Posted on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2020
Algonquin College and Ottawa Tourism celebrated the launch of Indigenous Tourism Entrepreneurship Training, which will support Indigenous entrepreneurs in the creation and development of their own business and tourism ideas.
Thanks to funding provided by the Canadian Experiences Fund, this partnership will see the creation of 10-week training modules, which will prepare Indigenous learners with the skillset to develop their business and tourism plans, and prepare them to pitch their idea to founders, as well as apply for funding through various agencies.
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Posted on Thursday, April 2nd, 2020
The Coronavirus Information site has been redesigned to improve navigability and help spotlight and organize resources for both students and employees.
Visit the new home page and special subsections devoted to Students and Employees.
Visit the new FAQ page, where you can find a variety of FAQs for students as well as a general FAQ for Employees and FAQ for faculty on Academic Continuity. New FAQ content includes Spring-Winter Term FAQs added to the Registrar’s Office FAQ located here.
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Posted on Wednesday, October 2nd, 2019
The Algonquin College community is invited to attend an Indigenous ceremony in Ishkodewan Friday as the DARE District courtyard is readied for winter.
Horticultural Industries students will assist in preparing the courtyard garden for winter starting Friday. This entails weeding plant beds, deadheading perennials, and generally getting the garden in shape for winter’s onset – The Big Sleep, as Jeff Turner, Partnership Development Specialist for the DARE District, puts it.
Ahead of this work, Jackie Tenute, Aboriginal Counsellor for the Mamidosewin Centre, will lead an early morning ceremony in Ishkodewan to say ‘thank you’ to nature for its beauty and bounty, including the more than 1,000 plants – flowers, shrubs, and trees – that make up the garden.
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Posted on Tuesday, October 1st, 2019
Algonquin College’s Students’ Association was honoured Tuesday for its $1-million investment in providing Indigenous artifacts and architecture for the DARE District.
The investment was announced in August 2017. The College and its students invested $5.4 million – including the SA’s $1 million over five years – into capital projects incorporating Indigenous identity and promoting Indigenization, all with a view to furthering the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Call to Action. “It is our fervent hope that this will encourage the expression of (Indigenous) history, culture and arts on campus,” then SA President Victoria Ventura said at the time.
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Posted on Wednesday, September 4th, 2019
A visit with old friends, a chance to make new ones and plenty of food for thought were all part of the Indigenous Welcome Feast Wednesday at the Mamidosewin Centre.
After welcoming everyone in Ojibwe, Jackie Tenute — a Councillor with Indigenous Services and Partnerships at the College— sang a song acknowledging the ancestors. Following the warm welcome, Elder Terry McKay addressed the room.
“This is the time of year where children were picked up by churches and the RCMP. It was very traumatic for them . . . You have a chance to further your education and be better people, and when you become better people don’t forget your parents and grandparents. And don’t forget Mother Earth. She needs our help so much now.”
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Posted on Friday, June 21st, 2019
Tureens of sweet-potato soup, fruit platters, bowls of salad, and baskets of bread. All this, along with flowers and sunshine, was there for those who came to Ishkodewan Friday to mark National Indigenous Peoples Day.
About 80 or so people – College leaders, students, and employees – enjoyed a noon-hour picnic on the lawn of the DARE District courtyard.
The event was intended to foster Indigenous storytelling and provide an opportunity for the College community to socialize in a beautiful setting. It was one of a number of National Indigenous Peoples Day celebrations in the National Capital Region on Friday.
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Posted on Thursday, June 20th, 2019
Academica President & CEO Rod Skinkle recently sat down with Ron (Deganadus) McLester, Vice President – Truth, Reconciliation & Indigenization at Algonquin College in Ottawa, with an aim to share the benefits of Ron’s experience working deeply in the area of Truth and Reconciliation with the rest of Canada’s post-secondary community.
Read the full article, titled “What it means for an institution to Indigenize,” or the excerpt below:
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Posted on Sunday, April 28th, 2019
Indigenous graduates from a variety of post-secondary institutions in Ontario and Quebec were celebrated at the 11th annual Indigenous Graduate Honouring Ceremony, held on Saturday, April 27.
Sixty-eight students from Algonquin College, Carleton University, Cégep Heritage College, Saint Paul University, Cree School Board, La Cité, and the University of Ottawa gathered in Nawapon to celebrate their achievements, in a ceremony filled with Indigenous guest speakers, ceremonial drumming and musical performances.
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Posted on Monday, February 11th, 2019
Ron McLester led a discussion and exploration of Indigenization at Algonquin College on Monday afternoon, looking specifically at the next steps in the Indigenization process.
McLester indicated that this will be influenced by the development of a thanksgiving address that the College community will develop together. The message will incorporate Indigenous Knowledge as a way of bringing everyone together on common ground to ask, “what are the things in our environment that can be identified, collected and codified as our version of the thanksgiving address.”
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Posted on Friday, January 4th, 2019
The United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2019 as the International Year of Indigenous Languages (IYIL). Currently, 40% of the estimated 6,700 languages spoken around the world are in danger of disappearing. The fact that most of these are Indigenous languages puts the cultures and knowledge systems to which they belong at risk. Here in Canada, in 2016, 260,550 Aboriginal people reported being able to speak an Aboriginal language well enough to conduct a conversation.
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