Indigenous Education & Community Connections

IECC Award Ceremony Event - March 28 & November 28

An online ceremony will be held for Award Recipient/Winners. For more information, please connect with our office.

National Indigenous Peoples Day - June 21

Each year, IECC celebrates National Indigenous Peoples Day.

Welcome Feast - Songhees Wellness Centre

At the beginning of September, IECC welcomes new and returning students to a feast held at Songhees Nation. This is held on Thursday evening during the second week of classes. Students, their families, staff, faculty, college administrators and community members come together to cook, serve and share in food and conversation. Afterwards there are speeches, drumming and dancing. Elder Skip Dick (Songhees) says the gathering is "patterned after our way of doing things," and "there's great energy." The feast helps build strong community bonds and encourages respect, trust and collaboration.

Orange Shirt Day - September 30

This year, the Camosun community is invited to watch Picking Up The Pieces: The Making of the Witness Blanket, a 91-minute documentary film (free to watch, Chrome browser required) that tells the story of a massive and detailed art piece created by Carey Newman which is on permanent display at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Inspired by traditional woven blankets, The Witness Blanket is a large-scale art installation (twelve meters long) made from over 800 items reclaimed from residential schools, churches, government buildings, friendship centres, treatment centres, and post secondary institutions across Canada. It is a national monument designed to recognise and commemorate the trauma of the residential school era (1870 to 1996) and to support ongoing efforts towards truth, justice and reconciliation.

• The Witness Blanket Trailer
• Artist Carey Newman speaks to ShawTV Winnipeg about his art piece and film The Witness Blanket

While COVID-19 is keeping many of us physically separate, and unable to connect with our communities, it may be more difficult to learn about the experiences of residential school survivors and their families. On September 30, we encourage you to wear an orange shirt in all your online activities and to take some time out of your day to educate yourself on what this day means for residential school survivors.

• Watch Phyllis Webstad’s story
• Review resources from OrangeShirtDay.org: Learning Resources for Residential Schools and Reconciliation
• Visit the Camosun lib guide on Orange Shirt Day
• Sign-up for TELŦIN TŦE WILNEW, offered through CETL here at Camosun
• Visit local community events

Pit Cook Demonstration -TBA

Each year at Lansdowne campus, bright blue star-like camas flowers spatter the Garry oak meadow. Every year IECC, in partnership with Songhees Nation, hosts a pit cook to demonstrate how the Nations of this region use a fire-pit to cook the camas bulb between layers of locally harvested plants such as sword fern, salal or skunk cabbage. The pit cook demonstrates and promotes the traditional use of the camas, helps keep the teachings, and shows the younger people the traditional ways.

The camas harvest and pit cook "is part of who we are," says Cheryl Bryce (Songhees). "It helps with reinstating traditional First Nation roles, restoring the environment and ecosystem, and connecting with ‘territories’."

Teachings from territory Elders, Cheryl Bryce of the Songhees Nation and Nicole Kilburn from the Anthropology department.

Sponsored by Eyēʔ Sqȃ’lewen and Aboriginal Special Project funding.

Up-coming and Past Conferences

2021 S’TEṈISTOLW̱ Conference - August 24-27

The 2021   S’TEṈISTOLW̱ Indigenous Adult and Post-Secondary Education Conference will be hosted by EyēɁ Sqâ’lewen: The Centre for Indigenous Education & Community Connections at Camosun College in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada in the traditional ‘territories’ of the Lekwungen (Songhees and Esquimalt) and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples. Our intent is to gather educators, administrators and staff working in Indigenous programs as well as knowledge-keepers, leaders and allies in the field of Indigenous education from adult and post-secondary institutions and communities. S’TEṈISTOLW̱ is a SENĆOŦEN term referencing the concept of ‘moving forward,’ and following on the successes of the 2017 conference, our goal is to further expand and enrich the participant experience and continue to build relationship and networks of reciprocity – to share, learn and exchange with each other.

2017 S’TEṈISTOLW̱ Conference - August 23-25

Hosted by Eyēʔ Sqȃ’lewen: The Centre for Indigenous Education & Community Connections, the 2017 S’TEṈISTOLW̱  Conference is a gathering for instructors/educators in Indigenous programs as well as leaders and allies in the field of Indigenous adult education. The goal is to build relationship and networks of reciprocity – to share, learn and exchange with each other. We are pleased to share with you video of all the keynote speakers.

S’TEṈISTOLW̱  is a SENĆOŦEN term referencing the concept of ‘moving forward’. This conference will focus on both the doing and being of Indigenous education. While they are inextricably intertwined, “doing” involves pedagogies and teaching practices. “Being” involves relationality, connections amongst educators, communities, students, cultures and lands and involves living our collective values. We proceed with the intent of Eyēʔ Sqâ’lewen (good heart, good mind, good spirit) and Na’tsa’maht, (unity and collective vision).