Uncharted: Finding Indigenous community feat. Robin Jones-Stadelbauer (BA '12)

Universities are not just schools. They're also communities, and today's guest understands that deeply. 

Robin Jones-Stadelbauer (BA '12, BA '22)  decided to study social development because she wanted to work with Indigenous communities, like the one she'd grown up in. 

But her time as a student was difficult. She felt disconnected and isolated from the her Indigenous culture. Eventually, she decided to take a break and moved home.

Later, Robin returned to Waterloo as a staff member, and then began taking classes on top of her full-time job. Slowly, two courses per term, she finished her degree. And today, just like she'd hoped, she works with Indigenous folks … at the University of Waterloo. Robin joins the podcast to share her career journey and tell us about the work happening in the Indigenous Relations Office, including the new Indigenous Alumni Group.

Mentioned in this episode

Office of Indigenous Relations: Learn more about the work happening on- and off-campus to advance the goals of the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action
Events and Workshops: Browse upcoming events from the Office of Indigenous Relations
Waterloo Commitment Ceremony: Read about the 2022 ceremony where the University of Waterloo committed to decolonization, Indigenization and reconciliation
Waterloo welcomes an Eagle Staff: Read about the 2023 ceremony where the University of Waterloo introduced an Eagle Staff as a beacon of reconciliation
Engagement and knowledge building: Discover resources and information for allyship
Indigenous Alumni Facebook group: Connect with other Indigenous alumni in your UWaterloo community
Alumni Groups: Find a group of Waterloo alumni who live in your location, or share similar backgrounds and interests

Transcript

Robin : 0:03

It was a bit I had to face failure. You know what I felt was failure at the time, because everyone knew I was in school, everyone knew that I was pursuing a university education, and then to come back and people were like, are you done or did you graduate? And I'm like, no, you know. So to have to face that, but I mean it was also, you know, kind of helped me feel okay, like there was a lot of good that came out of those conversations in that process.

Meg: 0:32

Universities are not just schools, they're also communities, and today's guest understands that deeply. Robin Stadelbauer decided to study social development because she wanted to work with Indigenous communities like the one that she'd grown up in. But her time as a student was difficult. She felt disconnected and isolated from her Indigenous culture and eventually she decided to take a break. She moved home. Later, Robin returned to Waterloo as a staff member and then began taking courses on top of her full-time job. Slowly two courses per term she finished her degree and today, just like she'd hoped, she works with Indigenous folks at the University of Waterloo. Robin joins the podcast to share her career journey and to tell us about the work happening in the Office of Indigenous Relations, including the new Indigenous Alumni Group. Keep listening, All right, Robin. Thank you so much for joining the podcast today.

Robin : 1:34

Yeah, well, thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here and to talk with you and to share about my experience and my work.

Meg: 1:43

It's really great to have you, so I think I'd like to start at the beginning. Even before you came to Waterloo, it sounds like your home community offered really great inspiration for your career. Can you tell me how it led you to study social development and what your career plans were when you started your degree?

Robin : 2:04

Absolutely so. I should probably start off by explaining a little bit about where I come from. So I am Anishinaabe, I'm an Anishinaabe woman and I also have roots. I have lineage to the Potawatomi Nation and also to the Lanapa Nation through my maternal grandmother and then Potawatomi roots just from my community and also from my maternal side, my grandmother's side, my mom's side. So I come from the community known as Naohsingnaming, or also the Chippewas of Nihwash, unceded First Nation, and also known as Cape Prokhor Indian Reserve. So we have three names.

Robin : 2:52

So it is located on the Bruce Peninsula, what is now known as the Bruce Peninsula, or also known as the Sagi'in Peninsula to some of us, and it is on the eastern side sorry, the western side of Georgian Bay. So it's on the shores of Georgian Bay, which is very influential to me growing up and still influential to me, and provides a lot of the lands and the water, provides a lot of comfort for me and kind of a grounding place for me and has also been influential even still in kind of my decision making. So that's where I come from, that's my community, that's the name of it, but in terms of what it is, you know, I grew up in a community where it's a time before the internet, you know, before we had kind of a lot of outside influences at a time where we all knew each other. You know I could go anywhere within the community and felt, you know, kind of taken care of or guided by. I, just everyone knew each other. It's still kind of like that today where everyone knows each other but with, just, you know, the rise of social media and you know it kind of has isolated us a little bit more in just the growth in the community. I don't know if people can say the same, that they know everybody. But when I grew up it was a very, it felt like a very small, close-knit community where you know everybody was your auntie or uncle or grandmother and you, you know your peers were. You know there was few and far between you know, when I grew up in our grade it was only four of us who were consistent in our grade, from JK to grade eight, and so those four people, you know I'm still well connected to you today, but that's just to say how small the community was. Yeah, so that's kind of where I come from in that, in having that connection to the people, in seeing kind of the I don't want to say struggles, but struggles. But also, you know, there was a lot of really good in that I would have. I would never go back and change my experience because it was very comforting and experience. I have always felt a sense of belonging, you know, a part of the community. I still feel that today I have two children.

