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Indigenous Student Services
62 Plays9 months ago
This episode Past-President Mark Solomon is joined by Marni Hope (Miisomii'kitsikaakii | Long Time Offering) as we explore the topic of Indigenous Student Services. We hope that you enjoy and choose to follow along as we release a number of episodes geared towards celebrating our past, present, and future as an organization.
The CACUSS50 Oral History Project is an initiative of the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services in recognition of our organizations 50 years of engaging student affairs professionals in Canada. The series of podcasts is recorded and produced by: Sean Fast, Adam Kuhn, Nicholas Fast, Rachel Barreca, Stephanie Muehlethaler, Noah Arney, Sally Chen, Estefania Toledo, Paula Jean Broderick, Jennifer Brown, Margaret de Leon, and Becca Gray. This podcast is recorded, produced, and published on the traditional territories of hundreds of Indigenous nations from across the northern half of Turtle Island, also known by its settler-colonial name, Canada. We are grateful for the opportunity to live, work, and learn on this land. For more information on the territories you may reside on, visit: https://native-land.ca/
Music: Expanding the Limits | Performed by Audiorezout & Written by Oleksii Striapchyi | Stock Media provided by Audiorezout / Pond5
Podcast Cover Art by: Ravi Gabble (UTM)
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Transcript
Introduction and Host Background
00:00:19
Speaker
Good morning, good afternoon. Whenever you listen to this, welcome caucus. The 50th anniversary podcast. I'm Mark Solomon.
00:00:30
Speaker
Super, super happy to be your host today. We're going to talk about Aboriginal Student Services. My role here, well, at the college, I actually wear a polytechnic now, all of about six months of it, at Seneca College. Seneca Polytechnic is the Associate Vice President, Reconciliation and Inclusion. I've also had the honor of serving caucus as the former president.
Guest Introduction and Roles
00:00:56
Speaker
And I'm joined with Marnie. Marnie, tell me, tell us all about all the great things you are. Okay, well thank you first of all for having me today. I come to you from the traditional lands of the Blackfoot people here in southern Alberta.
00:01:12
Speaker
And so I'm housed out of Lethbridge, Alberta, and specifically at the Lethbridge College, and my title here is Indigenous Student Support and Events Coordinator.
00:01:29
Speaker
So my English name is Marnie Hope and my Blackfoot name is Mi Sami Gistigaki, which means long time offering in the Blackfoot language. I am Blackfoot from Kainai, which is very close here to Lethbridge. And yeah, we're just this week kind of wrapping up the end of this semester. That time of year, right? Yeah, that time of year.
00:01:59
Speaker
students are feeling the crunch, but this is all part of the process. I also didn't, and please forgive me, I didn't introduce my First Nation. I'm a member of Henvy Inlet First Nation here in Ontario, and it's a small Anishinaabe community just north of, sorry, just south of Sudbury. And I'm lucky to be the first
00:02:25
Speaker
But not last, indigenous president of caucus, Patty Hamblar, our current president, is a member, I believe, she's Cree, I believe, but not only is she Cree, she's fantastic. So that's a big shout out to Patty.
Indigenous Student Services: Past and Present
00:02:46
Speaker
So, okay, so here's the interesting part, is I have this theory, Marty, that everything Student Services wants to be,
00:02:56
Speaker
is what Indigenous Student Services is. So walk me through a day or a week in your office of the breadth of things that you do, because I think people will be amazed what happens in your office and you're calling us, I think, from your office there. I see all sorts of wonderful things. Yeah, I am in my office. You know, every day is a new day, and it's always determined
00:03:25
Speaker
basically by what the students are needing from us each and every day, which is what I love about my job is that it's never the same. And it's all about supporting the students.
00:03:38
Speaker
So there's going to be times, you know, they're going to come off of a heavy weekend and we are the first initial contact for them. So we may have to have a sit down in my office and go over the weekend. So it's that real one on one piece. Other times we're providing programming for our students to, you know,
00:04:02
Speaker
make them feel more at home while they're here at the college, showing them the different supports that we have because that can be a bit of a barrier. Students aren't familiar with what's happening on campus because they just don't
00:04:22
Speaker
you know, their comfort level isn't there. So it's kind of our job to make sure they're feeling comfortable and at home when they come here. And then there's also parts of our day where we're interacting with faculty and staff and we get sometimes those conversations in the hallway or, hey, can you come to our class and do a presentation?
00:04:49
Speaker
And those sorts of things, but it's never a dull day, let me tell you, and it's never the same. So my experience in Indigenous Student Services, and I've been in the field long enough to remember when we were called Native Student Services. Way back in the 90s. But you're everything from a housing officer, finding both on campus and off campus housing
00:05:15
Speaker
financial aid, helping with scholarships, band funding, student loans, should students do that. Mental health supports, chaplaincy services with ceremony and all sorts of things. Food banks dealing with food insecurity of students.
