Storytelling & Knowledge Sharing
OII hosts an ongoing program of Indigenous storytelling and knowledge sharing throughout the year. We invite Indigenous Elders, Knowledge Keepers, community members and teachers to share their experiences, perspectives and wisdom virtually, to bring us together across communities, from Western, to London to CMO, and beyond.
This winter term, Western’s Indigenous Voices series focuses on themes from Eli Baxter’s new book Aki-wayn-zih; A Person as Worthy as the Earth. Eli Baxter, fluent Ojibway speaker, former instructor at Western University, a survivor of the residential school system, a knowledge keeper, and a certified Ontario teacher.
In January we heard from Eli Baxter and Dr. Lewis Williams about intergenerational knowledge. For February, Biindigay Giizhik and Jason Henry spoke about Indigenous hunting and harvesting practices.
In March, we welcomed Ian McCallum, of Munsee-Delaware Nation, who shared his journey in ensuring that the Munsee language reaches next generations. This talk is timely, as it is also National Indigenous Languages Day on March 31 - come celebrate Indigenous Language Revitalization with us!
Ian McCallum is a member of the Munsee-Delaware Nation. For over twenty years, he has worked in the field of education. Ian has worked extensively as an educator in the different levels of education, both on First Nation communities as well as the public school system. He currently supports school boards as an Education Officer for the Indigenous Education Office of the Ministry of Education. Ian is currently working through the PhD program at OISE, studying best practices in language revitalization in support of the Munsee language.