Robin : 5:27

My husband and I have two children. My husband is also from my community, even though we met here in the Waterloo region, but we have two children who are also members of our community and I, you know, we've made the decision to raise our youngest back in community because our youngest is very influenced by outside anything, so you know his friends group or his grandparents or aunties and uncles. So we wanted to raise him in a community where he was, you know, learning, learning the language and learning land-based learning in school, but then also, you know, in home time was also spending time with grandparents and being outside and and knowing me, knowing what that was like to grow up there. My husband didn't grow up there. My husband grew up here in the Waterloo region and me knowing the difference is why we took him back there. But for that, for that, that connection, that connection to other people, that connection to the land, that that connection and sense of responsibility to the water and to the environment, and just that rootedness to our culture, but in all ways, not just language, not just knowing the traditions, but that spiritual piece.

Robin : 6:42

And so, coming from that place, and you know I I moved off the reserve into this community, actually the Waterloo region. My mom was returning to post-secondary school and has and chose Waterloo as her place to go back to school. She had a made a career switch. She was in economics and business before and then made a switch over to social, social work, social sciences world and came to Waterloo for a social development studies program. And so we came here and just experiencing that kind of disconnect from my community was hugely impactful.

Robin : 7:24

You know, again, this was the time before long distance, you know plans and the internet, so it was so isolating. You know, we're just came three hours south of where we're from, but it was such a huge shift that it was. It was it was hard to adjust. It actually took me 10 years to adjust, but it was really hard to adjust in those first few years. And so you know that being in community, this, this. What I experienced has has pushed me into wanting to kind of work with and for Indigenous people, and there was a period of time in my earlier my career where I doubled in that, but then I kind of, you know, took positions that would just allow me to kind of, you know, care for my family, but then I had the opportunity to kind of work in this of working with Indigenous folks again, and it's that's kind of what has driven me to to my career decisions and also to my my academic career decisions.

Meg: 8:29

Yeah, and I I love you've. You've referenced kind of the I guess back and forth that you've like some decisions that you've made in your career where you you knew that you wanted to work with Indigenous communities when you chose social development studies because you chose that, like your mother, you chose that program as well and you kind of moved away from it for for a little while. And when we first spoke, really when, when you started in the program, it sounds like you felt quite isolated as a student on campus. I mean you referenced that about when you moved for your mom to come to school as well, but that isolation continued. Can you tell me more about that and how it led you away from campus and then back?

Robin : 9:17

Yeah, yeah. So you know my, my parents, I think just the type of personality that I am and kind of what I was doing in school. My parents, they didn't place expectations on me but they just always talked in a way that I was going to university. But I always knew that also, that I would be going to university and I had always wanted to go to university where there was a high Indigenous population because I always knew I wanted to work with Indigenous people. So I had my eye on some institutions that have high Indigenous populations around Indigenous communities but then also have programs, not only academic programs but bridging programs and other services that are available for Indigenous students. But circumstance, you know, kind of kept me in the Waterloo region and ultimately led to my choice to come to Waterloo. And I didn't feel it was a bad thing to come to Waterloo. It wasn't my first choice but just, you know, given all that was kind of put in front of me at that time when I needed to choose it.

Robin : 10:27

I was familiar to me because my mom had come here and you know us being so financially strapped when my mom came to school. My mom was a single mom and there was me and I had a younger brother and we we just didn't have resources to do anything, and so we played a lot of games, we went to the park, but we had a lot of time to chat about. She shared with me the things that she was learning because it, you know, it really did impact her and she just and here I was, and she knew that I was going to be coming into that time also. So it was nice to have that sharing time. So when it came time to choose a university and and you know it was I was going to be staying in the region. You know, of course I was. It was not a bad thing to come to Waterloo because it was familiar. And I was familiar with campus because in our first I had lived near campus in one of those early years. So I was and spent a lot of time actually wandering campus, because when you don't have any money, you know what do you do? You just go out and explore the world around you, and so I spent a lot of time walking campus. So it was, it was familiar.