00:05:35
Speaker
academic advising, mental health work, both crisis work and work. You're also a community relations person out in the community, helping the local powwow community, sitting on boards, doing all those things.
00:05:55
Speaker
At some point, I suspect you need to sit in your office and fill out some reports for the institution and all that stuff. You might get to your email. And the interesting part is that what I think is one of some of the newest stuff that's happening in Indigenous students, we'll get to it later, is curriculum design and true work in academics.
Responsibilities and Impact of TRC on Services
00:06:16
Speaker
So I've listed at least 10 specialties
00:06:20
Speaker
that of what might be one person or one department, student services, and you call that a week. Yeah. Yeah. And I love that shirt. Yep. That's what we do. It's really, you've nailed it. We do. We wear all those hats.
00:06:38
Speaker
And it's, it's a busy, busy, um, a busy, busy place. Like I said earlier, it's never the same. Now two days are the same. Um, and how could it be? Right. So we're a small team here at the Lethbridge college. We have our manager and then we have myself. Um, and then, um, we have a, a recruiter slash advisor, but we all wear to specific job titles.
00:07:08
Speaker
which is interesting, which, um, you know, I could go into that and pay you for both. Right. That's how it works. Right. So no, of course not. Of course not. No. Um, but yeah, so we each wear two hats within our job titles. So we're, we're, we're doing the best that we can with what we have, but, um, I love my job. And the part, Marnie is, is I would argue that.
00:07:38
Speaker
At a certain point in the history of Indigenous Student Services, we stopped only servicing Indigenous students. We started servicing non-Indigenous students who were trying to understand what reconciliation is, understanding MMIW, understanding
00:07:58
Speaker
The world events as they see them on opposing decolonization and all those aspects. We see more non-Indigenous students coming through our places of work having to help them. Obviously our services are tailored to Indigenous students.
00:08:14
Speaker
But non-indigenous students seeing this as the epicenter of indigeneity on campus, coming to you for wisdom, hints and tips, all that kind of stuff, right? It's a new world, right? Yeah. Yes, absolutely.
00:08:32
Speaker
So I divide my career in Indigenous Student Services and I don't do Indigenous Student Services as much. In fact, I have a wonderful team and they're fantabulous. But I sit around and think of great philosophical things like all administrators do. And I think of my life in Indigenous Student Services as pre-TRC and post-TRC.
00:08:59
Speaker
And so pre-TRC, so I started back in the mid 2000s. And those were the days where we starved. Like, Marnie, like there were times where we were going out trying to find, like people were throwing furniture out of their offices and we were grabbing it because we needed an extra couple of chairs around or it was always leftover space. So we were kind of taking it. It didn't really work.
00:09:24
Speaker
and then TRC kind of happened and then all of a sudden it was just like this boom and we're doing everything now like curriculum design we're doing uh blessings of of brand new buildings we're putting up artwork and stuff
00:09:39
Speaker
Has the TRC really, do you sense that as well? Sorry, when I'm saying TRC, for listeners at home who are unfamiliar, it's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the calls to action, which were released in 2005 as a result of the public inquiries around the residential school system. Do you see that kind of, that split, Marnie, in your work?
00:10:03
Speaker
Well, I can't really, you know, I've only been here just going on three years. I can't really speak to how things were prior to me, you know, coming on board. But I certainly do remember the times when I was an undergrad at Trent University and, you know, kind of getting that feel of what was happening within, you know, Indigenous services there. We'll use that as a comparison to now, I think would be, you know, I always speak from my own experience and
00:10:32
Speaker
I do feel like now that there is way more of, that we need to take, that there's a lot of asks of us as Indigenous employees within institutions.
00:10:50
Speaker
And so it's definitely bringing things to light. Now, I don't know where the fine line is there. It's very blurred because, you know, we here at this institution have put on some amazing things around Truth and Reconciliation Week. We house it over a week.
00:11:14
Speaker
And we bring in some amazing guest speakers and we try and kind of touch all, you know, areas that we think are important for the college to partake in. And, you know, at the end of the day, we sit there and we wonder why is it that we as indigenous people within an institution are, you know,
00:11:39
Speaker
Obviously, we're doing it because we're employed and we kind of have to do it, but who are we putting these things on for? It's definitely not for ourselves. I'm not putting on truth and reconciliation for me.
