Lighting the Fire

In 2020, Algonquin College, in partnership with the Indigenous Peoples’ Education Circle (IPEC), launched a knowledge-sharing and storytelling initiative, Lighting the Fire, that connects college students and leaders from across Ontario over the next four weeks.

The sessions were produced through the Burnt Water initiative, an Algonquin project devoted to providing a vision and curriculum for Indigenous leadership and entrepreneurship.

The inaugural session, Wednesday (June 24), was led by Algonquin’s Vice President of Truth, Reconciliation and Indigenization, Ron (Deganadus) McLester. The concept arose from Algonquin’s Mamidosewin Centre, which empowers and supports Indigenous students at the college. It was looking for innovative ways to reach Indigenous students off campus. After the initial session on Wednesday hosted by Algonquin, the program rotates to Fanshawe College on July 8, and Sault College on July 29. The host for the August 12th online session is still to be determined. Along with featured speakers, the sessions will include breakout rooms where people can meet, expand on ideas and make connections.

McLester said the Lighting the Fire name is symbolic of coming together, gathering wood and having a conversation. His initial session will look at current, historical and future contexts to explore how the world can use the pandemic as an opportunity. It will challenge our ways of thinking, and apply Indigenous wisdom to healing, moving forward together and creating a more positive, productive and harmonious society.

“We will light ourselves a fire and have conversation. We are calling it Lighting the Fire, because it is a beginning,” said McLester, noting a main goal is to make the sessions as open and accessible as possible. “This is a moment in history when we remember there is an old way of thinking that we can leverage.”