Amongst the trees of The Arboretum at the University of Guelph, two Indigenous cultural spaces offer exciting new opportunities for quiet contemplation, learning and ceremony.
The Teaching Lodge offers opportunities to engage with the land in campus experiences and activities, coursework and research
A Sacred Fire and Teaching Lodge have been created alongside Nokom's House, a cabin-style gathering place and research centre, to broaden opportunities for land-based learning and engagement on the University campus, and provide an on-campus ceremony location for the more than 600 First Nations, Inuit and Métis students at U of G.
"The Sacred Fire and Teaching Lodge offer culturally meaningful places for Indigenous students, staff and faculty, but also provide opportunities for the wider campus community to learn alongside their Indigenous classmates, colleagues and neighbours," says Dr. Cara Wehkamp, assistant vice-president, Indigenous Initiatives, who is Algonquin Anishinàbe with community and kinship ties in the upper Ottawa Valley.
"This will benefit our whole campus community by creating a space for collaboration learning, ceremony and cultural safety."
Learning and teaching with the land
The Teaching Lodge will be a place where students can leave typical classrooms and campus buildings to engage with the land in their campus experiences and activities, coursework and research.
Natasha Young, a member of Whitefish River First Nation and manager of the Indigenous Student Centre (ISC), says the Teaching Lodge will be an important gathering place for ISC programming, such as learning circles with elders, ceremony, drum and song circles and more.
The Teaching Lodge offers opportunities to engage with the land in campus experiences and activities, coursework and research
"This is a necessary step towards U of G's work in reconciliation, enriching the student experience and providing campus with a culturally grounded, safer space for First Nations, Inuit and Métis learners," Young says. "These spaces allow us to expand our land-based programming in The Arboretum and creates opportunities to support students in learning and building community together."
Establishing the Sacred Fire and Teaching Lodge represents an important milestone in Bi-Nagwaad, the University's Indigenous Initiatives Strategy and larger efforts in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action.
The sites address the need for culturally grounded spaces that support existing Indigenous programming and offer future opportunities to explore Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing in relationship with the land and our more-than-human relations.
"Decolonizing curriculum really comes from the land," says Dr. Kim Anderson, who is Métis and a professor in the Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition. "This is a deliberately constructed space that comes from Indigenous ways of knowing, working with the land as a teacher and the land as a classroom."
Those in the Office of Indigenous Initiatives are the caretakers of the Sacred Fire and Teaching Lodge. Interested members of the campus community can contact the office by emailing indigenous@uoguelph.ca for more information.
Both spaces were built with support from the Student Life Enhancement Fund: Special Initiative Funding.
Land-based research through Nokom's House Research Centre
Work is underway nearby on Nokom's House Research Centre, whose name derives from the Ojibway word for grandmother, "nokomis." Just as a grandmother's house is a place of belonging for many, Nokom's House is a gathering place that will be used as a lab for land-based research, language revitalization and engagement. The structure includes a large kitchen with a wood-burning stove, gardens and co-working spaces.
An artist rendering of the future Nokom's House kitchen
"We're exploring what can happen in a research centre that looks like a grandmother's cabin, rather than other types of labs you might find on campus," says Anderson, one of the driving forces behind the initiative. "We're thinking about Indigenous ways of knowing and Indigenous feminist approaches to relationality, while looking at how we can transform the research landscape on campus."
Anderson is working closely with Dr. Diana Lewis and Prof. Shauna Kechego-Nichols to develop the research centre, noting the work of Nokom's House has always been taking place, despite not having a physical structure. The space is expected to open in the spring.
Visitors are asked to respect the Sacred Fire, Teaching Lodge, Nokom's House Research Centre and the lands that connect them as a gathering space for Indigenous-led research, education and ceremony.
