Inspiring stories from RRC’s Indigenous Alumni

How do successful people get to where they are? What did that journey look like? What did they learn and how did they stay the course? What does it mean to be an Indigenous student in post-secondary?

The Stay the Course speaker series is a hand from one generation to the next, hosted by Carla Kematch, Manager, Truth and Reconciliation and Community & Engagement. Every month, incredible RRC Indigenous Alumni share their experiences on their journey to success. Advancing Indigenous achievement at RRC means listening to Indigenous stories. This is just one of the many ways we can embed the efforts of Truth and Reconciliation in our daily lives.

David Thomas

David Thomas is from the Peguis First Nation, and a graduate of both the RRC drafting program as well as the Master of Architecture program at the University of Manitoba. He is currently the Manager of Planning and Design for the Treaty #1 Development Corporation developing the former Kapyong Barracks site in Winnipeg. In 2018, he exhibited work at the 2018 Venice Biennale as part Canada’s submission: Unceded, Voices of the Land. David is currently guiding the final stages of design for the Indigenous Peoples Garden part of Canada’s Diversity Garden located at Assiniboine Park in Winnipeg. David draws from lived experiences as an Indigenous person to create placemaking projects that include the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, Vancouver General Hospital and Humber College in Toronto. As well as presenting internationally in Aotearoa and the UK David mentors and actively supports young indigenous designers in the community.

Looking to place an order at the Culinary Exchange? Place an order online!

Learn what RRC’s Indigenous Education has to offer!

Date: Wednesday, March 17
Time: 5:00 – 8:00 pm

REGISTER

Connect with RRC instructors, staff and students, and explore programs and career paths virtually.

Whether you know what field you want to enter or are just beginning to think about your education, there are programs for every level of experience. This event will help you learn, plan, and start your post-secondary education in a supportive environment so you can receive the skills, training, and confidence to strengthen the path forward for the next seven generations. Let us know how we can help you carve your path as you aspire towards your personal, professional and community goals.

This event is for future First Nations, Métis and Inuit students, their families, friends, and support networks, community organizations, and anyone who wants to learn more about Indigenous Education at RRC.

What to Expect:

• Welcoming with Elder Una Swan
• Guest speaker Comedian Conway Kootenay
• Visit over 20 booths
• Attend a Live Panel Discussion (Live Broadcast Booth)
• Learn about programs, supports, and campuses
• Hear from current Indigenous students
• Prizes to be won!

Live Broadcasts:

These live, interactive presentations help you learn more about RRC from firsthand experiences. We’ve put together two Live Broadcasts topics that cover some of the big questions potential students are having about learning in a post-pandemic world. Each Broadcast will have multiple sessions for you to tune into.

1. How Work Integrated Learning Can Launch your Career
2. Discussion with Current Students – How is your Virtual Learning Experience?

Every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday at noon starting Monday, February 8 on Microsoft Teams.

Elder’s Lodge is our virtual drop-in centre where you can build connections, hear stories, and learn more about Indigenous culture with our Elders-in-Residence and Indigenous Education staff and faculty. All are welcome to attend!

Check your student or staff news for the meeting link.

If you have questions or need support, please email indigenoussupportcentre@rrc.ca

Inspiring stories from RRC’s Indigenous Alumni

How do successful people get to where they are? What did that journey look like? What did they learn and how did they stay the course? What does it mean to be an Indigenous student in post-secondary?

The Stay the Course speaker series is a hand from one generation to the next, hosted by Carla Kematch, Manager, Truth and Reconciliation and Community & Engagement. Every month, incredible RRC Indigenous Alumni share their experiences on their journey to success. Advancing Indigenous achievement at RRC means listening to Indigenous stories. This is just one of the many ways we can embed the efforts of Truth and Reconciliation in our daily lives.

Sheila North

Sheila North, (Winnipeg, Bunibonibee Cree Nation): Sheila is the former Grand Chief of the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO), and former Chief Communications Officer for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. She ran for the position of National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations in 2018 on a platform of reforms. Sheila is a former CTV journalist and documentarist, and was nominated for a Gemini Award as a CBC journalist. As a film maker, Sheila released a documentary, 1200+, about missing and murdered Indigenous women girls (MMIWG) featured on CTV in 2019. And, as a Cree host, she has been voicing episodes of Taken, a series about MMIW, for APTN and CBC.

