Indigenous Peoples Week 2024
March 1st, 2024
WHAT: Ionkwatónhahere – we are celebrating – Indigenous Peoples Week 2024
WHEN: Monday, March 25 to Thursday, March 28
WHERE: Conrods, Three Sisters Garden, and other locations at Dawson College
WHO: All events are open to the entire Dawson community and to the public
Save the dates! Indigenous Peoples Week 2024 will feature a mini Pow Wow, Indigenous craft vendors, soap stone carving, maple sap boiling and so much more. A detailed schedule will be published soon on the Dawson website, accessible from the homepage.
Join us for Dawson’s Certificate Day Nov. 8
October 25th, 2023
Certificates offer students from all programs the opportunity to interact in a learning community of fellow students and teachers who share a passion for thinking about and finding solutions for specific historical and contemporary issues. Students currently can take along with their DEC a certificate in Women’s/Gender Studies, Hellenic Studies, Peace Studies, Decolonization and Indigenization Studies, SPACE: Arts and Sciences, and Environment and Sustainability.
Interested in learning more about any of these certificates? Wondering about how to get more involved or the possibilities for co-teaching a certificate course with a colleague? If so, we invite you to drop by the Upper Atrium on Wednesday, November 8 between 10 AM and 3 PM.
For more information, please contact Karina D’Ermo in the Office of Academic Development.
Photo: Peace Studies students celebrate with faculty at their certificate ceremony.
Indigenous youth share postcard series at Ped Day
October 25th, 2023
One of the workshops at Dawson’s 2023 Ped Day on Oct. 13 was Indigenous Youth Perspectives: Community Care and Practical Strategies, Bettering the Student Experience.
Two young people who are part of the Indigenous Stream of the Quebec Youth Research Chair at Concordia University presented a postcard series, one of the tools they have created to express themselves and to get people thinking and discussing.
This group has been meeting online and in person for a few years. Sébastien Lamarre-Tellier, a medical student at McGill University, is Innu and a member of the network’s youth advisory committee. Sebastien told Concordia communications that they have been “coming together to share our cultures, be visible and make some noise to show that our cultures are alive and growing.”
The postcard that stood out for many at Dawson was one with an image of two people in a canoe at the centre. The centre is bright and focused on Nature with positive words emphasized. The city and negative elements are there but in the background.
Sébastien said that young Indigenous people “need to express ourselves.” He also said they are looking for a guide in a teacher, someone “to walk in the forest with them.” The image of the canoe has the elder or the teacher in the back helping to steer.
Visit the link to see all the postcards, which can lead to great conversations and rich reflections.
August 30th, 2023
Welcome Back one & all! Come and join the Dawson College Peace Centre for our 8th Annual Peace Week. This year we examine our theme, Exultation: Queer Freedoms and Futures. This year we are challenging our communities to ask the question, what does the world look like with complete freedom of expression, safety, and unconditional…
May 31st, 2023
Dawson Dining Sept. 13 – 21, the Peace Centre and the Dawson Student Union combine forces once more to bring you seven days of free vegan meals. Look out for notices to sign up to volunteer when the semester starts anew. Urban Gardening with SustainabiliTEAM Sept. 13 – 21, faculty are encouraged to start the year…
Students interview visual artist Renee Condo
May 3rd, 2023
This week, Dawson became one of the few places in Canada to host an exhibition by a nominee of the prestigious Sobey Art Award. Renee Condo is a visual artist of Mi’gmaw descent, hailing from the community of Gesgapegiag, Québec. Shifting Perspectives features her artwork constructed from wooden beads at the Warren G. Flowers Art Gallery until May 6. On a recent Tuesday afternoon, two visual arts students, Ella Gauthier and Alessandro Ruvo, had the opportunity to ask Condo a few questions.
For the homepage interview feature, visit the link below.
April 19th, 2023
For several years, Dawson Fine Arts faculty members Dr. Emma Doubt and Dr. Pohanna Pyne Feinberg have been having discussions about shifting pedagogical and curricular approaches in the art history discipline. “These shifts in the discipline resonate with a global paradigm shift and social justice movements that call for decolonizing education (amongst other systematic…
Still in the truth phase
April 5th, 2023
As part of Indigenous Peoples’ Week, on March 28 Dawson pedagogical counsellor Kanerahtiio (Tiio) Hemlock gave a talk entitled Canadian Colonialism in Perspective.
Tiio’s position as Indigenous pedagogical consultant at Dawson is new and he has been developing his presentation as a way to share his perspective on truth and reconciliation, decolonization and Indigenization.
“Truth and reconciliation are why I am here now in this new position…since the apology and the mass graves were found, funding has become available,” he said.
“Reconciliation implies we were together at one point. How can we come back together? When were we together? We are still in the truth phase. The focus has been on the harm done in these schools. There has not been a big focus on why these schools were made in the first place.”
Tiio then gave an overview of history from an Indigenous perspective sharing facts that are not usually part of Canadian history. He decided to make his beginning point July 1, 1867, the date Canada became a country. In 1867, there was still “an Indian problem,” he said. “There were still people who have a legitimate claim to the land. We shouldn’t have still been here. These people were destined for extinction. How do we address the Indian problem?”
Tiio then explained how schools are just the tip of the iceberg. Tiio went over major historical events, including the building of the St. Lawrence Seaway all the way to the unjust application of Bill 96. He told stories about how these events impacted members of his family as well as the community of Kahnawake. Colonialism still exists today, he said.
Tiio is available to give this presentation to classes and departments at Dawson. Contact him to make a request: themlock@dawsoncollege.qc.ca
Students take on powerful experiential learning with KAIROS blanket exercise
March 8th, 2023
As a Sociology teacher, Laura Shea has experienced the KAIROS Blanket Exercise six times with different classes of students and Indigenous facilitators at Dawson. “I always learn from the facilitator and students,” she said. “It is very powerful experiential learning and I gain something different each time.”
For the homepage news story, visit the link below.
Vigil held at Dawson for MMIWGT2S
February 22nd, 2023
The First People’s Centre organized a vigil in the Oliver’s student space at Dawson on Feb. 14 to commemorate the MMIWGT2S (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, Trans and Two-Spirited.) There is an epidemic of violence against Indigenous women in Canada. The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls has reported that Indigenous women and girls make up 24 per cent of female homicide victims in Canada, despite only making up four per cent of the country’s female population.
The report cited research that “Indigenous women and girls are 12 times more likely to be murdered or missing than any other women in Canada, and 16 times more likely than Caucasian women. … Other than murder, statistics also reveal how Indigenous women consistently experience higher rates and more severe forms of physical assault and robbery than other groups in Canada. Sexual violence is a huge problem in all its forms: Indigenous women are sexually assaulted three times more often than non-Indigenous women, and most of the women and children trafficked in Canada are Indigenous.”
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Last Modified: March 4, 2024