00:11:54
Speaker
I don't need to learn about how to reconcile, I know. And I mean, so there's always that conversation. But yes, it's such a touchy subject too, because we actually did a survey here at the college not that long ago about truth and reconciliation after we did a week long of events to see what
00:12:18
Speaker
the college staff and faculty thought about the week and you know some of the things are really unattended and so again going back to my point is why are we putting things on if a people aren't attending you know because I don't need to do it for me I'm doing it I'm doing it for for the college and
00:12:40
Speaker
the faculty, staff, and students, and if nobody's attending, what's the point? But yeah, so that survey and the results of that survey were that a lot of people still find it such an awkward conversation because they don't want to step on toes. They don't want to come across as being looked at in a certain way.
00:13:06
Speaker
And so, you know, there's so knowing that there's a lot of work to be done around tooth and reconciliation. And, but we don't have always have the answers. And I think that's also part of the problem is that we are we are experts, but to a point. And we are really we are truly
00:13:26
Speaker
quite honestly, coming up to the 10th year of TRC, right? So 2025, that's a big year. It's 10 years after. I know CBC does a ton of those counters of how many of the calls to action have been completed. And usually it's less than a dozen. I'd be shocked if it even broke 20 out of the 94 calls to action, 94, 94, 96, 94.
00:13:57
Speaker
over 90 calls to action and they really are there.
Reconciliation Efforts and Community Collaboration
00:14:05
Speaker
Do you find in your institution, people are afraid to do some of the work around reconciliation, that they're afraid to get it wrong? They're afraid to step. Absolutely. Yeah, I think that is the conversation that we, you know, when we really get down to the heart of it is that people just don't want to offend.
00:14:23
Speaker
So instead of offending, they just don't do anything at all. And that might be even more destructive, right? Yeah. So what I've done here is, you know, I've put together just some, some basic things that people can, you know, do to,
00:14:43
Speaker
to get themselves pointed in the right direction as far as truth and reconciliation goes. You're not going to learn unless you put in the effort and do some things. It's an individual opportunity for them. So I don't tell them what they need to do, but I give them some ideas. And based on where they are, they can choose something to at least
00:15:09
Speaker
help them get pointed in the right direction. It's totally fair. I think, you know, I do tell people, I said, you know, we're going to make mistakes when we do this. Reconciliation and not every survivor and not every person who's involved in this is interested in the same type of reconciliation. In fact, many survivors will tell you we're not ready for reconciliation. The truth hasn't been able to come.
00:15:39
Speaker
I think that's an important perspective for us to acknowledge. I think that there's a lot of people that talk about healing prior to reconciliation, that there's still a sense of a herd and victimization within the community that still not hasn't been addressed. So I tell people, I'd rather you make a mistake
00:16:03
Speaker
trying your best than just to sit there and let me do all the work because that's the interesting part and I've always and maybe this is a call out to our friends at caucus. Our friends at caucus, the vast majority are non-Indigenous. The work around September 30th should not be done on the backs of Indigenous people.
00:16:24
Speaker
Right. It should be guided by Indigenous people, but also know it's a time for mourning, it's a time for loss, it's a time for that community, our community, to be with community, to reflect. And in fact, actually, our work is in our centres dealing with students who are having traumatic responses to all of the orange shirts. We've had some students talk to us about how traumatic it is to see orange shirts everywhere, and then it just feels like it's something that they can't
00:16:53
Speaker
They can't escape the camera. So maybe it's our call out to our friends at caucus to come by our center after orientation and ask how they can help us. You know, one of the things that I just wanted to mention that I'm looking forward to this year, uh, cause I think some of the people, you know, have taken some of my recommendations, you know, to heart and I can see them implementing them.
00:17:20
Speaker
And one of the things is that we're going to be doing like pop-up reconciliation.
00:17:26
Speaker
Days throughout the year instead of it being over that week-long truth and reconciliation week around September 30th And then people forget about it and then never think about it again until it's in their calendar the next following September 30th week, so You know people need to know that it's not just a specific day that it's actually every single day of our lives as indigenous people we have to come to work and
00:17:56
Speaker
in these institutions wearing our indigeneity and it's very heavy and people don't realize that and no one else like your IT people, your communications people, they come to their job and their skill is around communications or IT. They aren't putting in who they are.
00:18:20
Speaker
you know, they can set aside that piece of them. You know what I'm saying? But as an indigenous staff, we have to come wearing our indigeneity on our sleeves every single day. And it's heavy and it's, and sometimes it's a tough thing to do. So that's why I kind of recommended that. Let's think about truth and reconciliation 365 days of the year.
00:18:45
Speaker
rather than it just being like a big heightened week and then we forget about it. And you know, you are right. It's one of the very few jobs in student services that you're hired based upon your identity.
00:18:59
Speaker
You are hired for your identity, you're hired for your community, you're hired and you walk in these two very sometimes oppositional, sometimes complimentary roles of like you put one foot in community, one foot in the institution, right? You know, nothing is more awkward and I'm sure you've had it.
