 My name is Katherine Anderson and I'm the Special Advisor to the President on Aboriginal Affairs at Memorial University. My position is, as I said, Special Advisor to the President. But it's a position that is Penn University and Multicampus. So here at Memorial we have several campuses. The St. John's Campus and the Marine Institute here in St. John's, as well as the new Signal Hill Campus, as well as the Grenfell Campus in Cornerbrook and the Labrador Institute in Happy Valley, Goose Bay in Labrador. So again, as I said, my position is Penn University. I work with multiple, well, really all academic units, academic support units, non-academic units right across the university to advance Indigenous education, Indigenous initiatives to support Indigenous students here. Well, the position was created out of a task force report. The task force was established about 10 years ago. And the mandate of the task force was to look at ways that the university could enhance recruitment of Indigenous students and their success once they get here at the university. The task force was comprised of members from the university community and from the Indigenous groups in the province. And out of that report, there were a number of recommendations. And one of the recommendations was to create a position at senior administrative level within the university to, I guess, provide leadership and coordination of all matters around Indigenous student success, Indigenous programming here at the university. So I think, so the report came out in 2009. The position was created in 2011. And the first person was in the position for three years. And then I came on in March of 2015. And then, as you know, in June of that year, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released their summary report. Universities Canada released their principles on Indigenous education. And I think that just really changed the national conversation around what was happening. Not that obvious. There were a lot of things happening to varying degrees, I think, in universities across the country. But I think that moment in time really brought things to people's attention in a way that has just really shifted things. And I think there was a lot of momentum created from that. So what my position involved prior or what this position focused on prior to that and what it's focusing on since that time, I think, has been a bit of a shift. So for example, when I was hired in March, or started in March, one of my responsibilities was to create a strategic plan for this office. And that shifted now to creating an indigenization strategy for the university. So that's a much different, a much larger and broader scope than looking at a strategic plan for this office. So in terms of measuring success, because I didn't answer your question, I think the scope, the mandate of the role has shifted somewhat. So I think in terms of measuring what success is, is shifting and changing with that a little bit as well. But if I broadly speaking, I think we want to see the success of Indigenous students here at Memorial University. So obviously we'd like to see more Indigenous students coming to Memorial, but it also means ensuring their success once they're here at Memorial. I think success also means that we're educating non-Indigenous students, the non-Indigenous population here at the University about Indigenous peoples and Indigenous histories in this province and country. I think success also is about engaging respectfully with the Indigenous peoples, Indigenous governments, Indigenous communities, Indigenous organizations throughout the province and the country. And exactly what that looks like, I guess as we're working through the development of our indigenization strategy, some of the things will be, I guess, more clearly articulated. One of the things that we identified from the outset was the importance of engaging with Indigenous peoples here in Newfoundland and Labrador. I think as Indigenous peoples we're all too familiar with policies and programs being developed by governments or agencies outside of the community and then having those documents brought forward sometimes for consultations once they've already been developed, which does not really provide for any meaningful contribution or input into what that looks like. And we were cognizant of that and said at the outset that as we develop this strategy we're going to be doing that with Indigenous communities here in Newfoundland and Labrador. So we were careful not to set ourselves a timeline that was too tight. We wanted to make sure that we had sufficient time to engage with the communities and that's what we're doing from the outset. And so far we've met with Mi'kmaq communities here in Newfoundland and I've traveled to southern Labrador. I've met with communities in the Ndunatua Territory, went to central Labrador and met with folks in Chedijit. Had a public meeting in Ghusbe and this month we'll be traveling to Ndunatua Territory in northern Labrador. And there are still some communities that we will be visiting here on the island as well. And I should also say so this month we'll be visiting the north coast of Labrador, the Ndunatua Territory communities as well as Natwashish. I think Indigenous education can be defined very broadly. I think first and foremost it's for me looking at how we can incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing Indigenous ways of being Indigenous ways of doing. And I know when we talk about Indigenousization broadly speaking that's what we're looking at. And I think obviously it's going to be different from place to place what that looks like in Newfoundland even within