TRI News

Algonquin College and Ottawa Tourism will launch the second iteration of its Indigenous Tourism Entrepreneurship Training (ITET) in January to support Indigenous entrepreneurs in the creation and development of their own business and tourism ideas.

“When we created this training, we wanted it to be different,” said Andre O’Bonsawin, Algonquin College’s Director of Indigenous Initiatives. “We really wanted to develop an authentic, tourism- focused, entrepreneurial training that will support surrounding Indigenous communities, businesses and most importantly Indigenous peoples. We have also created an advisory board with Indigenous entrepreneurs, community members and subject matter experts to help ensure the content for the training is respectful and culturally safe.”

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Please find links below links to resources for in-person and online ways to learn, reflect and commemorate on the first annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Thursday, Sept. 30. Listings, links and information may be added or updated throughout the week. Flags on Algonquin College’s campuses will fly at half-mast to pay tribute to the victims of Canadian Residential Schools, including survivors and the families of those who lost loved ones. September 30 also marks the annual Orange Shirt Day, which finds Canadians wearing orange and engaging in activities and events to recognize and raise awareness of the residential school system experience in Canada.

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Pre-contact Indigenous artifacts discovered in Vincent Massey Park have been brought to the Algonquin College campus for analyzing, cleaning, and recording as part of a larger project involving the Algonquins of Pikwakanagan First Nation and Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg. The project is being assisted by staff from the National Capital Commission and  Public Services and Procurement Canada.
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Algonquin College is pleased to welcome a national exhibit to its Ottawa campus to educate and inform its students. The Legacy of Hope Foundation’s display Generations Lost: Healing the Legacy of Residential Schools will be on display in in front of Nawapon, the College’s Indigenous Learning Commons located in the DARE District, C Building, from September 27 – October 7. Members of the College community who are on campus are invited to view the exhibit at their convenience.
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Chef Russell Weir (far left); Chef Manuel Gomes; Jeff Turner, Partnership Development Specialist; Ron (Deganadus) McLester, Vice President – Truth, Reconciliation & Indigenization (far right); with the fall 2021 harvest from the College’s Three Sisters garden.

Algonquin College’s “Three Sisters” Indigenous garden returned this year and produced another rich fall harvest.

Horticultural Industries students originally planted the ceremonial garden of Corn, Beans and Squash in 2019. After going untended in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the garden — located in the outdoor courtyard between E, H and D Buildings — was re-planted in the spring of 2021 and is being harvested this month.

The courtyard was used to grow vegetables and herbs for many years by the School of Hospitality and Tourism until its transformation into a traditional Haudenosaunee-style community garden. This thriving green space also gives people of other cultures access to the Haudenosaunee creation story, of which the Three Sisters are an important component.

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When the DARE district opened in 2018, Ryan Gorrie, a Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinābek architect, worked to incorporate Indigenous symbols reflective of Anishinābe culture and traditions.

A series of hieroglyphic-style symbols was created for design purposes. Since then, those symbols have been more widely incorporated throughout the college online, on murals and building walls, and in its marketing materials, including most recently in the 2020 Annual Report.

“The college made significant commitments about inclusion and we found it really important to work with Ryan Gorrie,” said Ron (Deganadus) McLester, Vice President – Truth, Reconciliation & Indigenization. The work we do honours the host nation (the territory of the Anishinābe people) and the diversity of our Indigenous students.”

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Cornbread pudding with a sweetgrass and cedar caramel sauce and creamy sweetgrass ice cream.

A bowl of roasted, seasonal vegetables, earthy wild rice, sweet corn, and toasted pumpkin seeds drizzled with wojape, a berry dressing.

A hearty bison burger with crispy squash fries.

The students in Algonquin’s Indigenous Cook Pre-Apprenticeship Program use a mix of traditional Indigenous ingredients, French and Indigenous culinary techniques, and a sense of ingenuity to make these and countless other dishes during their time in the revolutionary culinary program.

In this program, students learn the same skills and techniques you would in other culinary programs, but using traditional Indigenous ingredients, while also learning the stories, history and philosophies behind them.

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On National Indigenous Peoples Day, Algonquin College President and CEO Claude Brulé outlined the College’s next steps as a community to further embed Indigenous knowledge and culture “into who we are as a College and how we operate.”

He said that next steps include: 1) Over the next year, the College will develop a multi-year Truth, Reconciliation and Indigenization Strategic Plan, in consultation with the College community and our Indigenous partners and 2) develop a Student Leadership Pack that will create opportunities for Indigenous learners to share and celebrate Indigenous culture with their peers and College community and Indigenous partners.

“I would like, on this National Indigenous Peoples Day, to reaffirm Algonquin College’s commitments,” said Brulé at an employee gathering on Monday, June 21. “Let us mark this annual day in the future by reflecting on how we are meeting our goals and vision. How are we living up to our commitments to Truth and Reconciliation?” Continue reading →

When developing a project for over three years, one undoubtably becomes passionate about their efforts.

This is certainly the case for Nathaniel Parant and Matthew Jerabek who were the team leads to create the Interconnection of Science & Makerspace collaboration project which recently ended its successful first virtual session.

Parant, a part-time professor, and Activities and Events Representative at the Mamidoeswin Centre, and Jerabek, the Associate Manager, Marketing & Communications, Applied Research, Innovation & Entrepreneurship, collaborated and designed a unique program for Indigenous students. Learners create projects using 3D printing and laser-cutting technologies to explore their culture through the lens of Western science, combining traditional hands-on crafting with digital fabrication tools.
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