Robin : 11:35

But you know, even so, you know I described my first three years of my academic career as like the darkest time in my life because it was incredibly isolating. And you know I, what I call it is and again, if this is somebody's official term, I don't know it it's something that I have come up with in reflection of the what I went through. You know I, I didn't know it at the time, I didn't think it at the time, but I've had time to kind of move through that, that period and reflect back on what was it that kind of put me into those kind of, you know, frame of mind and that kind of thinking, and I call it cultural isolation. You know, growing up in a community that's so close-knit, you know, and I was my first way of knowing it, was my first way of being in that kind of living, in that community where everyone knows everybody. I can't remember the first time I was conscious that I was First Nation, but it but definitely when I came into we went off reserve. When I was in grade seven and eight we went off reserve one day a week to do things that we didn't have the facilities on reserve to do. So home back and woodshop and gym even, and I think that's when I really became aware of the difference between First Nation folks and I guess everyone else and kind of the struggles that we were facing are kind of the challenges that we were facing but also the wins that we had, as you know, being a First Nation community. Yeah, I come from a family on my mother's side who are strongly activists on a broader level, on a national and even global or Turtle Island level I guess, and so I had that influence in my life and knowing a bit there. But you know, when you come into that time of, you know, teenage years, you start to look at the world a little bit differently and start to process those things a little bit differently. You know what you've always known to be true. Then you start to kind of connect the dots on what that really means in the broader society.

Robin : 13:49

Yeah, so there was that piece and you know so coming to Waterloo and having that isolating experience, especially at that time, you know, in your teenage years. And then my mom flew through her three-year degree and, you know, left for a job immediately. She was offered jobs before she was even finished and so she left and my now husband and I were together then and so we lived together and it was just us and you know he was definitely enough and helpful, but I mean I was still expert, I mean we're still individual people kind of going through life, and so I was just going through a lot. It was I. When I say culturally isolated, what I mean is that there was nothing around Like there was walk across campus. There's nothing indigenous on campus, nothing. And even where we lived there was hardly. You know the few people that I did know that were indigenous. You hardly seen them. You know when you're kind of wrapped up in studies and just you know when you're kind of I don't want to say depressed, because I don't know if it's I would call it depression, I think there's. I think being isolated from you know, your culture and your people is something different than being than what depression is.

Robin : 15:18

So it was just it was a dark time and I did enjoy the studies, like I did enjoy the learning part. I did learn a lot. You know universities all about teaching critical thinking and I feel I absolutely was, you know, taught those skills and just through the curriculum, you know, going through social development studies over at Rhinocent, you know there's some amazing professors that were over there at that time and continue to be there now and I feel the what I was learning was really good. There was definitely an indigenous component that was missing from the curriculum. And then when it did come in, you know it was just. You know I remember doing a course my professor, beverly Bellrobotham, you know she, she did a course that Cameron Brown has called, but she, I did a presentation on just indigenous people because I felt it was missing from the curriculum. I would think it was indigenous people in the child care system.

Robin : 16:26

But you can't teach about indigenous things without laying some context, because you know it's hard to understand oh, what are they talking about, or what is it that they're wanting, or what is it about their teaching, if you don't have some sort of context as to. You know how we came to be in the situation we're at today in Canada and she let me talk on for over an hour. It was supposed to be 15 minutes but I just kept going and I'm like thank you for letting me talk. I said you know we're all here going out to work in the, in the, in the society, in some way shape or form, and I had I have. I don't see this kind of content anywhere else in the curriculum. So I thank you for letting me talk because I feel it's important. I feel you all need to know at least these basics about indigenous people and how we came to be into where we are into society today. Like what, what's the background to where we're at right now?

Meg: 17:24

And I think, I think the only part that that we should also talk about is that you know it. It eventually led you to take a break in your in your studies and you moved back home for for a little while to, I guess, to get that sense of community, your sense of culture, back right.

Robin : 17:47

Yes, yes. So I, I hit a point where I just couldn't go any further. I was just, I was just spent and really missing everything like a really missing family and being in the community and just being, you know, surrounded by the familiar. And because you know, when I, when I'm outside, I am always mindful that people walked here before we did, that people lived in these places before we did and what was it like for them and what were they thinking and what were they experiencing at the time. So I, I hit my rock bottom with school and just everything.

Robin : 18:29

And I did go into Renison and I had a just a frank conversation and laid it out on, laid it all out on the table, to say that you know, I can't, I can't do this anymore for these reasons. And they were very understanding and said when you're ready, come back. And so I said okay, and so I went home and you know my husband was very supportive and I said I just have to go home, like I have to go back, and and he said you go and we'll keep. Like we had a car so we could kind of keep in touch and of course had phones by then and cell phones. And so I went back and I went back home to the community and I moved back in with my mom and our reserve is a peninsula on the peninsula. So we're, we're, our reserve is surrounded by water on three sides. That's actually the the name Laos-Shigeming is land surrounded by three sides on, surrounded by water on three sides. And so I I got a job with my, my aunt's store. My aunts, two of them, had owned a, a restaurant, gas station, convenience store type of place, and so they let me come back and work there. And it was, it was, it was really good. It ended up being very healing working there.

Robin : 19:48

You know it was a bit I had to face failure. You know what I felt is a bit I had to face failure. You know what I felt was failure at the time? Because everyone knew I was in school, everyone knew that I was pursuing a university education. And then to come back and people were like are you done or did you graduate? And I'm like no, you know. So to have to face that, but I mean it was also, you know, kind of helped me feel okay, like there was. There was a lot of good that came out of that, those conversations in that process.