Red River College is honoured to welcome Elder Una Swan as an RRC Elder-in-Residence, joining Elder Jules Lavallee and Elder Paul Guimond in supporting students, classrooms, staff and College leadership.

Una Swan is a band member of Fisher River Cree Nation. She is 53-years-old and has three boys and one grandson. She says she is very close to her culture, both from a physical and spiritual aspect. She has worked at various grassroots organizations over the past 20 years as Aboriginal Cultural and Spiritual Liaison and as an Elder. She is a teaching and healing Elder. She has found this work to be giving, receiving and extremely rewarding. Of her various places of employment, she says one of her more memorable places was St. Amant Centre. Working there gave her a new perspective on her own life and the lives of others.

“It has not always been easy and I have had my struggles, but always felt comforted knowing that anything worth doing is not always easy, otherwise it would have been done already,” she says. “I have been able to keep my eye on how things are going to be here in ten years from now instead of right now! I know that Creator has been with me on this job as I have been able to do things I could not, know things I should not, and have this overwhelming feeling of energy to work. I have been challenged emotionally, mentally, and physically to do this work, but with Creator’s hand on me here I have been able to overcome these challenges with ease.”

Ensuring access to and including Elders and Knowledge Keepers is vital to embedding and supporting Indigenous ways of knowing being, teaching, learning and leading. Elders have always held positions of high esteem and importance; they are the living libraries that hold the wisdom, history and cultural knowledge of our Nations. Our Elders-in-Residence play an important role in leadership, student and staff health, wellness, and cultural and spiritual development.

Students and staff are invited to join a Meet and Greet with Elder Una on Wednesday, January 27 at 2 pm on Microsoft Teams. Contact Stephanie Wright, Indigenous Centre Coordinator, at sdwright@rrc.ca to join.

As her first virtual workshop with the College community, Elder Una will guide viewers in a two-part beading workshop to create a beaded watch covering. The workshop will be available at rrc.ca/indigenous/news this month and on the Indigenous Education Instagram page @RRCIndigenous

Along with cultural teachings and classroom support, the College community will also see Una participate in a number of virtual events this term.

RRC student launches Strength in the Circle, a grassroots movement focused on Indigenous men’s healing

Jonathan Meikle is no stranger to making headlines. Two years ago, the army veteran stepped in when he saw an altercation break out on a Winnipeg Transit bus. Meikle was stabbed in the process of protecting other passengers. Instead of harboring anger towards the attacker, it made him curious. Who was this person and what led him to this point of violence?

Meikle reached out and realized this person was part of a cycle that is all too common – one that mirrored his own cyclical experiences with sobriety and the criminal justice system. He was already on a transformative journey of discovering his culture and spirituality, but he knew there was something more he could contribute to his community. It started with helping the man on the bus, who became his friend: supporting him while he was incarcerated, through to securing housing and creating a support system. As the veil was being lifted in his own life to the systemic problems he was facing, Meikle saw a movement that was emerging and deeply needed: healing for Indigenous men.

Meikle is a student in Red River College’s Social Innovation and Community Development program in the School of Indigenous Education but is already putting his entrepreneurial vision into action by launching a grassroots organization called Strength in the Circle focused on collective healing. Along with his RRC studies, he has been spending time during the pandemic working on his organization, taking victim defender mediation training and being in a peer support program.

“Strength in the Circle is a movement built in response to the prevalence of untreated trauma that is the result of discriminative policy imposed by the Canadian government. Our mission is to provide programming primarily, however not exclusively, to Indigenous men that have had involvement in the criminal justice system,” says Meikle.

Strength in the Circle is currently comprised of four key initiatives that correlate to the Medicine Wheel teachings, an acknowledgement on how important it is to have the mind, body, spirit and heart work together in balance.