00:19:22
Speaker
Having somebody who wants to be paid in cash and of course your institutions like I need a sin number I need 30 days. I'm gonna be taxing them on this. I'm gonna be doing this I'm gonna be doing this Can I just be paid in gift cards or Visa cards or smokes
00:19:44
Speaker
I don't know how to do that, right? So it's a whole thing, right? Exactly. Yeah. There is an awkwardness of colonial institutions and non-colonial peeps trying to be together. And I think that is some of the emotional heavy lifting that Indigenous student services does. Yeah.
00:20:08
Speaker
I think as you were talking, I'm also reminded of, you know, our friends in the Black community that say February can't be the last time we talk about Black history or Black excellence. It's got to be every day. And I think that we need to celebrate indigeneity.
00:20:26
Speaker
all of our levels of inclusion throughout the year. And I know that we stand in solidarity with many, many communities during the Black Lives Matter and many, many other movements we've been there and seen them come to support us as well. So it's great.
00:20:52
Speaker
Tell, okay, here's, here's the crazy thing. We're all building these crazy buildings and we got cool art these days. Again, this is because of, you know, TRC and people may or may not be buying their guilt. I didn't say that. We'll probably, we won't edit that out, but we probably should, but we'll, uh, but people are doing some like really cool things. Yeah.
00:21:12
Speaker
What's cool at your place?
Cultural and Ceremonial Initiatives
00:21:13
Speaker
What's something that you would take me, if I was showing up on your doorstep tomorrow, where's the first place we're visiting on your campus that you're gonna say, look what we got? Oh my gosh, we just recently revealed our Buffalo Road winter count. Tell me more, tell me more, explain it. Okay, so about a year ago, we,
00:21:40
Speaker
We got permission from their executive leadership team because we explained to them how our institution should have a Buffalo Road winter count. So they gave us the go ahead. They trusted us. That's the wonderful thing is that they do trust us. Because yeah, we are the experts in our field. And so that was a good feeling that they would allow us to just go out.
00:22:10
Speaker
We went out to Bikani and had a ceremony and so got the community behind us, you know, that support. And we did things in the right way. And had the ceremony, you know, we're blessed to go out and hunt the buffalo out on Bikani's buffalo ranch.
00:22:39
Speaker
Yeah, so it was like a bit of a community event. The people that were there should have been there. And then a few people from the college were there. And yes, we harvested this buffalo on site and brought the animal to the Lethbridge College here for our culinary students to actually- Oh, wow.
00:23:06
Speaker
to, oh, what's it called when they, you know, like they do all the cutting up of the, they did all the butchery and everything. So they, you know, they, they got to be a part of that process. And then what we ended up doing was gifting the meat back to the community because
00:23:25
Speaker
buffalo. So there's that reciprocity piece that, you know, is such a big part of who we are, as Blackfoot people, is that reciprocity piece. So they gave us the buffalo for, you know, for us to have the hide, and then we in return gave them the the the meat back for the community just before Christmas.
00:23:47
Speaker
And then, so we had the Hyde, and then one of our professors here, Dean, he's...
00:23:57
Speaker
he's a big hunter himself who was also out there that day and he took it upon himself to take the hide over the the winter and the winter break and he worked the hide at his place oh wow and then brought it back when students were back in in january and we would open it up for any students to come and work that hide because it's
00:24:20
Speaker
you know if you know anything about hide processing it's a really big heavy job and it just goes to show how resilient and beautifully strong our people were to to do that day in and day out and that you know so it's anyway so the students you know had an opportunity faculty staff could go in there and work on the hide when they had some time
00:24:44
Speaker
And so it really was that community collaborative effort here on campus, getting that hide ready to go off to be painted, to be drawn on. And so we had one of our local artists and he
00:25:03
Speaker
was happy to take this on and we kind of ahead of time gave him the the the story that we would like on the row and he came up with the symbols and yeah so drew all that onto the the hide
00:25:21
Speaker
And then we had a beautiful case made for it and the symbols on the side to explain the story of the Lethbridge College and all of the amazing Indigenous pieces that have taken place here on campus are now ingrained on that hide for everyone to see. So it's something that
00:25:52
Speaker
The college will have forever moving forward. And, you know, I called this Buffalo because I was there from beginning to end and seeing the whole process has just been so moving for me. And so we call her Buffy. And the case that she, the case that she is in. That's a little complicated a little later on. Yeah, I know right. Like, oh Buffy, wow, how did you come up with that?
00:26:18
Speaker
Anyway, so her case is, it's beautiful of course, but it's on wheels. So we like the fact that she can move around because our buffalo didn't just stay in one place. They moved around. And so I like that parallel that she is able to move around throughout campus and maybe she spends a day out in center core and teaches people who are coming through center core that day. Or maybe she moves down over to the trades.
