The Healthy Headwaters Lab hosts its first Indigenous Allyship open house at Ojibway Nature Centre
On February 20th, 2020 a group of motivated individuals gathered at City of Windsor's Ojibway Nature Centre for the purposes of sharing food,stories and building community. This event was also a chance to look back at the inaugural year of University of Windsor's Healthy Headwaters Lab and the Indigenous Allyship Program. This diverse group represented communities across Windsor and Essex County, Bkejwanong (Walpole Island First Nation), and as far as China!
We began the day with a Miigwech circle: an opening prayer, a message of gratitude and thanks and round circle introductions where invitees shared who they were and what inspires them. Following that, organizers shared information on current and upcoming research opportunities and invited guests to engage with one another, listen and to share.
The day allowed university staff, faculty, field naturalists, municipal representatives and members of Bkejwanong to come together and learn what each other does and how we might work together in the future. At the heart of it all was the question:
How can we support Indigenous capacity-building?
Share your thoughts and feedback with us at healthy.headwaters@uwindsor.ca
Candy Donaldson, Co-Director of the Indigenous Allyship Program discussing last summer’s Traditional Ecological Knowledge and the Environment Field Course that was co-developed with members of Bkejwanong.