Over the summer they started an Indigenous literature reading group (mental), a fitness group (physical), and Peaceful Warriors co-ed and men’s group (emotional), with spiritually weaved throughout all initiatives. Meikle says he and his team strive towards having a truly Indigenous organization and they are constantly asking and re-evaluating what that means.

Of his own journey, he says, “I was always so focused on the psychical and the mental but not so much on the emotional and the spiritual. I was spiritually disconnected. I wasn’t in touch with my culture, I actually rejected it. I was very shame based.”

Although he is now empowering others, his path wasn’t always to clear. Being in the military for six years and deployed to Afghanistan was a culture shock and took a toll on his mental health. It was a process, but making connections in the volunteering community and building up his own support network helped him focus on his future and sobriety.

When he was deciding on a new career path, he found himself at a crossroads. He could choose a linear path in aviation, or a more passionate, yet unclear one, based in social change. He knew he wanted to develop something that would make a real difference in the lives of Indigenous people, so he enrolled in the Social Innovation and Community Development program.

The two-year program brings new perspectives to existing ways of decision-making in today’s world. Students discover the tremendous capacities of communities and individuals looking to initiate systems change. Meikle says the program has developed his facilitation and development skills, furthered his network and connections, added to his confidence, and helped him build long-lasting friendships.

“So many people don’t see [the big picture] and it builds into this self-fulfilling prophecy that we are not good enough and this idea of this inferiority and this idea of this superiority of others, and I want to confront that. Everything we are trying to build with Strength in the Circle is aimed at individuals being able to find that leader in themselves.”

Strength in the Circle is currently developing their next initiative, Truth Speakers, around communication and leadership skills through an Indigenous world view.

“Some of the greatest social innovators and some of the greatest change makers, are still out there yet to be discovered, they are just weighed down by barriers.”

Learn more about Strength in the Circle.

Find out more about the Social Innovation and Community Development program.

Inspiring stories from RRC’s Indigenous Alumni

How do successful people get to where they are? What did that journey look like? What did they learn and how did they stay the course? What does it mean to be an Indigenous student in post-secondary?

The Stay the Course speaker series is a hand from one generation to the next, hosted by Carla Kematch, Manager, Truth and Reconciliation and Community & Engagement. Every month, incredible RRC Indigenous Alumni share their experiences on their journey to success. Advancing Indigenous achievement at RRC means listening to Indigenous stories. This is just one of the many ways we can embed the efforts of Truth and Reconciliation in our daily lives.

Kevin Monkman

Kevin Monkman is from the small community of Vogar Manitoba and is currently a Research Analyst with Manitoba Hydro.  He has been with Hydro for 14 years in various roles. He started out as a summer student and was lucky enough to continue working throughout the school year.

Kevin attended Red River College and graduated in 2008 with a diploma in Business Administration. Attending college was a challenge, being a mature student with a young family of three children. Kevin says the staff in the Indigenous department assisted him in making the adjustment easier with balancing school and work. He changed my mindset to treat his studies as though he was going to work. He says he would get to college at 8 am, whether he had class or not, and would stay till 4 pm.  Continuously reviewing his school work and trying to get ahead helped him become an honour roll student. He says this method helped so in the evenings he could concentrate on his children.

This Sunday, November 8, is National Aboriginal Veterans Day.

To help us learn more, we invited two Indigenous veterans to join us virtually to share their stories and lessons learned. William Greenwalt (USA) and Elder Wanbdi Wakita (Canada) each bring an interesting perspective on their experience of war as an Indigenous person.

In Canada, approximately over 12,000 Indigenous men and women volunteered to join the military for the First and Second World Wars, as well as Korea, and over 500,000 in the US.

In Canada, when an Indigenous person joined the military, they gained the right to vote but lost their Treaty status. Upon returning home after the war, Indigenous veterans were disenfranchised, meaning they lost the right to vote, and because they lost their Treaty status many veterans spent years trying to get their Treaty status reinstated.

WATCH: RRC Elder Paul Guimond honours our veterans with a song and special message.

Miigwetch Wanbdi Wakita, William Greenwalt, and all Aboriginal Veterans.

