Wahkomiwew - Being connected to the People

By Christy Bird

 

Christy and Kaitlyn Murdock 

Boozhoo, Tansi. Christy Bird ndizhnikaaz Peguis/Fisher River indoonji. I am near completion of my time in MDP, and it has been a great learning experience. For my final field placement, I am working under the supervision of Dr. Shailesh Shukla with Fisher River Cree Nation (FRCN) developing a traditional food guide that is reflective of their community. 

My Mom is Cree from Fisher River, and I spent a lot of time with family in Fisher River, so I am very grateful for this opportunity to connect with family and friends and build new relationships with youth in the community. 

As a part of my placement, I have met with several community members that work in the community and have participated in a community event organized by Sharon Monkman from Fisher River Health seeking their inputs in designing traditional food guide project through a written survey. Community members provided useful feedback on potential content of the Fisher River food guide including important and healthy traditional Fisher River food items that should be included in the guide. 

I have also had the opportunity to visit Fisher River High School Land-Based educator Kaitlyn Murdock in their land-based program. In addition, I had the privilege to host two focus groups with youth that attend the program. There are still more interviews with knowledge keepers, youth and elders in the community that need to be completed, but it has been great to put learn and apply community-based research for this important project. 

Our key focus would be to engage local youth and knowledge keepers and build in their voices into their own food guide. We would also like to organize traditional recipe events open to FRCN community members sometime in early August. At the end of the event, we plan to host a community feast to present the traditional food guide to the community. 

Finally, it has been great to be in community, around people, especially after 2 years of virtual learning. Although virtual meetings occur weekly, in person dialogue and community visits are something that I enjoy the most. Miigwech.

Goats, Mosquitoes and Research

 By Andrea Dsouza, 2nd year MDP student

Hello, my name is Andrea Dsouza. I was born and raised in Bangalore, India. In 2020 I completed an undergraduate degree in Indigenous Studies from the University of British Columbia. I am a second-year student in the MDP Program and am doing my field placement with the Anishinaabeg Agriculture Institute (AAI).

AAI is a community organization from the White Earth reservation with extensive farming experience, and a desire to diversify farming enterprises. Together with the East African and Middle Eastern community of Minnesota, their project aims to build a collaborative agriculture enterprise based on good land stewardship and cultural survival through food and land access. The project I am working on touches the following aspects: youth training, regional economy development, land back, and cross-cultural collaboration and restoration of traditional varieties of our food. What drew me to working with AAI is the integrated and intersectional nature of their work.

My task this summer is to answer the following questions: How do the food systems of the Anishinaabe and growing migrant & refugee populations overlap in needs? How can developing an Anishinaabe food system collaborate with these communities to meet their product demands? What are the practical considerations of developing a market value chain based on goats?

Developing the market includes experimenting and developing successful raw and value-added chains for goat and goat by-products including meat processing, and milk products. We also work closely with our Amish neighbors in the North, partnering with them to access their goat herds and farm infrastructure. Much of the work I have focussed on so far is hands on development of the Farm property, and program development for the young-farmer training in goat husbandry.

So far, I have really enjoyed working in a team environment alongside other master’s students from the University of Minnesota. We all come from different backgrounds and have different sets of expertise, which makes working together challenging, exciting and fun. After a year of doing online school it is also really nice to be in person with folks and to be able to connect with the land and water on a daily basis. Below are some photos from my time.

The Winnipeg Boldness Project

 By Katherine Rempel, 1st year MDP student

Through a Mitacs fellowship and the support of Social Innovations Canada, I am completing an Accountability Framework Report during my placement at Boldness. Over the past month I have focused my time on the following activities:

1.            The Burns Leadership Institute Canada President’s Student Leadership Program (PSLP) at the
University of Manitoba selected 20 students from postgraduate study across Manitoba from 15 different disciplines to be in the 4th cohort of student leaders.  I applied through my placement to grow my leadership skills, experience learning from multiple perspectives, and applying my learning to positive change in my career.  This opportunity also provided an unique chance to learn from the Winnipeg Boldness Projects executive director Diane Roussin who was the opening presenter.

2.            Conducted an environmental scan of the governance structures of local Indigenous organizations.  The research produced an excel document for the organization of 30 local Indigenous organizations with recorded details around how the organization governance was structured, the values and missions of the organizations, and how they were funded.

3.            An environmental scan of articles focused on Indigenous governance in an organizational setting, Indigenous governance values, the historical Indigenous governance, Indigenous methods, and accountability and collaboration was completed finding 30 articles to use as references for the Accountability Framework Report.

4.            Creating and conducting a personal interview opportunity to explore the creation story and background behind the Winnipeg Boldness Projects formation with Diane Roussin.  This offered valuable insight into the generational governance and relationships of community organizations in the North End of Winnipeg.

5.            As part of the Mitacs fellowship I attended multiple Social Innovation Canada Plenary sessions to engage and interact with other fellowship recipients.  This has provided a platform for support and to share the work being conducted by the students with one another.

A Reconciliation Plan for The WestEnd Commons

 By Molly Damiani

Hello! My name is Molly and I am finishing up my first year in the MDP program. This summer I am completing my domestic field placement through the University of Winnipeg’s Inner City work-study program. This program involves 450 placement hours in addition to a 6-credit course examining Winnipeg’s inner-city challenges and community-based initiatives.