Robin : 20:20

But I spent a lot of time. You know, I there was an elder in my life at the time who kind of knew what I was going through, because I didn't share with a lot of people what was happening and why I was back, and but I did share with him and he recently passed. His name was a Vern RuPaul, but he he said to me, you know, he knew what I was going through and he said you know, you need to go to the water. The water is a woman's medicine and it's a woman's responsibility. You need to go to the water. He told me the water spirit name and said you know, just go and lace some tobacco and spend some time by the water and you'll, that'll help with what you're experiencing. And so I did just that. I spent a lot of time by the water. I came back feeling so broken and so I spent a lot of time by the water.

Robin : 21:13

My grandmother lived just a few doors down. I spent a lot of time visiting my grandmother by the water, just and within community, my job, naturally, what I was doing at the time. I naturally ran into a lot of people, had a lot of really great conversations. There's such a variety of people who came into that place Older, older gentlemen and young people, family people who were coming in, who were maybe hardly ever came back to the reserve, would come in and they would have questions and so got to speak with such a variety of people and it was such a healing time. It was such a, it was so good I can't even explain.

Robin : 21:56

I wish I could kind of take you there, just sitting on the rocks of the, sitting on the shore, the rocky shore, and just if you know what the Niagara Scarpment is, our reserve is guarded by three of those giant pluffs. So if you're sitting on Georgian Bay, you can. This is what comes to mind when I think of that time. I'm sitting on the rocks on the shore by myself. I can hear the waves kind of gently, kind of coming into the shore. There's the. It's an evening time. There's a little bit of pink hue to the sky. There's an island that I can see. In front of me there's a giant bluff. To the right, to the left, is just the pure Georgian Bay horizon, and just hearing the wind in the trees I can even tell I have a favorite tree. It's a popular tree, and the sound, the rustle of the popular tree is different than if it was the wind was to blow through like cedar trees or something. It just sounds different and just the coolness. It was just so healing to just sit and be quiet.

Robin : 23:10

And then and again, when I talk about thoughts going to the ancestors, I do think about that. They would have come to this place, that our reserve was known as a healing place. Our home territory is actually quite large. We have these small reserves now, but our traditional territories that you occupied, that we occupied, were quite large. So if anybody knows where Arthur Ontario is, if you're standing in Arthur Ontario and draw a line straight north to Georgian Bay and west to Lake Huron, that whole area, including the Bruce Peninsula, is our traditional territory, including the waters. So our reserve was known as a healing place and our ancestors chose that place when we were being pushed out of our territories to make room for settlers. So I think about that. Who would have paddled by here? Who would have sat on these shores before me? What were they thinking? What were they going through? How did they deal with these things? How did they deal with, maybe, these feelings? What kind of medicines did they turn to? What kind of ceremonies did they turn to? What do we have today? And so those types of things come to mind. So that's what happened when I left school, when I left this place, and kind of what I was doing which I did like, but just was not the right time for me.

Robin : 24:36

And we have this belief, at least in Anishinaabe culture, that the creator knows your path, that your path is set out before you even arrive here. And you're here to do a job. You're here because you have a responsibility to fulfill. And so my great-grandmother, winona Ariel Gavash, she used to say everything happens for a reason. And I'm like, oh, what does grandma say that? But I get it, I get it. You'll hear, probably a lot of folks, not just Anishinaabe folks, but a lot of people around the world, will say that same thing, and maybe for same reasons, maybe for different reasons, I don't know. But I've come to know that. Why she says that? Because creator has a way. So at the time I didn't know that, but just that, her voice kind of in my ear, saying there's a reason for everything. At the time I was questioning why, and I think I'm connecting my why, even still today, which is almost 20 years later, or actually over 20 years later. I think it just helps motivate me in what I'm doing today.

Meg: 25:53

Yeah, that's such a nice sentiment and I think when you were describing the scene where you were spending time at that time, I think what a powerful thing to take a pause, that you need and just spend time with yourself and figure it out. I think more people could probably use that at different points, especially when you're going through a degree. It can be a lot.

