Natasha has been one of my Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning (CETL) colleagues for the past four years and is our Education Developer for Indigenization, sharing “my Haida name is Sk’ing lúudas, which means Bow Wave and I’ve been in Indigenous education for over ten years.” Natasha is a certified B.C. teacher and completed her professional diploma for teaching at the University of Victoria (UVic) saying, “my pathway to Camosun was through my work in a local school district where I spent seven years teaching in Indigenous education during the COVID years.” During this time, she also completed her Master’s in Indigenous Governance also at UVic.” But when Natasha saw the job posting at Camosun, she thought maybe it was the next step for her. And in her role here, Natasha “supports faculty and others in their learning journey towards decolonizing and Indigenizing both professionally and personally.”
I asked Natasha if she could tell me what her work was like in the school district compared to her work at the college. “My role was similar in that I supported teachers and staff throughout the school and within the school district. But it was a little different because the focus was to meet with students who self-identified as Indigenous, support them academically, meet with families, work on lessons in collaboration with teachers, bring in guest speakers, etc. I have brought many similar aspects into my work at Camosun. Here, I enjoy collaborative projects, try to bring Elders into learning opportunities, and engage in experiential learning where we’re getting up and moving around all of which fits well with what we already do in CETL around active learning and relational practices. I also recognize that I’m not Coast Salish, which is why it’s important to bring Elder/Knowledge Keeper voices or resources or videos into our spaces so we can hear directly from lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ viewpoints.”
Natasha’s work in CETL runs from providing one-on-one support, through running short Indigenous learning opportunities and longer-term workshops, to supporting Indigenous learning opportunities run by others at the college. “We are supporting TELŦIN TŦE WILNEW: Understanding Indigenous Peoples (TTW), ŚW̱,ȻENEṈITEL: Doing Good Work Together (TTW2) (both run by Eyēʔ Sqȃ’lewen), and the KAIROS Blanket Exercise (run by Human Resources (HR)) which have all been very powerful experiential learning opportunities for people. The KAIROS Blanket Exercise is a three-hour session with a trained facilitator who leads participants through 500 years of colonization, with each participant taking on the role of Indigenous person and feeling and seeing the impacts of colonization over time. It started as a CCFA-funded opportunity but has been now taken up as a regular HR offering, demonstrating ally-ship across Camosun College.”
As for how she approaches working with people, Natasha says “my starting place is always to ask where someone is at and what they are interested in so we can explore how to expand from that position.” One of the initiatives Natasha has picked up to help people explore, is the Indigenous Education Community of Practice (CoP), which was initially led by Ruth Lyall. “The CoP has evolved over time and people have come and gone. Right now, in addition to general discussion, we are exploring W̱SÁNEĆ values, one in each session, to set the tone for our time together. For example, during one session we had an hour-long conversation about initiative, and what it means to us as educators. Thinking about these values is a way helping us reconnect with our humanness and the way that we want to be in the world.”
Natasha says the most important work she has been engaged with is co-facilitating the Working Together: Indigenizing your Curriculum workshop series with Charlotte Sheldrake, who specializes in curricular alignment, which is “an eight-month commitment for faculty. Charlotte and I facilitate four three-hour sessions with a group of instructors, where we talk about why they want to Indigenize their courses what their personal commitments are to it, and about how to do it. The nature of the program is interdisciplinary, and we learn from each other. It’s exciting because people from all over the college participate: from accounting or computer science or biology – anybody can Indigenize their course, from one small aspect of the course to a complete revision. As long as course learning outcomes stay the same, instructors can integrate new assessments, add a book club, or build relationality into the classroom and it’s amazing to see how instructors Indigenize in different ways.” Participants also select an Indigenous learning framework to work with for the program. “They could choose the Circle of Courage or the five R’s of Indigenous Pedagogy Research (Relationships, Respect, Relevance, Responsibility, Reciprocity) and then align the framework with their course learning outcomes.
Natasha also works with individual faculty members and department or program groups who have questions about Indigenizing their courses and programs. “In our Curriculog system at Camosun, course developers are asked how they have Indigenized their course or program. But they are also asked, in what ways are you making space or providing learning or teaching opportunities for Indigenizing which helps people think about the how. Developers might reach out to me, which is opportunity to have a discussion and be curious together.” Natasha also runs Sparkshops on Territorial Acknowledgements. “That’s been a big part of the puzzle for me at Camosun, and over time, my own understanding around Territorial Acknowledgements has changed and shifted.” In addition, Natasha notes the importance of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its place in post secondary education. “One gap we’re currently exploring is how the Declaration of Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (DRIPA) affects us in education. This 2019 B.C. act is derived from the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), and addresses anti-racism, using a distinctions-based approach where we start with the territories our feet are planted in (localization of knowledge and language) then go from there.” This work was highlighted as an action item by the Truth and Reconciliation Action Committee Phase 2.