My placement organization is the WestEnd Commons. The WestEnd Commons is a project of St. Matthews Non-Profit Housing Inc. addressing the need for safe and supportive housing in the neighbourhood of West Central Winnipeg. The WestEnd Commons is located in the St. Matthew's Anglican Church which has been renovated to feature 26 units for tenants and a neighbourhood resource centre on the lower floors. 

My work with the WestEnd Commons is centred on creating a reconciliation plan, and developing a strategy towards reconciliation in the workplace and the building as whole. This work speaks to the organization’s commitment to the cultural safety of tenants and staff. They are working towards creating an inclusive and supportive space for their tenants to build community, raise their families, and lead fulfilling lives.

This project involves research, community engagement, the development of educational materials, and the creation of a final report summarizing findings and the developed strategies. It has been interesting getting to know the WestEnd Commons and exploring reconciliation in the relation to their unique history, residents, and connections with the community. This project offers an fascinating opportunity to contribute to the future of this space, and the lives of the residents. I am excited to continue this work, and I am especially looking forward to hearing from the different groups who collectively make up the WestEnd Commons.

Connect with Community Through Food

By Jessica Boucher-Cowie 

Hello! My name is Jessica and I am a first-year MDP student! For my Canadian field placement, I am working with NorWest Co-op Community Food Centre located here in Winnipeg. At NorWest Food Centre, many programs are based on offering accessible, low-cost, healthy foods to individuals and families.

NorWest has a variety of programs that assist in mitigating the impacts of food insecurity, through culturally relevant meals, food basket deliveries, and weekly fresh produce markets. NorWest has played a significant role in supporting community health and recently launched a community farm project, which will not only provide locally grown produce but also create a safe, green space for the community to gather.

My role over the summer is primarily focused on assisting in program delivery and the beginning stages of the community farm project. The community farm will offer workshops and activities related to traditional foods, planting, and preserving practices, which I will assist in coordinating. I have gained some insight into the daily operations of NorWest, and through engaging with their staff and volunteers, it is clear how much good can be achieved when people come together to reach a shared goal.

NorWest distributes hundreds of meals to people each week and has an ‘assembly line’ of volunteers to prepare and package meals. I participated in preparing/distributing the meal for their quarterly feast, which provided meals to more than 400 community members on a ‘take-out’ basis.

Regarding the community farm, we started by removing sod and evening the soil so that vegetables can be planted. We made three plots in total, two of which will be used for vegetables requested by the community, and seeds that were donated to NorWest. The third plot is designed in the shape of a spiral and traditional crops will be planted there with the guidance of an Elder.

 We have officially begun planting and are excited for what the upcoming summer months bring us, to watch the crops grow, and further connect with the community!

 

Métis in the Federal Government

By Janelle Poiron, 2nd year MDP student

Tansi! My name is Janelle and I’m Métis from the Red River here in Winnipeg Manitoba!

I’m a second year student undergoing my last field placement before I graduate in the fall! This year I’m with Government of Canada in the Public Health Agency of Canada in Equity Analysis and Policy Research team.  

Though I’m located in Winnipeg Manitoba our headquarters are in Ottawa Ontario with colleagues all across the country! I have two main projects throughout my summer term:

1.      Looking at Métis health indicators and their inequities 

2.      Performing a literature review on Indigenous Peoples off-reserve health priorities and needs

I’m really happy to be working in health as that’s always been one of my goals. My projects this term have also coincidentally lined up with many of my interests. Being Métis myself, I’ve always been fascinated by the health inequities plaguing our communities so having an opportunity to work towards health equity is important to me. The literature review which looks at off-reserve Indigenous populations is equally important so that we can get a sense of gaps in our off-reserve relations.

So far, I’ve really enjoyed the work and my team! While it can be a struggle to connect with new colleagues virtually we recently started having a virtual social event so that we can get to know each other. I feel like this really added value to my placement as it focuses on connection and relationships.

I’m looking forward to finishing my last two months then who knows what the future holds!

Meegwetch!

Naawi-Oodena Project

 By Alex Cote, 2nd year MDP student 

Kwey! Aniin Boozhoo! Tanisi! Hello! Bonjour!

Nindizhinikaaz Alex, ningigoo ojibwemong zoongigondaagan. Gaawiin ningikenimaasii nindoodem. Nindoonjibaa dimiitigweyaa. Nindaa Gaa-okosing. 

Hello, my name is Alex. I was given the name Strong Voice, I am originally from Deep River, Ontario, but I am currently a visitor to Treaty 1 in Winnipeg. I have been given the privilege to introduce my current placement opportunity to you all! So without further ado, I have been working on the Naawi-Oodena Language initiative alongside two other research assistants and supervisor: Dr. Lorena Fontaine and Dr. Hugh Grant. 

The project explores the potential for the University of Winnipeg to develop a working relationship with Treaty One Development Corporation through the delivery of credit and non-credit Indigenous language courses on-site at Naawi-Oodena. Revitalizing Indigenous languages is a crucial driver towards reconciliation with the First Nations, Metis, and Inuit people. Unfortunately, in Canada, Indigenous languages face extinction while facing a crisis shortage of Indigenous language teachers. This proposal seeks to answer this crisis while paying close attention to the TRC’s Call to Action, language speakers, and community members.