Robin : 26:26

Yeah, you know, a few years after that, maybe a year and a half after that actually, I worked at Anishinaw Back Outreach in here in Waterloo Region in downtown Kitchener, when it was purely employment and training. This was in the early 2000s and I worked there as a trainee position. You know, I was in my break from school. I took a break from school for about five years and so one of my jobs I had was down there and I worked there over June 21st, which is National Indigenous Peoples Day, and we did some activities, and one of the activities was that we brought in a local elder she's passed out now also, but her name was Norma Guveroo-Baw. I say baw at the end when somebody's passed. That's just our way of acknowledging that some were taught by mentioning somebody's name who has passed, and when we say baw we're not calling them back, we're not calling attention to them. And so she was explained that she was sharing with us a little bit about the Anishinaw Bay Creation story. She said it takes a long time to tell that in full length, but she was just sharing with us a short bit of it and I was there as a supervisor because she was teaching the circle or the group was for younger people, like children, and so I was there just as an employee kind of you know if anybody had questions, but I really took it in. I was like this is like one of these sweet moments in life where you get to like be there as an employee but like you're getting so much out of it. And what she said really impacted me because of my experience I had just the year and a bit before with leaving school and how defeated I felt and kind of isolated I felt. But she talked about, you know, in Anishinaw Bay, ways we have. If you ever heard of the medicine wheel, it's broken into four, that's the circle broken into four, and there's so many teachings that can come from that. You know the four directions, the four parts of yourself. You know your spiritual side, your physical side, your mental and your emotional part of yourself. You need to balance yourself out. You need to work and take care to balance yourself out. So with that in mind, so she was talking about.

Robin : 28:55

She talked about a lot of things, but the part that kind of stuck out for me and that's kind of related to what I'm talking about is she talked about the responsibility that you need to take care for yourself, to feed your spirit, that you need to take care of that spiritual side of yourself. So we also have this belief that we have a spirit that comes from the spirit world and, kind of, you know, has a physical experience on earth and then, when we pass, our spirit goes back to the spirit world and there's a whole, a lot of teachings behind that and rituals behind that. So you need to take care of your spirit during this physical experience that you're having on the physical world and so you can feed your spirit, because when somebody becomes depressed or near suicide even, it's because their spirit is deflated, if their spirit is starving that. So you need to feed your spirit, you need to take care of your spirit, and the way you do that is by attending ceremony, by doing kind of doing cultural things, things that feel good to you, not going to get snails done or those kinds of things like doing meaningful things, like helping people, being part of community, going to ceremony those things will help feed your spirit.

Robin : 30:24

And so when she said that, that was just so impactful on me because of the experience I had and you know that always plays in mind, especially, you know, when I, as I'm raising my children, as I'm being an auntie to my nieces and nephews, as I'm being a sister to we you know a lot of us call each other sister. You know we may be cousins or we may be friends, but we're Anishinaabe sisters or, you know, indigenous sisters. But then also it just it plays into my work also. You know it's something that comes to mind when how do we support Indigenous people coming into the University of Waterloo? What kinds of things do we need to put in place? What kind of support mechanisms do we put into place? And I know Anishinaabe ways of thinking is not everybody's, but it is. It is something that kind of I carry with me and it kind of impacts the work that I do.

Meg: 31:24

Yeah, well, yeah, so let's let's talk about the work that you do, because eventually you did come back and and finish your degree at Waterloo, and it was partially because you you started working here and and so you did finish. And now today, after years of working at the University, you're the Associate Director of Indigenous Relations and, like you said, you really are supporting an Indigenous community on campus and thinking about what, what people need on campus, what Indigenous people need on campus. How does it feel to build and support a community that you had been missing on campus as a student? It?

Robin : 32:09

it feels very rewarding and motivating, you know, to be here for this amount of time and to see the evolution of how things have played out on campus, it just it feels really good. It feels really good, I mean, and there this work isn't isn't easy work, it's it's because I'm so personally invested, just because I am Indigenous. I am First Nation and you know I have one experience and one experience as a First Nation person. But there are so many different kinds of experiences as a as an Indigenous person in Canada, just given our colonial history. You know some people, people come here from all walks of life with all different kinds of Indigenous experiences. You know I come from a reserve. I'm very well rooted in my, in my culture. I carry out with me, it was my first way of learning and knowing and doing and. But there are some people, because of colonialism, they they come from, you know, being disconnected and not because of their own doing and and to see some people come back and explore that and really take that back is is really so amazing to see and so to be able to kind of come back and work in this space, you know, having all of these experiences, and to see what's happening today and Waterloo, oh my goodness, you know. So our office is only three years young.

Robin : 33:48

The Office of Indigenous Relations started January 13, 2020, with the hiring of Gene Becker as the Senior Director of what was then called Indigenous Initiatives, and it was a unit tucked under a broader department and just in a short period of time and through the support of the university campus community and the university leadership and when I say we have support from university leadership, I genuinely mean it I would not be able to sit here if we didn't have that. And when I say wouldn't mean I wouldn't be able to sit here, means that I wouldn't be able to stand sitting here if we didn't have that support. I would go elsewhere because I mean, there's so much else to do in the world, but this is where I'm choosing to, you know, spend my life and my time at this moment in time, because I fully believe in what goes on here. The potential that comes out of comes out of here, and when I say potential, I mean potential to address the things that are happening in the world and and just to have that supportive of the campus community and leadership is fantastic. So to see such change in a really short period of time.