00:26:48
Speaker
or maybe she's over in the cousins building. So she's moving around, teaching the community about
00:26:57
Speaker
what it means to be Blackfoot and what it means to be here on campus and how our cultures are intact. So that is one of the things, the newest things that we're very proud of. Another thing that is so cool that we've done is that we indigenized our gym floor.
00:27:19
Speaker
So yeah, so we indigenized the gym floor. The athletics got a new indigenous logo. And so that logo is on the floor. And then the baseline has like our RTP images on the on the.
00:27:41
Speaker
Yeah, and so this past fall, during our Tooth and Reconciliation Week, the athletics team had jerseys made with that Indigenous logo. And so they wore those, they wear those jerseys during certain times throughout the year.
00:28:04
Speaker
And as far as I know, there aren't too many institutions across Canada that have indigenized their athletic gear. So, you know, we're really setting that bar. And last year, we won an ACAC award for our indigenized floor.
00:28:25
Speaker
In fact, fantastic. Yeah. So we'll be doing a banner raising for that here in January. Um, because yeah, it's an ACAC ward, you know, athletics. Can you explain to us just for everybody at home what ACAC stands for? Um, the, uh, let, um, I don't, I don't even want to say when we have to cut this out, AC, I think it's the, um, athletic conference.
00:28:52
Speaker
Association of Canada. It's Canada-wide. So yeah, it's athletics conference. So it's a Canada-wide award. Yes, ACAC. So yeah, we won that award for digitizing our floor.
00:29:09
Speaker
And while that's really been powerful and has again set the bar and then of course following up with those indigenous jerseys. So it just goes to show we're doing some really good work, you know, and we're getting the the attention and the accolades to go with it that that are deserving right to show that we're doing some good stuff.
00:29:29
Speaker
What else is kind of, oh, we just did, we did a beautiful land acknowledgement video.
00:29:39
Speaker
Blackfoot Land Acknowledgement video. So we've been so busy this last year. I'm like, I don't know what we're going to have nothing left to do in 2024. We got all sold. We're fully indigenized. We're like overfilling. No, there's always something to do. But yeah, we just had a really busy fall unveiling our our land acknowledgement video, our Buffalo rope winter count, our indigenous jerseys,
00:30:08
Speaker
And yeah, and then Indigenous Services here, we unveiled a new Indigenous logo too, you know, because we need to remarket our things every so often years. So we felt it was time to do that. So we got a buffalo and I don't think I have any in my office, maybe in my drawer here. Yeah, so this is what our new logo looks like. Other camera, we're on the other camera.
00:30:37
Speaker
Oh, fantastic. Isn't that cute? To describe everyone, can you describe the logo just because we're all audio for our friends on the. Yeah, so it's a buffalo and then it's got the lifeline coming in through its mouth pointing down towards its stomach with two dots above on the top of its tail kind of on your would be like you're kind of your top of your hip. And those are your kidneys.
00:31:06
Speaker
And you'll see this a lot in our Blackfoot artwork because that lifeline pointing towards your kidneys signifies that's where your adrenaline comes from, your kidneys.
00:31:20
Speaker
And so without those, you wouldn't have much of a lifeline, that adrenaline and that access to moving and doing what your body's telling you to in that moment. So you'll see that a lot in our artwork, that lifeline kind of going in through their mouth and then pointing down towards their stomach slash kidneys.
00:31:45
Speaker
So yeah, um, Marnie Miigwech, like that was fun. That's fantastic. There was part of me at the beginning of this, I'm going, I hope we don't offend any vegans or vegetarians on here as you were talking about. And, and, and probably I would assume, and this is just me, I've never worked a Buffalo hide. I've had the honor of working some deer hides and stuff probably five or 600 hours working. Yeah.
00:32:13
Speaker
Yeah, it's a big job. It's massive. Oh, I got to tell you about the other thing that was. You get one more and then one more
Community Involvement and Challenges
00:32:22
Speaker
thing. So we we quite often in indigenous services get requests to put up the teepee because that is our traditional dwellings. Right. I know different for you out out east and in Ojibwe territory. For us, the teepee, you know,
00:32:43
Speaker
is so significant to who we are as Blackfoot people. So we get that request quite often to put up the teepee around campus. And in fact, I think this last year we might have put it up, I wanna say over 20 times. And we in fact have gotten it down to putting up in probably about eight minutes, the two of us, sometimes the two of us. There's a three, we have a three man team here, but sometimes it's just the two of us as well.
00:33:10
Speaker
Yep, we are that good at it. But our tepee needed to be replaced, like our poles needed to be replaced in our pegs. So we went out this last summer and went out and harvested new tepee poles and pegs and buttons. And let me tell you another huge job. I can see why you only want to replace them every 10 to 12 years, because it is a big, heavy, labor intensive job.