our own province. It's going to be different for what that would mean for Mi'kmaq versus what it would mean for Inuit. And again then that's going to be different than what it might look like in Manitoba or Alberta. So I think that's one of the things that why it's really important for us to engage with Indigenous peoples here to hear from them what Indigenous education means for them. So as a university I think it's important that we incorporate that here into the programs and courses that we offer. But I think Indigenous education also provides the opportunity like I said for non-Indigenous people to learn about Indigenous peoples and histories. I think Indigenous education is also learning about our past but it also needs to look at what the needs and the priorities and the desires are of Indigenous peoples and communities today. When we think about us coming to university and what we want to do here I think for a lot of us it's about how we can go back and contribute and give back to our communities. And it could be that, it might not be that, but I think it's giving people in our communities the opportunity and the option to do that. It's about listening to the communities and what, where they are, what their needs are, what their hopes and desires are. And looking at how as a university we can respond to that. So one, for example, I mean broadly speaking I think universities right across the country are looking at ways that we can respond to the calls to action. And I think if we look at education, if we look at nursing, if we look at social work, those are all fairly clearly defined and articulated in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report. And, but then I think there are needs that might be specific to, for example, the Mi'kmaq in the Mi'abogak First Nation, or the Inuit and Akwashish or Syedjit, or Inuit groups in Northern and Southern Labrador. So when we think about the university, broadly speaking, we're a comprehensive university. So we have 15 faculties and schools here at the St. John's campus alone. So we have a school of social work, we have a faculty of medicine, faculty of nursing, faculty of education, many others. And I think what that looks like is going to be different in each one of those faculties and schools. This month we're starting a visiting elders program in partnership with the School of Social Work. So we'll be bringing in an elder from different communities for a couple days a week. And they'll be spending time with the Aboriginal Resource Office, so with Indigenous students here on campus, but also spending time at the School of Social Work where they'll be speaking to students in different classes throughout that day. So I think that's one way of bringing community into university. I think a really important way to hear from our elders, to hear their knowledge, to hear their experiences, their wisdom, their ideas. So that's one way. Our faculty of medicine has also for many years been bringing community into or onto campus through their Aboriginal Health Initiative. So they have an advisory board with representatives from each of the Indigenous groups here in Newfoundland and Labrador. And they also develop modules for their medical students going through the program. So they're hearing about Indigenous peoples, about maybe approaching medicine and healing in ways other than what Western medicine might traditionally teach. So I think there are so many different ways of doing that. I think it's bringing it into the university's consciousness of the importance of doing that and different ways of doing that. I think Memorial has a pretty strong history of working with Indigenous communities around language revitalization. We have a Department of Linguistics that has had faculty that have worked with Inuktitut, with Inuamun, with Kayuga, Inaida languages in Ontario. We have an Aboriginal Languages Archive, and even going back, I think, like back in maybe the 60s and 70s, there were faculty that worked with language revitalization. And just recently, the university has also hired a Canada Research Chair in Change Adaptation and Revitalization of Aboriginal Languages. So Dr. Nicholas Welch will be working with Indigenous groups here to look at that and working with them to identify what their priorities are, what they would like to focus on around the revitalization. So whether it's documentation, whether it's what he can do to support their revitalization efforts. I think the university and in particular the Department of Linguistics is interested in working with Indigenous groups to support them and to continue their efforts in language revitalization as well. And Dr. Douglas Warram has done a lot of work with Inuit in Nunat-Siblet as well, around the language nest and the Vigilette dialect. He did a lot of work around documenting the last few speakers in Vigilette around their unique dialect of Inuktitut. There's a lot of room for growth here at Memorial University. I would like to see more curriculum developed throughout the university in terms of, throughout the faculties and schools. I know for many, for many individual faculty members, there is a great interest in bringing Indigenous education, Indigenous perspectives into their classrooms, which is great. But I think broadly speaking, I'd like to see more programs around Indigenous education. I would like to see more Indigenous faculty members. I think that's a big priority here at the university. I'd like to know that Indigenous students feel that they're reflected in every aspect here at the university. In curriculum, in the people that work here, so our faculty, our staff, in the physical spaces here