Robin : 35:05

It's been amazing and I would not ever claim that the Office of Indigenous Relations is solely responsible for all the changes and things that are happening. It is truly a community effort and a lot of our conversations they fall across the spectrum. You know, some we come and ask can we, what do you think about this? You know our approach is very relational. We don't demand, we just are very relational. We believe in working together with, with whoever we're working with, and sometimes that relationship relationship may take a lot of conversation At the start, a lot of hearing both sides and a lot of hearing what's all on the table. And other times people have said we were waiting for you to come here, we're waiting to hear and we're ready and let's go, and so it's quite a spectrum and and it's okay, it's all okay, it's all good and it's just been quite amazing.

Robin : 36:10

We've had quite an increase in staff members. You know Jean was the first full time permanent person hired for an Indigenous focused role on campus and then she hired me later that year and then we just kind of took off from from there with hiring people all across campus. You know the numbers of Indigenous students that are self identifying and applying has increased also in this short period of time. You know community relations is huge in Indigenous country. It is the basis of all of our work, not only relating to, you know, the communities across Waterloo, the University of Waterloo, within the University of Waterloo, but also outside of our kind of outside of Ring Road or outside of our boundaries of the University of Waterloo. You know it is really solely dependent on on community relations because we're a very relational people.

Meg: 37:10

Yeah, I mean so many things happening on campus at that invite other people in, and also initiatives that extend beyond. I mean, this is an alumni podcast, so I know that you have been speaking to Indigenous alumni and hearing about their experiences, but you also have created your office has also created an Indigenous alumni group. That is fairly new as well. Can you tell me more about the group and just what you've been hearing from alumni?

Robin : 37:47

Yes, so we have been talking to different Indigenous alumni and we just naturally talked to some within our network. You know, indigenous country across Canada is small. You know, like if you're probably similar to a professional association. You know, if you're part of a professional association you're. The world is small within that association. It's kind of like that within Indigenous community it's communities, but I mean, if we're talking as one, which I don't like to do because it lumps us. But you know, thinking of the all the Indigenous folks across Canada, we are probably only one or two people away from knowing each other. It's just that's just how small it is. I hope that will grow because you know the Indigenous youth is the fastest growing population in Canada. So you know that's part of that's.

Robin : 38:39

Another motivator behind our work is that we're preparing for the future. We're preparing for Indigenous, more Indigenous youth coming onto campus. And anyway, we're talking about alumnus. But it does relate, you know, because Indigenous alumni have children, myself included. You know my daughter is coming here to Waterloo and hopefully will be in a Waterloo alum some day, just like her grandmother and me, and then she will be also. But we're starting very small with our alumni program but we have lofty dreams, knowing the benefits of having a well connected and well taken care of alumni group. I think we can. We can do a lot of really great things with having a really strong alumni group. Not only will they inform, and they already have started.

Robin : 39:35

The few conversations that we have gone out and had with Indigenous alumni have given a lot of really great feedback and a lot of what we're hearing is similar to my story. You know feeling isolated when they've come here, even if they've come from urban areas. Other urban areas have come here to Waterloo, another city, but for some reason have just felt isolated and just lacking those supports and connection of having an Indigenous community here on campus. So we're starting small. We have a LinkedIn group, an Indigenous LinkedIn group. That is very small but we're going to soon be moving that to Facebook because there's a lot of Indigenous folks on Facebook. That is just kind of where we connect right now and it's where you know that. You know coming from a very relational culture, you know Facebook is perfect, facebook is prime for that. You know connecting. So we're going to be starting up a Facebook group soon and so we're just we're kind of in the seedling, kind of planting phase of what's going to be we're hoping to build in what we have visions of as if a vibrant Indigenous alumni community. We want to connect with alumni, not only to hear their experience, to help us build out what we're doing here, to make sure that we're kind of hitting all the spots on what can, what can we do to build a community where Indigenous people can thrive.

Robin : 41:17

You know, because the Indigenous folks, when we think about the broader Canadian society, there's a lot of, almost all of there's. What is the percentage? We don't know what the exact percentage, but there's a very large percentage of Canada that is under treaty. And so what does that mean? That means that people who are doing business are living within their own treaty lands, and so there's the saying out there in Indigenous country are actually just in Canadian society that we are all treaty people. And that's what that means is that treaties, these treaties that Canada has signed with Indigenous folks, are something that they have to be fulfilled and honoured. And so, you know, we need to equip the people, the students who are coming through Waterloo, with the knowledge and tools to be able to operate in that kind of context of understanding what these treaties are and how to honour them and what does that mean? Working with Indigenous people.

