{"id":105869,"date":"2025-11-07T14:10:30","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T19:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=105869"},"modified":"2025-11-07T14:10:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T19:10:30","slug":"students-build-community-deepen-cultural-connections-in-indigenous-plus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2025\/11\/students-build-community-deepen-cultural-connections-in-indigenous-plus\/","title":{"rendered":"Students build community, deepen cultural connections in Indigenous Plus"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Brock students Abbey Keays, Bailey Clyne and Rhaya Clyne reflect on what they\u2019ve gained from the University’s Indigenous Plus program, two words immediately come to mind: culture and community.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much value in building community and connecting with a group of people over academics, career and culture,” says Rhaya, a fourth-year Psychology student. \u201cA big part of my journey over the past few years has been connecting to my culture, and the Indigenous Plus program has been a good way to integrate that within my educational journey.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rhaya, her sister and first-year Concurrent Education student, Bailey, and Keays, a second-year Dramatic Arts student, are among the first cohort to participate in Indigenous Plus.<\/p>\n

Open to Indigenous students, the free, four-year co-curricular program focuses on cultural insights, connection and career readiness. Students participate in two to four hours of programming per week that incorporates Indigenous perspectives, cultural teachings and knowledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndigenous Plus offers students a supportive space to explore their culture, build and connect with community, and prepare for their future careers,\u201d said Indigenous Plus Consultant Michelle Root.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/a>

Cindilee Ecker-Flagg (Nokomis Migizinz), who is of Indigenous ancestry of Anishinaabe, Maliseet and settler French\/English and resides in the Niagara community, recently gave a workshop on the four sacred medicines to Indigenous Plus students.<\/p><\/div>\n

For the Clyne sisters, the program has allowed them to deepen their relationship through a shared interest in learning more about their background.<\/p>\n

While they always knew they were Indigenous, the intergenerational impacts of colonialization made it challenging to get a clear picture of their lineage. They believe their family likely originated from the Six Nations of the Grand River or another nearby reserve, and most of their teachings have been from Anishinaabe Elders and Knowledge Keepers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was never supposed to know about my culture \u2014 that was the way it was intended \u2014 and because of that I\u2019m really trying to work towards reconnecting with it in whatever ways I can,\u201d said Rhaya.<\/p>\n

Bailey added that experiencing diverse ways of knowing and learning directly from Indigenous people will allow her to provide a more holistic learning experience as a future teacher.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve really enjoyed learning from different Knowledge Keepers and Elders; it\u2019s beneficial to have that knowledge to go along with the Western way of learning,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to give future students those same learning opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Keays, of the Upper Mohawk Turtle Clan, was also drawn to the program to build connections with Indigenous students and deepen her ancestral knowledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cIndigenous culture isn\u2019t always taught in classrooms, so it\u2019s like getting to know about different pieces of ourselves,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m also helping my mom and grandmother to learn more, so we get to go on this learning journey together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program also \u201copened my eyes about how to add my culture to my art,\u201d she said, pointing to her role as a performer in the upcoming M\u00e9tis Nutcracker<\/em><\/a> as an example.<\/em><\/p>\n

Presented by Brock’s Department of Dramatic Arts, the production is written by Assistant Professor Matthew MacKenzie and directed and choreographed by theatre artist Monica Dottor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get the opportunity to speak my native Mohawk language and tell the creation story in the show, so connecting my culture to my artistic practice has already fuelled my passion for performing even more,\u201d Keays said.<\/p>\n

Root is encouraged by the success of the Indigenous Plus program so far and is \u201cthrilled to soon welcome the Fall 2026 cohort to continue the journey together.”<\/p>\n

Registration for the next cohort runs from Monday, Jan. 19 to Friday, May 1.<\/p>\n

All First Nations, M\u00e9tis and Inuit students interested in learning about the program are invited to attend an information session<\/a> on Monday, Nov. 10 from noon to 1 p.m. in ST 108.<\/p>\n

For additional information, contact Indigneousplus@brocku.ca<\/a>, visit @indigenousplus.brocku on Instagram or join the email list for updates<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Brock students Abbey Keays, Bailey Clyne and Rhaya Clyne reflect on what they\u2019ve gained from the University’s Indigenous Plus program, two words immediately come to mind: culture and community.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":105871,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7484,13793,3319,6833,1,4665],"tags":[14938,14939,6196,6442,546,109,32,98,522,4226,9642,13743,46,14941,14940,258],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105869"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105869"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105869\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":105872,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105869\/revisions\/105872"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105871"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}