at the university. We had the pillar in the library that Jessica painted. I think that's, you know, we're making some advances. But I think, like I said, I think there's a lot of room for growth and I'm excited to see where we're going to go in the next 10 years. I mentioned the task force report earlier, so 10 years ago, the task force report identified, well, listed 22 recommendations for how we could enhance Aboriginal student recruitment and success here at the university. One of those 22 recommendations was to find increased space for Aboriginal students here at the St. John's campus. Currently, and at the time, there was a lounge and a couple of offices on the fourth floor of the university center. And the Aboriginal student lounge is small and was not adequate for the needs of our students here. So when the report came out, there was a committee struck to look at identifying space here. And the committee looked at existing space to see where the Aboriginal resource office and the lounge could potentially move to. And I think as they were looking at space, that kind of evolved into looking at renovating space. And then that, again, evolved into looking at building brand new space. So Aboriginal House, and that's just kind of a working name right now that was a working name given to that probably five years ago. And there was a space, a location identified on campus where a new, a brand new building will go. And that would be for Aboriginal students, but it would be really for the whole university. But space where Aboriginal students could call their own. And create, I think, a greater sense of belonging here on the St. John's campus. Right now there have been plans. So we have, it's beyond just a concept. There is a concept, a design developed for that building. It's gone even further so that we have shovel ready plans in place. But since the drop in the price of oil a few years ago and the downturn in the provincial economy, we have not been able to secure the funds to begin construction of the building. But it is still something that is a priority for infrastructure here at Memorial. And it's still on the, it's still something we are actively working on. I can say the numbers have increased, but I wouldn't be able to tell you necessarily why. I don't know if it's because there's a greater comfort level in self identifying. Because I think we all know that we have, the numbers that we have are based on students who choose to self identify. And we know not all students either want to self identify or feel comfortable in identifying. And also in particular in this province with the creation of the Halibu First Nation in 2011. And a number of younger people learning about their MIGMA ancestry. The numbers of students who self identified changed at that time as well. So I don't know if that is one of the reasons for the increase in numbers or what it is. But I know I do know the numbers have increased. I wouldn't be able to tell you all the reasons why. Well, the indigenization strategy I think right now is my most immediate goal. I think once we have an official, I think once we have the strategy in place, it will really help the university to lay out strategic directions. That's what the purpose of a strategy is and I think universities really operate. They need to see those strategic directions. It helps to allocate resources. It helps to identify what the priorities for this year are. And what we need to focus on in, you know, let's say year one versus year two versus year three. So I think that is my most immediate goal. At long term, I would like to see more indigenous faculty. I'd like to see more indigenous staff. I would like to see this office increase the number of staff here so that we can do the work that we need to do in a good way. I think when you have a handful of indigenous staff working in offices like these, very often, well, there's only so much you can do. And I think to do the work that needs to be done, we definitely need more staff. And I think through the development of the indigenization strategy that will support those goals because we'll have identified what the needs are and what the resources are required to accomplish those goals. I think it's important to recognize and remember all the people that have been doing this work for a very long time who have laid the groundwork for people like me and just coming into university in the last few years to be able to do this work. I think of people like Marie Batiste who have been doing this for decades and Dr. Joanne Archibald who I heard speak a few times and just recently when I was in Victoria in November, she spoke to a group of indigenous leaders who are indigenous senior leaders who are working within universities across the country. And she told the story of Lady Laos and how... I won't tell the whole story here, but how Lady Laos goes into a longhouse and there's a lot of dust in there because people haven't been using it for a long time, but she wants people to come back and start using the longhouse again. So she decides to clean it up and get rid of the dust and she starts in one corner and she's got this whole longhouse to do and she just starts by with her cedar broom and starts sweeping the floor and I think when we think of what she's doing there we can compare to in some ways to what we're doing within universities. It can seem like such a huge daunting task, but the work needs to be done and we just start in the corner doing what we can do. But I think it's important to remember the work of not just those in university but the people in all sectors right across the country who have really fought for where we are today.