While physical distancing may keep the doors of Brock\u2019s Aboriginal Student Services (AbSS) office temporarily closed, there is no shortage of outreach to the University\u2019s Indigenous students and the Brock community as a whole.<\/p>\n
Through informative social media posts, interactive craft exercises and online visits, the AbSS team is actively providing support for its students during an unprecedented time.<\/p>\n
Aboriginal Academic Support Program Co-ordinator\/Instructor Sandra Wong said the outreach activities mirror the type of support AbSS provides under normal circumstances.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want our students to know that we\u2019re there for them,\u201d she said. \u201cIf they are in St. Catharines or have headed to their home communities, we want them to feel that they are part of our Brock family.\u201d<\/p>\n
To maintain connections, Aboriginal Events Co-ordinator Cindy Biancaniello has been distributing sanitized craft kits, focusing on different areas of Indigenous art and design, to students through the mail or arranged drop offs.<\/p>\n
The kits, which are free to self-identified students and available at a $5 material cost to the rest of the community, contain instructions and will soon be accompanied by pre-recorded crafting exercises on the AbSS Instagram account<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve found that the arts exercises we ran while people were on campus were very calming for our students,\u201d said Biancaniello. \u201cWe hope these at-home crafts and online sessions can continue to help reduce stress and let us share our stories together while we are temporarily apart.\u201d<\/p>\n The AbSS team has also connected with the wider community by distributing the kits to members of the Niagara Catholic District School Board\u2019s Soaring Eagles programs and by posting regular INDIGEN-KNOW features on the AbSS Facebook account<\/a> to share information about First Nations, Inuit and M\u00e9tis cultures.<\/p>\n With the length of social distancing measures still unknown, Wong said students will also have access to virtual meetings with Elders from several communities through video calls thanks to a program guided by Brock\u2019s Vice-Provost, Indigenous Engagement, Amos Key Jr.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to support our students with Elder counselling,\u201d she said. \u201cThe Elders we consult with are a crucial support for all of us, and they are safe people for our students to talk to and seek guidance from.\u201d<\/p>\n Elder Peter Beaucage from the Nipissing First Nation said he looked forward to meeting with Brock students virtually, as well as in person when they are allowed to do so again.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s really good for students to know there are Elders available if they need to talk with someone,\u201d he said. \u201cThey can ask questions that they have been wondering about for a long time and discover new information while interacting with knowledge keepers.\u201d<\/p>\n While many students who visit AbSS are heading home for the summer, Wong said the new resources are helping to keep her team more connected to students than ever.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have never been so far apart, but we continue to feel so close,\u201d she said. \u201cIn this time of crisis, when we are trying to socially distance ourselves, we can virtually come close together and continue to see so many familiar faces.\u201d<\/p>\n To receive a craft kit, speak to an Elder or learn more about AbSS\u2019 services, contact Wong at swong2@brocku.ca<\/a> or Biancanciello at cbiancaniello@brocku.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" While physical distancing may keep the doors of Brock\u2019s Aboriginal Student Services (AbSS) office temporarily closed, there is no shortage of outreach to the University\u2019s Indigenous students and the Brock community as a whole.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":65316,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3319,4052,6833,1,4],"tags":[132,8880,8881,4226,8882,3785],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65315"}],"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\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65315"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65356,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65315\/revisions\/65356"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}