00:33:41
Speaker
So again, just like learning about. Somebody who's listening, can you describe how long a teepee pole is? Well, they vary in sizes. So how long is yours for you? Ours are about 22 feet. Yeah, 19 to 22 feet. And how many poles do you use? 21. So you put up 21, 20 foot poles.
00:34:11
Speaker
Plus pegs, plus buttons, which I, is that the sewing at the top of both, above the doors? I consider the buttons. Uh, no, like you kind of peg them in to keep, yeah, to keep the doorway closed. Yeah. Yeah. And you do your team does that in eight minutes. Yeah. I know. It's amazing. Hey.
00:34:32
Speaker
You guys are fantastic. Like that is, there should be, we should create a new sport. And you know that there's actually some institutions who put on teepee raising competitions. And I would love to start that here. Imagine if that became like a little bit of a sport.
00:34:57
Speaker
I don't think it's a sport. I think it's something that definitely has to happen. Wouldn't it be great? Yeah. If you had a competition, even if you started getting the high schools around here to put together teams and then whoever was the Lethbridge team that could put it up the quickest would go and represent Lethbridge and take on Medicine Hat College.
00:35:22
Speaker
And then they would take on SAIT, and then they would take on Mount Royal, right? So I think when we're looking for new caucus activities in the evening, we're going to do this. We're going to raise up a teepee and see how much those student affairs people can't do it. And then we'll give
00:35:41
Speaker
Lethbridge College recall and to embarrass all of us in eight minutes. Yeah, I think it's something we should look into. It would be a blast. Marnie, as you've been talking, you've been talking a lot about going to community, asking community. I think one of the very indigenous student services is probably one of the only student services
00:36:10
Speaker
that takes the vast majority of their guidance from community. And when we say community, we mean external to the institution and usually
00:36:21
Speaker
here in Ontario, and I'm in Toronto, I'm in the Greater Toronto Area. So that for us, we define community as we have some First Nations that are close, very an hour away from Toronto, but we also have a lot of agencies and we have a lot of urban community members and we call them our community. In Ontario, we actually have community councils that I've often called the Red Board of Governors.
00:36:45
Speaker
And they kind of provide us our strategic vision, our focus, our approvals on big things. Can you talk to me about what the Indigenous community means to your service, your work, and how it informs you? And just explain to people who listening may not understand that concept.
00:37:08
Speaker
Yeah. So, you know, I think we, we praise ourselves here at the Lethbridge College by always instilling that value of reaching out to the community because everything we do and did and will continue to do is going to affect our communities. We,
00:37:35
Speaker
you know, it's our cultural nature to think collectively as opposed to individually. And so, you know, if you're doing things that are for the greater good of the community, you need to have that input from them and the support and making sure that everybody's on the same page and that there's no surprises. And of course, in doing so, we always include our elders.
00:38:02
Speaker
in any decisions that we make. You know, they're a very big part of our community here on campus. And, you know, at the end of the day, our consultation with our elders is paramount to any decision making. So, yeah, they're always at the table when we make big decisions and because that's how we do things.
00:38:30
Speaker
But yeah, so I would say that every community is busy doing their own thing, as you know. And there's never that lack of work in any community. We know that there's so much work to be done. But we also don't want to silo ourselves and do this work.
00:38:54
Speaker
you know, in those silos, which I think you see a lot of eyes. There's this one organization that I sit on, or it's part of a committee here and it's
00:39:05
Speaker
So all the Indigenous organizations slash committees, community branches sit on this committee where you once a month will have a meeting. Sometimes it's in person or it's hybrid or whatever. We make it accessible so that the majority of people can attend. And then what the intent is is to share
00:39:31
Speaker
with the group, what it is that you're doing, what you're offering, what you're providing, because there's so many organizations doing great work, but sometimes you don't know about them because there's just everyone's working in silos. And so, you know, when we
00:39:51
Speaker
You know, we're all being funded usually by some big government organization. We know this. The source of all evil, source of all funding, right? Yes. And so why wouldn't you want to collaborate? And so instead of reinventing the wheel every single time and fighting for those numbers and for those clients. And so we're aware of that.
00:40:19
Speaker
I'm very aware of that. So I'm always up for trying to collaborate with somebody who's doing something similar in the community, whether it's in Lethbridge or out in Kainai or Bikani, because our reserves are very close to us. And a lot of our students are obviously coming from those reserves. And so we need to give back to those communities and build those relationships so that we can, when our students come in onto campus here, they're familiar with who we are and the work that we do.
