This January marked the third annual Revitalizing Indigenous Strength and Education (RISE) month at Carleton.
“The goal [of the events] is basically to celebrate Indigenous culture, both traditional and contemporary,” Summer-Harmony Twenish, the Mawandoseg Centre co-ordinator and primary RISE organizer, said about the initiative.
RISE 2018 saw various events over the second half of January occur across campus. There were a variety of events shedding light on Indigenous culture and challenges different communities face. They included game nights, art exercises, and movie nights, the latter of which was a tongue-in-cheek reference called ‘Nativeflix ’N’ Chill.’
Twenish said RISE has held these types of events since it was initially started by previous Mawandoseg co-ordinators three years ago.
She said that despite time-constraints preventing her from advertising the events as much as she had hoped to, students at Carleton proved key in making the month a success.
“There were a lot of students that actually volunteered for events and that wanted to volunteer and take part,” she said.
Although Carleton University Students’ Association president Zameer Masjedee said “overall attendance has improved” this year, he said those involved in the initiative expressed some disappointment with the lack of non-Indigenous people at some of the events catered to them.
“One of the events that was targeted predominantly towards non-Indigenous students was an open-circle discussion [for students to] ‘ask your dumb questions about anything within the culture or community,’ and attendance to that one was a little lower,” Masjedee said.
Referring to a ‘blanket exercise,’ which is used to illustrate the devastating impacts colonialism had on Indigenous people in Canada, Twenish also expressed disappointment at the low non-Indigenous turnout.
“It could have been a lot better,” she said.
Nevertheless, Masjedee said the initiative did receive a warm reception from those participating, and events such as ‘Nativeflix ‘N’ Chill’ and ‘Sexy Bingo’ were both well-received and well attended. For those who organized the event, the initiative is of great importance no matter the turnout.
“It’s an opportunity for Indigenous students on campus to come out to events that are catered to them, and kind of feel at home. But, it’s also a safe space for non-Indigenous people to come in and learn or ask questions,” Twenish said.
Apart from participating in RISE, Twenish said “there is a lot that is needed to be done,” with regards to educating the average student at Carleton about Indigenous issues in Canada.
“The university could do a lot more, and hopefully they start,” she said.
Photo by Aaron Hemens
