As Welcoming Week 2025 draws to a close, I want to pause and reflect on the connections made, the stories shared, and the sense of community built over this past week. Community is not just a place, it is people caring for each other. It has been inspiring and humbling to meet new students and learn about their journeys and plans for the future. The courage, determination, and openness of newcomers remind us all why welcoming matters. 

Thank you to all the students, staff, partners, and community members who contributed to making the Resource Fairs as part of Welcoming Week 2025 such meaningful events. Because of your involvement, many more students learned about vital services, established new connections, and saw hands reaching out to support each other. These fairs are more than gatherings; they are living symbols of what welcome looks like in action. 

We started this year’s Welcoming Week at CNI with a beading activity rooted in the Seven Sacred Teachings and Indigenous Worldview. This activity resonated with all of the students and staff at CNI and I  also want to share the wisdom from Craig Fisher, who led the activity, in his reflection, “We Are All Connected: Learning to Live as Relatives Through Water, Land, and Kinship”: 

“The knowledge I carry came not from studying connection but from living as the hyphen between worlds, from understanding that relation survives every attempt at division.” 

These words remind us that belonging is built through relationships with each other, with the land and water around us, and through recognizing our shared humanity even when paths differ. 

As we move forward, we also look ahead to Truth and Reconciliation Week, beginning September 22. This week is a call to deepen our understanding, to reflect on the histories we share, and to honour the Indigenous peoples of the lands where RRC Polytech resides. Let us commit not just to remembrance, but to action, taking gentle and meaningful steps toward fostering understanding, respect, and reconciliation in our daily lives. 

To everyone who helped bring Welcoming Week 2025 to life, thank you. May we carry this spirit of welcome beyond these few days, in every conversation, every class, every campus corridor, and every interaction. 

With gratitude, 

Anna Janik-Kelly 
Associate Dean, English Language Learning and Newcomer Initiatives