00:40:48
Speaker
And I think that that's the important part too, Marnie, is that the relationship needs to be reciprocal, right? It can't always be the institution taking from the community. The institution needs to give to the community and take those opportunities. Absolutely. Yes. So, okay. I'm going to get controversial for you. For like the last 12 months, 24 months, what's dominated
00:41:18
Speaker
a number of different worlds, but it's been very
Identity Issues and Personal Insights
00:41:22
Speaker
active. And in fact, actually, the Academy in Canada has been very active in trying to understand identity and the
00:41:36
Speaker
I don't want to call it the surge, because I think that they've always been here, but pretendians and that there have been people. And for those of you who don't know, pretendians is a bit of a nickname that people who aren't of Indigenous descent, who have claimed Indigenous descent, whether that be for personal gain through grants or through
00:42:01
Speaker
Job job offerings or or even even their work. It's it's dominated the work How has your institution Marnie? Have you addressed it have you
00:42:15
Speaker
Have you looked into it at all? I don't want you to, I know the other part. I'm fired, just kidding. I don't want anything bad to happen. But I can't imagine that there is an institution in Canada that hasn't had a conversation about this.
00:42:35
Speaker
Yeah, you know, it is definitely a conversation that has come up more in the last year. In fact, we
00:42:48
Speaker
not too long ago attended a little conference up in Calgary and it was on pretending theism. And we sent the invite to our human resources department. I think our ELT team, we sent it out so that people were aware that it was happening. And a few people went, which was great.
00:43:14
Speaker
And I hope that it was impactful. Since then, I haven't really touched base with those people to see kind of how I think it kind of goes back a bit to that, the truth, the truth and reconciliation conversation about it's it's uncomfortable.
00:43:35
Speaker
And it's hard. It's a very hard conversation. And, you know, I don't know what the answer is. It's definitely something that's happening. We're seeing it more and more, especially with recently Buffy. Not the Buffalo Buffy. No, not Buffy or Buffy. Not her. No, she's not her. No, she's an angel.
00:44:02
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So, um, you know, that conversation has come up just kind of in passing, but, uh, you know, I remember when I went to that conference and one of the takeaways for me was let's stop calling it something cutesy in a way pretending theism. Yes. And it's, I can't even say it right half the time, but let's call it what it is. And it's identity fraud with fraud. Yeah. Yeah.
00:44:32
Speaker
So I think we need to work on the terminology and I think people will take it more serious if we start to actually call it what it is because language is so powerful and impactful. So I think for myself, I'm going to stop calling it pretend in theism. And when I reach out to people, I'm going to say, hey, what did you think of the conference on identity fraud?
00:45:01
Speaker
Yeah. But yeah, I mean, I don't know what the answer is. I think, I guess if I had one recommendation, it might be like human resources to change maybe some of their hiring policies, and how they, they hire, you know, individuals
00:45:26
Speaker
for these indigenous specific positions, but I don't even know what that would look like, you know, because I don't really know all the rules and regulations about hiring. And that's, I think, the complicated piece that we're all bound to as employees working within these institutions. There's all these policies and procedures that, you know, kind of tie us to things that we may not even understand.
00:45:56
Speaker
That's fair. I think we're of similar mind. We do an HR process for ourselves. We don't do a student process, which will be problematic. And in fact, some of the more famous cases out of here in Toronto are some students who've committed fraud to gain scholarships.
00:46:24
Speaker
Well, I think we I think it's something that in the next I would love to stop talking about it. Yeah. Love the problem to be solved because there is when you talk about fraud and what this is, it is a massive time suck. And you have said through this whole time that we have so many other things to do. Yeah. And so we'd love to solve this and move on. Yeah, I have.
00:46:52
Speaker
in my hand here. So quickfire questions that I'd love to see if you have some responses for for our lovely caucus listening on. Okay, I hope I have an answer. If you don't, you can give me another one, okay? Okay.
00:47:10
Speaker
Okay, so choose one or a better answer. Best Indigenous show that's been on lately, Reservation Dogs or Rutherford Falls? Have you seen either of them? Reservation Dogs. I love Reservation Dogs. Have you seen Rutherford Falls? No.
00:47:31
Speaker
It's so good. I'm doing my master's right now and I honestly don't even have time to watch TV, but I'm going to go through reservation dogs because I have seen it. Okay. Okay. And reservation dogs is available on a number of streaming services as is brothers for it falls. If you get a chance. Okay. Okay. How about snotty nose res kids versus the hallucination.
00:47:57
Speaker
Well, you're going to have to go with snotty-nosed res kids because I don't know hallucination. They're the new tricold, right? Oh, I'm still going to go snotty-nosed res kids. Still goes, still goes. Perfect, perfect, perfect. It stays west side. It stays west side. That's great. How about your favorite Indigenous book by an Indigenous author?
00:48:19
Speaker
Oh, geez. Um, I would have to say one of the books that I read recently. They're there by I'm trying to think of. Yes, it won. Tommy something I can't think of this. Yeah, they're there. Tommy. Yeah.
