{"id":98917,"date":"2025-01-29T15:55:02","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T20:55:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=98917"},"modified":"2025-01-29T16:56:22","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T21:56:22","slug":"community-connections-building-relationships-by-celebrating-indigenous-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2025\/01\/community-connections-building-relationships-by-celebrating-indigenous-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS: Building relationships by celebrating Indigenous cultures"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is part of a monthly series celebrating Brock\u2019s rich history of community engagement and enduring commitment to the mutual exchange of knowledge and resources within the Niagara community and beyond. To read other stories in the series, visit <\/em>The Brock News<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Cindy\u00a0Biancaniello\u00a0is passionate about creating what she calls \u201cbrave spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe love community engagement,\u00a0<\/sub>we really do,\u201d said the Director of Brock University\u2019s Hadiya\u2019dag\u00e9nhahs First Nations, M\u00e9tis and Inuit Student Centre. \u201cI want Hadiya\u2019dag\u00e9nhahs to have a revolving door of people coming in because they need more than just safe spaces, they need brave spaces, and we are here to support that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Centre\u2019s guiding principle is reflected in its name, a Cayuga word meaning \u201cwe are the helpers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Biancaniello and the team provide cultural, social and academic support as well as resources to ease the transition to university life. They also share cultural ways of knowing and being \u2014 on campus and in the community \u2014 by hosting events, providing access to a fire pit, traditional medicine, food and smudging, and providing connections to Elders.<\/p>\n

At its second annual Pow Wow in January<\/a>, for example, Hadiya\u2019dag\u00e9nhahs welcomed hundreds to Brock to celebrate Indigenous dance, music, food and art.<\/p>\n

Biancaniello (Elder Anauta), who is Inuk and whose community is Qamani’tuaq (Baker Lake), Nunavut, also\u00a0gave her popular Iaminuk <\/em>presentation at the Niagara Falls History Museum this past summer. In the presentation, which she has also given to local libraries and municipalities, she\u00a0discusses various aspects of Inuit culture by sharing family stories and her personal collection of photos and artifacts.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom that moment on I knew working with her was going to be great because she\u2019s just so engaging as a presenter,\u201d said Christine Girardi,\u00a0Assistant Curator at the Museum.<\/p>\n

The successful event spurred the decision to continue the partnership by providing workshops for elementary school students as part of the Museum\u2019s\u00a0Cultural Education Directed at Revitalization (C.E.D.A.R.) program<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my conversations with curriculum consultants and teachers, the thing they are clamouring for is more Indigenous-based education,\u201d Girardi said. \u201cFacilitating members of the community, like Cindy and her team, to provide this very authentic programming is important to me, personally, and to the Museum as an institution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hundreds of elementary students from the Niagara Catholic School Board participated in six workshops facilitated by the Hadiya\u2019dag\u00e9nhahs team in December. They learned about treaties and governance,<\/strong>\u00a0the medicine wheel,<\/strong>\u00a0the four sacred medicines,<\/strong>\u00a0M\u00e9tis dot art,<\/strong>\u00a0smudging\u00a0and Inuit culture. The workshops sold out almost immediately and a waitlist is already growing for future offerings.<\/p>\n

Students from Grades 3 to 6 at St. Joseph Catholic Elementary School in Grimsby were among those that participated, and Principal Tim Atkinson had high praise for the \u201cenriching learning experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a fantastic day, every workshop was engaging and informative,\u201d said Atkinson. \u201cThe presenters themselves were extremely knowledgeable and delivered their message in an appropriate way for the age group, and\u00a0our students came away from this experience with a better understanding and appreciation of Indigenous communities in Canada, and their unique and wonderful way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Biancaniello said the tactile nature of the workshops helped students connect with the subject matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur history is an oral history so when we go and visit children, it’s all about storytelling,\u201d she said. \u201cThey are enthralled and really interested in learning, and they even take those lessons home to talk about at the dinner table with their families.\u201d<\/p>\n

Girardi also said these workshops contain “universal knowledge that all Canadians should have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all need to take steps toward reconciliation, and C.E.D.A.R. is a wonderful way to do this by learning about these beautiful living, breathing cultures from members of that culture,\u201d she said. \u201cWe aren\u2019t just learning about the past; we\u2019re learning about the present in a very real way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Biancaniello says the Centre\u2019s work also strengthens the team\u2019s connections to their own cultures and allows them to learn more about other cultures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were times where we couldn’t celebrate and talk about our culture or language because there was, and still is, a stigma attached to identifying as First Nations, M\u00e9tis or Inuit,\u201d she said. \u201cBut now we can, and people are also eager to learn. I’m sure my team must also feel the same way that I feel when I talk about my culture \u2014 really proud.\u201d<\/p>\n

The team has no plans of slowing down. In addition to its ongoing programming, there\u2019s also a slate of new opportunities on the docket for the coming year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do this because I absolutely love it and feel like I’m in my element every day. But it isn\u2019t just me; I couldn\u2019t do anything without our amazing team,\u201d\u00a0 Biancaniello said. \u201cWe are small but mighty and while we\u2019ve already achieved so much, there’s still so much potential. We\u2019ve only scratched the surface.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t