As we moved into discussing UNDRIP, I wondered if Natasha could share a bit about her work with Camosun’s Anti-Racism and Decolonization Action Committee. “I’m very aware that I’m a person of privilege: I’m educated, middle class, female, white passing and I hope I can use my voice to support social justice and equity. In 2022, I was asked by Artemis Fire to co-facilitate the Anti-Racism and Decolonization Action Committee at Camosun which includes people from all areas of the college. We meet once a month bringing action items to the table and have written letters to leadership and raised awareness around various issues, including mitigating harm when it comes to faculty feedback. We also work to support the Director of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion role in a variety of ways.”
I asked Natasha what she is working on now and what she might be planning for the future. “Last year, we held a movie event to watch the documentary Lii Michif Niiyanaan: We are Métis and Camosun faculty and students, as well as people from community, attended. It’s important to bring attention to the Métis and Inuit perspectives as well to First Nations perspectives, and to increase our understanding of other Indigenous peoples in what we now know is Canada.” Another project Natasha and CETL will be involved with is the development of a SENĆOŦEN language course, in collaboration with SENĆOŦEN speakers. During the spring, Natasha also runs an on-the-land learning series where people can learn more about these territories with each other. “These workshops have involved learning in Camas Gardens, visiting the Royal BC Museum, getting out to PKOLS, and taking the lək̓ʷəŋən spindle whorls tour downtown.” But Natasha knows that sometimes limits of time and capacity means some events need to be put aside. “Last year, we participated a sweat lodge with Elder Robert George of Cowichan Nation. I’d never done one before, and it was a wonderful experience. These learning opportunities mean a full day for faculty and Knowledge Keepers and take a lot of behind-the-scenes organization. It’s important to slow down and thoughtfully consider when/how/where to engage in these wholistic on-the-land learning opportunities.” Then Natasha told me what these opportunities meant to her: “We need to get back on the land and recognize that the land and the waters are our first teachers. Our ancestors learned by, over thousands of years, watching the seasons, watching trees grow, watching animals come and go. In our Indigenous ways, we’re taught to watch the landscape and to follow the lead of the environment, which is something we don’t really do today.”
I wondered if, in her four years so far at Camosun, if there have been some standout moments for Natasha. “My work on the Integrated Curriculum Council (ICC) has been interesting, as we explore the power of learning outcomes, recognize that our scope as educators is connected to those learning outcomes, and reimagine what education could look like. One recent change is that the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program now includes learning outcomes on anti-racist and positionality. Faculty in these programs need support, which is why the Camosun/UVIC BSN (Nursing) Curriculum and Evaluation Standing Committee (CESC) reached out to CETL for guidance. Together, we are co-creating a BSN Anti-Racism Faculty Development Project. “We consider the power of learning outcomes and the words that we use to describe them; we need to consider from whose perspective the learning outcomes are being created. For example, are our learning outcomes inclusive of an Indigenous student’s understanding of the world? We need to ensure that we make space for Indigenous voices and knowledge to exist in their own right alongside western ways of knowing, being, and doing.” This can be difficult because sometimes it can feel like Indigenizing is another layer to add onto everything else faculty are having to do. “As people are feeling time constrained, we need to ask, what are those things we’re holding onto that we can let go of – for example, if activities or assessments are not relevant for students, or don’t build relationship within the classroom. It’s okay to keep evolving and changing and asking, what do our students need … how can we support students to be all that they can be?”
As we began to come to the end of our time together, I asked Natasha what kind of advice she had for faculty just starting out at Camosun. “I would encourage people to know what their rights are in terms of professional development time. The time we have through our collective agreement has nurtured my connection with my own community, to be able to go to Haida Gwaii, spend time with my mentors and stay connected to my culture. I would encourage new faculty to seek out and find people who you really connect with and just grow together. I also want to highlight CETL because we have so many amazing workshops and learning opportunities. The Instructional Skills Workshop (ISW), for example, is a wonderful way to increase your confidence in teaching and help you find new inspiration. And finally, connect with instructional designers in eLearning as you develop your courses – the whole team of instructional designers work hard behind the scenes to make your life easier!”
Natasha added that “the learning never stops and there are many amazing people here, and from all over, you can learn from, so keep an open mind and consider everything as part of your learning experience. Finally, Indigenizing, decolonizing, is about intentionally transforming the way we think and the way we do things, and it can be hard. Take time and take care of yourself but also push yourself into the learning zone as you engage in the hard work of decolonizing. Continue to ask, is there another way to do what we’re doing, are there things we can get rid of to make space for Indigenizing, and explore how different Indigenous values like the 5R’s can help us reimagine what education can look like as we move into the future.”