00:48:46
Speaker
Maybe we can get some support letting us know what there is. My favorite is Michelle Good's Five Little Indians. That was so good too. It's so good. We actually had Michelle come to campus and talk about it. It was over the moon at the time when Candy Palm Mature was alive. She interviewed her for the college and it was probably the best 50 minutes that we've ever done at the college. Oh my gosh.
00:49:15
Speaker
Amazing. Yes. I love that book too. Okay. What is your favorite place online to buy indigenous clothing, earrings? I see you're rocking some nice earrings there. Some beads. Yeah. You got to get the dango. You know what? I typically don't go online to buy things because I don't like to give up my credit card online. Oh, that's fair. That's fair.
00:49:44
Speaker
But I do, when I go to powwows, I always buy something that I don't need.
00:49:52
Speaker
I just bought this skirt behind me, this beautiful ribbon skirt. And I don't need another ribbon skirt, but I just bought one because I think I'm a visual shopper or like a textile shopper. I need to touch things. And so seeing it online has just never done it for me. I need to hold it. It's kind of like reading a book. Like I have to actually have the physical book and like turn the pages.
00:50:20
Speaker
So kind of the same thing with shopping online, I just tend not to for those reasons. The credit card thing, I'm too leery, I'm too old school, and I like to feel and touch and kind of get connected to whatever it is I'm buying. So and then I'm so lucky because my one of our Gaksi Nunuks, our grand, our Blackfoot grandmothers who I'm very close with, she continually comes in and gives me earrings. Like every time she comes in, she's like,
00:50:47
Speaker
Another pair of earrings for you. In fact, she just brought these ones in the other day. Oh my gosh. Too dangly for her. So because she gets them as gifts and she's like never wear those little dangly. Um, so I haven't bought a pair of earrings in a really long time because she just keeps throwing them at me, which is lovely. Um, that's a, that's a wonderful problem to have.
00:51:14
Speaker
Right? Yeah. I know. I know. So and then not to plug myself, but I like what I do for my own therapy, because as we know, as indigenous people are always in therapy. Yeah. I do antler jewelry. So that's my therapy. And then I do sell a little bit. So I can you explain to people what antler therapy is or what antler therapy, what antler
00:51:42
Speaker
Jewelry is because it's it's quite unique. It's something. Yeah, so I get sheds from mostly deer antler and I cut them and Then kind of said I'll do beating but I made jewelry out of out of the the sheds
00:52:01
Speaker
Are you using your little Dremel and are you doing it? I have all kinds of different like heads to, you know, do all kinds of fun stuff, but that's, that's my, my crafty thing. I would say, I mean, I can be, it's not my, my favorite thing to do. I'm more into kind of the, the, um, creating with this antler jewelry stuff. So. So.
Closing Remarks
00:52:27
Speaker
I think we're coming to an end and I, Marnie, you know, it's always great meeting other Indigenous people who do work in the, for our students, for the community. You know, I think one of the, my takeaways is there's always good stuff happening in Indian country and Indian world. I think Marnie, you know, it gets you a glitch to you and like your service for all the work that you're doing for us and taking the time, like,
00:52:56
Speaker
Just to be really clear.
00:52:58
Speaker
just to be taking time for you out of your busy schedule, running around, moving Buffy from one side to the other, taking eight minutes to set up TPs, and of course dealing with students who are in crisis, students who need to go back to community, dealing with community who made the crisis and need the institution. It's really special that you were able to give us an hour of your time
00:53:27
Speaker
our caucus is much richer with Indigenous people in it and really thank you, Marnie, for your membership, your dedication to the association, to the students, and to just being a great person. Aw, well thank you. I appreciate that and I hope you
00:53:52
Speaker
I know we'll meet somewhere else down the trail, because that's just the way it is. We've made this connection, and I look forward to meeting you maybe in person. Deal. Coffee's on me. Tea's on me. All right. All right.
00:54:31
Speaker
The Caucus 50 Oral History Project is an initiative of the Canadian Association of College and University Student Services in recognition of our organization's 50 years of engaging student affairs professionals in Canada. The series of podcasts is recorded and produced by Sean Fast, Adam Kuehn, Nicholas Fast, Rachel Barreca, Stephanie Mulettoller, Noah Arney, Sally Chen, Estefania Toledo, Paula Jean Broderick, Jennifer Brown, Margaret de Leon,
00:55:01
Speaker
and Becca Gray. Intro and outro music is courtesy of Alexei Stryapji. This podcast is recorded, produced, and published on the traditional territories of hundreds of Indigenous nations from across the northern half of Turtle Island, also known by its settler colonial name, Canada. We are grateful for the opportunity to live, work, and learn on this land. Miigwetch.