In honour of Career and Workforce Development Month in Manitoba this November, Indigenous Transition to Employment Services is hosting its first Pre-Employment Conference – virtually.

Dates: November 17 and 18
Time: 6pm – 8:30pm both nights

Indigenous students and recently-graduated alumni are invited to learn about the tools and skills that will help them secure a job in their field of study. Indigenous ways of knowing and being will be a focal point with a message from our Elder, a Medicine Wheel Teaching, and we will hear from Indigenous alumni on their experiences.

Join us for some evening sessions including resume and cover letter preparation, job search strategies, interview skills, and more. Stay tuned for a more detailed schedule of sessions.

Get ready to start your career and Put Your Best Moccasin Forward!

REGISTER HERE

Or contact Rhonda Monkman at rmonkman90@rrc.ca to register.

When you register, you will be sent a WebEx link for each day. Sessions will be continuous, so you do not need to log on for separate sessions.

SCHEDULE

Tuesday, November 17
6:00 pm – 8:30 pm

6 pm – Welcoming from Isabel Bright, Dean, School Of Indigenous Education, and Frank Parkes, Student Resource & Employment Manager, and prayer and message from Elder Paul Guimond.

6:15 pm – Medicine Wheel Teaching: Using Indigenous Knowledge in Career Planning

7 pm – Q + A

7:30 pm – Resume and Cover Letter Preparation

8:15 – Q + A

Wednesday, November 17
6:00 pm – 8:30 pm

6 pm – Job Search Strategies – How to do an effective job search. Knowing your skills and abilities.

6:35 pm – Q + A

6:45 pm – Interview Skills – Virtual interviewing skills, types of interviews, and interview preparation.

7:15 pm – Q + A

7:25 – Alumni Panel – Sharing Indigenous perspectives. The journey from college to employment.

8:05 – Q + A and closing

Inspiring stories from RRC’s Indigenous Alumni

How do successful people get to where they are? What did that journey look like? What did they learn and how did they stay the course? What does it mean to be an Indigenous student in post-secondary?

The Stay the Course speaker series is a hand from one generation to the next, hosted by Carla Kematch, Manager, Truth and Reconciliation and Community & Engagement. Every month, incredible RRC Indigenous Alumni share their experiences on their journey to success. Advancing Indigenous achievement at RRC means listening to Indigenous stories. This is just one of the many ways we can embed the efforts of Truth and Reconciliation in our daily lives.

Judy Klassen

Judy Klassen was raised in St. Theresa Point First Nation and was the second eldest child to Charles and the late Lillian Wood. Both her parents attained their Bachelor of Education when she was young and became teachers in their home reserve. She grew up in her parent’s businesses throughout her young life. Her parents inspired her to get an education and their teachings taught her how to be self-reliant. Judy became an entrepreneur herself at a very young age by making and selling her native beaded crafts.

Judy went on to having six kids of her own, started many businesses throughout her life in St. Theresa Point but had to leave for higher education as she still wanted to attend post-secondary. She enrolled at Red River College in Steinbach and obtained a two-year business studies diploma, for which she made the Dean’s List. She was fueled by the knowledge that she easily handled a demanding family life, held a part-time job, plus she also took in three teenage nephews. With a total of nine kids in tow, she enrolled in the I.H. Asper School of Business at the University of Manitoba, graduating in 2013 with a Bachelor of Commerce (Hons.) Degree.

She went back to work in Steinbach and was working as a junior accountant when she was asked to run for political office. She took on a long-standing incumbent and won the seat as the Member of the Legislative Assembly for Kewatinook. It was within this role that Judy became the first ever First Nation female Interim Leader for a provincial party, the Manitoba Liberals, across Canada.

She then decided to toss her hat into the federal ring in hopes of knocking out the long-time incumbent there, but it was a successful failure. She shook up the North, but it simply wasn’t in the cards. She then was asked to run for Chief of her home reserve but decided to start off by running for Council. She became the Head Councillor but had to resign when one of her children developed a serious medical condition.

Judy loves the return to a private life, reconnecting with friends and family and is enjoying the peace that that brings. She is currently the Director for Greenville Place Inc. here in Winnipeg and is having a ball.