Robin : 42:20

So if we, if we build this Indigenous alumni program, we hope to just to kind of, you know, take that talent that's out there and bring it in but then also to connect it with the students that are here to the work that we're doing, you know how can we benefit the entire university campus community? How can we all work together to kind of just strengthen these relationships? We'll then we'll naturally kind of strengthen, you know, everything around us. You know an example would be some of these examples of how we could do this is is Waterloo is also known for co-op. You know, 70% of I believe it's 70%, don't quote me, I've heard this somewhere but some around 70% of Waterloo students are in a co-op program.

Robin : 43:13

And you know, how could could these Indigenous businesses and communities and organisations out there become part of that process, not only for Indigenous students who are coming to Waterloo but also for non-Indigenous students who may be interested in working within Indigenous communities? That would be one example. You know, having a robust alumni network would be able to kind of connect to those businesses and organisations a bit better. You know, having Indigenous and Indigenous Alumni Council would help inform not only our office but the university as a whole in different capacities, with some Indigenous perspective, or Indigenous, you know, inviting them in to be decision makers in some sort of capacity.

Robin : 43:59

You know, having some influence with, with, you know, there's there's nothing about us without us it's not an Indigenous term, but we we use that term a lot because it applies and that how to have Indigenous-led decision making within whatever context. So, you know, having alumni come in to do that, and how can Waterloo benefit alumni, what is that reciprocal relationship? What does that look like? What could that be? You know we have ideas, but it would be great to build it out together, and so that's what we're looking to do over the next, you know, year. Well, in the years to come, actually, though, we're looking to start it and and really excited and are committed to putting the effort in in the work, into building something robust and meaningful and that works for everybody.

Meg: 44:51

Yeah, it's, it's great and I mean we we have had different types of alumni groups for years, mostly location-based, but you know, in the last little bit we've we've added more groups for people with shared experiences or shared backgrounds. The Indigenous Alumni Group is just one example of this and it's just one other way to connect with people who have shared experiences with you, not not just as Indigenous people, but also as Indigenous people who came to the University of Waterloo and maybe want to give back to that community. And, speaking of reciprocity and alumni also getting something back from it, we you already have a number of community events that alumni could come and enjoy and take part in. You have quite a few in the fall. Can you speak to some of those?

Robin : 45:50

Yeah, I'm happy to share about this stuff because a lot goes into it. So, man, when I say that there are a lot of good things happening at Waterloo, there are so many good things happening at Waterloo on the Indigenous front, you know, right from curriculum, into recruitment and into gosh. You know, research area has some good things going on like meaningful things and helping in that in that area. But events and community events and community things that people across campus, but alumni, not just Indigenous alumni, but all alumni can come back to campus and are welcome to come and attend and partake and learn. But we have quite a few things coming up in September. So we have the powwow. It's it's the 20th anniversary of this powwow and it's typically a powwow that was always hosted by the Waterloo Indigenous Student Center over at United College, which was formerly St Paul's University College. But this year things have changed up and it's being co-hosted by the Waterloo Indigenous Student Center but also our office, so Office of Indigenous Relations, so the University of Waterloo, and we're co-hosting it and it's coming back to campus. It has been in Waterloo Park the last couple years but it's going to be in the Columbia Icefields and the Faraday and Hamdelloper Fieldhouse, so at the indoor soccer field. So it'll be an indoor, indoor experience. But we're super excited to host this powwow on campus and we are going to, I believe it's on September 14th.

Robin : 47:32

We're hosting a webinar called I don't I forget the exact title, but it's basically powwow 101 or powwow etiquette. It's. It's a, it's a space, it's a. It's about an hour, an hour and a half long, where anybody can join. Anybody, community alumni, anybody can can attend this session to learn what it's like, to know what to expect. You know, if you've never been to a powwow before, it's kind of a powwow 101, so you can learn, know what to expect. So we'll have the powwow September 23rd. A little bit before that we'll have this powwow etiquette, kind of know what you're walking into. But I mean, you don't need to do that to come to the powwow. We know we'll be there.

Robin : 48:16

So when you come to the powwow, it's it's a social gathering. It's a gathering but it's also a really enriching way to learn about indigenous culture. You know there will be drums and there will be dancers in the various regalia and you come with your launcher and just sit, sit and watch and sit and listen to the MC. There's an MC. They usually talk almost always we'll talk about the different dances, what they mean, you'll it's. It's such an educational experience going to a powwow and just sitting and watching and there's food. There will be food, there will be craft vendors, there will be information booths. So there's lots to see and do, but there's a lot to learn about going and it's open to everybody. Anybody can come, everybody's welcome to come. So just bring a launcher and or a blanket and just sit down and listen and the other kind of major events that we're having in September.

Robin : 49:16

You know, september 30th 30th is the national day for truth and reconciliation, so we are going to continue with our annual walk around Ring Road. So our events are going to take place on Friday, september the 29th. We're going to start off with the sunrise ceremony. You know, for those who are early risers can join us. That's literally will be out there in ceremony around the sacred fire and everybody is welcome. Also, it's another great opportunity for anybody and everybody to come and partake in ceremony and it happens at sunrise because we're we're greeting the day, we're starting off the special day in ceremony and it's going to be led by Elder Mayn Gunn, henry, who works here on campus.

