rights, Vandal has always carved her own path.

“I started school later than most people, at 25. I worked full-time for seven years after graduating from high school. I had just gotten by in all of my high school courses; I was not strong academically at all.”

What motivated Vandal to apply to the University of Manitoba was becoming more aware of environmental issues, fueling her knowledge through independent learning and watching documentaries. She enrolled at the U of M in 2012 and started taking classes in environmental studies. Although she enjoyed the program, it was a required Native studies course that changed her life.

“When I took that first (Native studies) course, I thought, ‘I knew this! This is what I’m supposed to be doing and where I’m supposed to be.’”

She decided to re-focus and major in Native studies. This presented the opportunity to learn Indigenous languages, better understand her own heritage and take part in a land-based education course, where she and her classmates spent weeks living off the land at the Grassy Narrows First Nation.

This course, in fact, was a source of inspiration for Vandal when she led the Rooster Town Blockade in 2017. A controversial land-swap deal had resulted in private ownership of acres of land that had historically been used by the Métis people of the Red River Settlement and “Rooster Town.”  When the deal was made, Métis people had not been consulted. The blockade remained in place for two months.

“I learned how to be resilient, how to be brave. I never thought that I could stand in front of a truck and say, ‘This is Métis land; you can’t do this.’ But if you have enough love and think of your ancestors and what they’ve been through, as well as future generations, that love overcomes fear completely.”

Vandal became more active on campus as she continued her studies, spending a significant amount of time at Migizii Agamik – Bald Eagle Lodge. She feels the building is a wonderful example of the beauty of Indigenous architecture, and how integral Indigenous presence in the built environment can be in making people feel welcome on campus.

“The staff there are phenomenal. I learned about scholarship and bursary opportunities, and even had help on how to prepare [the applications].”

A year ago, Vandal and two other passionate students worked with the Manitoba Metis Federation (MMF) to establish the Bison Local at the U of M campus. Serving as the local’s co-chair, she says there are now close to 70 members who meet monthly to discuss Métis issues and provide grassroots input toward MMF governance. She believes that ‘indigenizing the academy’ — as well as other spaces — is important, and envisions that as not only seeing more Indigenous faces on campus, but also integrating Indigenous knowledges throughout the university.

“It’s not just using all of this Indigenous talent and skills in Indigenous studies. You want to have Indigenous influence in all of the faculties and all of the classes that are taught.”

When asked about post-graduation plans, there are a few options she is considering, including a teaching degree that specializes in land-based education, a master’s degree in Native studies and a law degree. The common thread is her desire to make a positive impact on the world and the environment. She wants to encourage current and future Indigenous students to persevere, and to take the time they need while accomplishing their studies.

“Look to those that have come before you as inspiration and keep your goals in sight. It would be so easy to give up and live a stress-free life where you don’t have to worry about changing the world — but I really want to bring change to the world. If I give up, I am giving up on the Earth and the animals that need our protection — and I can’t do that.”

Soaring offers high school students the opportunity to learn about career and post-secondary education options. During their visit to U of M, students attended three of six workshops hosted by various faculties.

“For so many Indigenous students, they are the first in their families to pursue a post-secondary education,” says Dr. Lynn Lavallée, Vice-Provost (Indigenous Engagement) at the U of M. “Being able to host high school students for a day, to show them that university is an option for them and that there is content here that is relevant to them and there are people who are here to support them along their education journeys, is so important.”

At the Faculty of Education, students learned about the history of wampum belts, which were used by the Haudenosaunee people as visual representations of important events in the lives of the people. Afterwards, participants created their own wampum bracelet, in order to highlight significant events in their lives.

“[Making wampums] was kind of a natural fit for me, being Mohawk,” said Dr. Jennifer Brant, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education, and co-facilitator of the workshop.

“Here I teach the Indigenous perspectives course, and so part of that is teaching about Treaty relationships, and while the students aren’t actually making a wampum belt, they’re still understanding the history of the belt and the relationships.”

At the Faculty of Kinesiology and Recreation Management, students engaged in contemporary versions of traditional Indigenous games from across Turtle Island.

The Department of Native Studies challenged students to bring new meaning to materials, such as a section of Treaty No. 1 and a page from the work of U of M alumnae Leanne Betasamosake Simpson. Participants created original poems inspired by those texts.

At the Indigenous Student Centre (ISC), students were provided with a brief history of Migizii Agamik – Bald Eagle Lodge, where the ISC is located. Afterwards, the youth were taught introductory Pow Wow and jigging steps, spent time with Elders and learned more about mentorship and leadership opportunities on campus.

The Indigenous Business Education Partners (IBEP) staff and students facilitated the workshop offered at the I.H. Asper School of Business. During the session, students were tasked with coming up with a creative and innovative product idea and marketing campaign.

At the Faculty of Engineering, students were given a tour of the Civil Engineering Hydrology Lab. Following the tour, they built watercrafts out of tinfoil, and then tested the strength of their creations by seeing how many marbles their watercraft could hold.

“[The workshop] engages the kids in thinking about engineering design, and how to do better designs,” Randy Herrmann, Director of the Engineering Access Program (ENGAP) said. “It’s a very brief introduction to how engineers work.”

The gathering is just one way that the U of M is implementing its strategic goal of fostering K-12 Indigenous student participation in post-secondary education. 

Other events during the month that helped facilitate this participation on campus included the Manitoba First Nations Science Fair, which hosted approximately 450 Indigenous students from grades 4-12, as well as the Indigenous Business Case Competition, where 22 Indigenous high school students learned about business, marketing and more. Both of these events were part of Indigenous Awareness Month.

About Indspire

Indspire is a national Indigenous-led registered charity that focuses on Indigenous education. In addition to bursaries and scholarships, they offer career conferences for youth, interactive classroom learning modules, the Indspire Institute and the Indspire Awards.