Indigenous Network McGill

Get to know some of the Indigenous students on campus in our new bi-weekly spotlight series! This week, we get to know a little more about the Indigenous Student Alliance’s (ISA) new Co-Chair, Sativa Kawakami!

My name is Sativa, but most people call me Tiva, and I am a U1 student majoring in Environmental Biology at McGill Mac Campus. Ethnobotany has always been a huge interest of mine, and so, I take lots of anthropology courses downtown, too! I am Manitoba Metis, born and raised in Winnipeg. Although I miss the prairies every day, I am beyond thankful to be studying at McGill and to have connected with many amazing people since moving to Montreal.

I met some folks at the welcome back event with First Peoples’ House who recommended I join the ISA. As a shy freshman, joining the club was a little daunting, but I would consider it one of the best decisions I have made as a McGill student. Looking back, everyone who is involved with the ISA is so wonderful, and I feel silly having ever been nervous to join. Initially, I was interested in all ISA initiatives, but was ultimately looking to make friends in a new city; connecting with other Indigenous students and allies was a major hope of mine following my move, that has now been and continues to be fulfilled.

I am honoured to take on the role of Co-Chair of the ISA! My appreciation for this club and all of its members grows every day, and I am extremely grateful to be able to increase my involvement with the group. Community building has and will always be very important to me, and my new position as co-chair gives me a great opportunity and platform to enhance relations between Indigenous students and allies at McGill and to strengthen and extend our lovely community beyond the University. I am thrilled to further connect with all the ISA members, and to enjoy the positive space that this club creates.

Welcome to the Indigenous Network McGill blog! You can subscribe to receive a weekly email digest of blog posts from the week by clicking on the “Subscribe to weekly email digest” link in the right sidebar (you can easily unsubscribe at any point in the future via a link at the bottom of the email digest).

As described on our About page, Indigenous Network McGill is a blog designed to be a centralized source for news, events, and information relevant to Indigeneity and the Indigenous community at McGill. This blog is currently supported by the Indigenous Studies and Community Engagement Initiative (ISCEI), and is always looking for contributions and regular contributors. Examples of the kind of contributions we would love to see from you include:

• good news from Indigenous faculty, staff, and students (projects, grants, publications, presentations, awards, media)
• news about upcoming events related to Indigenous topics or Indigenous studies, or designed for the Indigenous community at McGill
• reports about successful events or projects
• information about opportunities (funding opportunities, positions)

Please contact indigenousnetwork@mcgill.ca to submit a blog post or an idea for a post, or if you’d like to be involved!

We are very pleased to welcome Vanessa Racine as the new full-time administrative coordinator for the Mellon-funded Indigenous Studies and Community Engagement Initiative!

Vanessa is Anishinaabe from Beaverhouse FN and is currently finishing her BA in Linguistics and Indigenous Studies at McGill. She focuses her research on Indigenous language visibility, as well as language learning through alternative media. In addition, she focuses on community building and has been involved with Indigenous initiatives on campus. You can learn more about the initiatives she will be working to support on the ISCEI page here: https://www.mcgill.ca/iscei/our-intiatives

The aim of this blog is to connect the various initiatives, students and faculty from across campus in order to share useful information regarding news, events, opportunities and any other content relevant to the Indigenous community. We are look for collaborators to help us populate this blog on a regular basis, so if you are a member of the McGill community and interested in contributing, please reach out to iscei@mcgill.ca if you are interested!