Robin : 50:05

So we'll start off with a sunrise ceremony and then also, what's happening that day is the introduction of an Eagle Staff. So an Eagle Staff is similar to a flag. It represents a community or can represent an area, it could represent a just a specific sub community, but this is going to represent the University of Waterloo Indigenous community and it's an. It's an Eagle Staff. It's sacred. We do believe that Eagle Staffs have a spirit of their own. It's being, it's being created with, or the creation of it is being led by, elder Mike my ink on Henry. So we'll introduce that Eagle staff to the community on that day.

Robin : 50:50

So sunrise Eagle staff ceremony and then we'll also have a recommitment ceremony. So last year in September the University of Waterloo made a commitment to the indigenous campus community. It was a beautiful ceremony. A lot of community members were there. It was again between elder mind gun Henry and VVAC and Jean Becker, our AVP of indigenous relations, and elder bill bill Woodworth from the faculty of engineering was also there. And it was the University making a commitment to the community to promote, to to kind of make space in place for indigenous people, indigenous ways of knowing, and, and there there was a lot to it and so that that commitment needs a renewal every year. So that's what we'll be doing that day also.

Robin : 51:42

So we'll have the sunrise, the Eagle, staff instruction, the recommitment ceremony and then our the walk. We'll begin at 11 o'clock. We'll have a speaker also speaking about. We'll have a speaker, I think they're going to be speaking about the residential school experience, and and then we're going to have our walk around Ring Road. So we'll just so people can come in where they're red, where they're orange, or not where they're orange.

Robin : 52:12

It's mostly about just being being a community and being together. And, you know, thinking and reflecting on what has happened. You know, the walk, the day, national day for truth and reconciliation, you know, comes out of Orange shirt day, which comes out of one survivors experience in india, in india, indian residential school, and so there's quite a history behind that. That, you know, would Require probably another three hours of us talking and I think somebody would be sick of my voice by then. So but but it's, it's rooted, you know, it's a day for us to reflect on, you know, not only what has happened and but what led us there and how do we avoid going back there and what can we do to change the course going forward, and it really does start with working together. You know we need to work, we need to, we need to build a Future together.

Robin : 53:09

You know we had we had Kevin Lamaroo. Nobody knows who Kevin Lamaroo is. I highly recommend Looking him up and listening to him and reading what he what he has to say. So Kevin Lamaroo has worked. He's a professor at the University of Winnipeg, but he has done a lot of work in truth and reconciliation and he came to speak to the University of Waterloo actually two times in the last three years. But I love his message and I love what he has to say. You know, and he he says that.

Robin : 53:41

You know we did not put ourselves into this situation.

Robin : 53:46

It was the actions of others that kind of put us into what we're handed to today in Canadian society, and you know what we're dealing with today, the positions that Indigenous people are in. You know, just it's it's it's not our doing, we didn't do it, but we have the opportunity to do something about it that we can. We can change the course going forward and I feel us, you know, working at a higher learning institution and and having being in this position to really equip the future With the right tools and knowledge. I think we really can make an impact. Not just the professors, but all of us, we all, you know, play into what happens here at Waterloo, in some way shape our form, and so I feel that we need to take that opportunity, as Kevin says, and and really make a difference. So September 29th, everyone is welcome to come and be part of the day, everyone and and kind of be part of that learning and it's really it will be about the, the spirit of the day and what's kind of happening. Yeah, it's, it's good.

Meg: 54:56

Oh, that will be. Yeah, that'll be so great. I'm looking forward to it, and anyone who's listening, whether you are in Waterloo or Not, whether you're a student, an alum, indigenous, non-indigenous, you're invited to, so we hope that that you'll join us there as well. Robin, thank you so much for joining the podcast. It's been great to talk to you about community and and change and and things that are happening at Waterloo.

Robin : 55:28

Well, thank you so much for having me, and I mean I, I live and breathe this. I'm so passionate about. Passionate about it. I mean, if anybody ever has any questions About what we're doing or wants to know more or what can we do together, I mean we're open to Conversation and they can just, people can just reach out to myself or anyone here at the office of indigenous relations Would be happy to chat.

Meg: 55:55

Thanks so much for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please follow, like, subscribe, whatever your podcast player lets you do. Did you know the indigenous alumni group is just one of many opportunities to connect with Waterloo? In fact, there are dozens of alumni led groups that offer community and support to graduates who live in a particular location or share similar backgrounds and interests with each other. Follow the link in this episode description to find the right alumni group for you you. Waterloo alumni podcasts are produced and hosted by me, meg Vanderwood. I also happen to be a proud alum. Thanks to DeBondra Earl for editing this episode.