Video Learning Resources

Winter Solstice is a Special Time with Bruce Elijah

December 18, 2025

The Winter Solstice is a special time for those who honour and acknowledge the patterns of our natural world, Elder Bruce Elijah offers a teaching.

Relationships with Water: An Anishinaabe Perspective from Betsy Kechego

March 12, 2025

Betsy Kechego, Anishinaabekwe Knowledge Keeper from Chippewas of the Thames First Nation, was an Elder-in-Residence at the Wampum Learning Lodge. In honour of Earth Day, and the spring season, Betsy reminds us of our responsibilities to nurture and grow our relationships with Water, both as individuals and as a wider community.

N’Satung (Understanding) Documentary

February 6, 2023

The documentary N’Satung is a collaborative project that pulled together current and former students and faculty members at Western, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous, into the making of a film that showcases the thinking of young Indigenous people regarding education. It was produced by filmmaker Keesis Nadjiwon, along with professors Greg De Souza and Laurence de Looze, in the Cape Croker community.

Haudenosaunee (Oneida) Thanksgiving Address for NDTR at Western University

September 29, 2021

To observe Orange Shirt Day and the inaugural National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in 2021, the Office of Indigenous Initiatives prepared a series of events to raise awareness. Delivered by the Onedia youth, we wanted to give them the opportunity to start the inaugural NDTR in a good way, in their language.

Three Sisters Soup Cook-Along with Teresa Nicholas

November 23, 2020

The Indigenous Student Centre at Western University partnered with OCAD University to deliver this Dish with One Spoon Lunch held virtually on Zoom on November 18, 2020. The lunch featured a cook-along on how to make Three Sisters Soup. Watch and follow along at home to learn from Teresa Nicholas as she teaches how to make Three Sisters Soup and shares some important teachings.

Historical Treaties & Indigenous-Settler Relations Today

November 10, 2020

As part of Treaties Recognition Week 2020 the Office of Indigenous Initiatives encouraged the Western community to #KnowWhereYouLive. Historical Treaties between the British Crown and Indigenous Nations were crucial in the formation of Canada and laid the foundation for relationships between Canada and Indigenous people today. Join Michael Coyle, Associate Professor at Western Law and Blackfoot writer and advocate Joy SpearChief-Morris, as they discuss the nuances and complexities of the historical treaty making process and the contemporary challenges by the state to Indigenous land claims and treaty rights today.

Honouring the Treaties with Al Day

November 10, 2020

As part of Treaties Recognition Week, the Office of Indigenous Initiatives is encouraging the Western community to #KnowWhereYouLive. Treaties with Indigenous Peoples were crucial to the formation of the Canadian settler-state, yet to this day many Treaty agreements have been obscured or remain un-honoured by Canada. Join Haudenosaunee Elder and Treaty expert Al Day as he discusses Dish with One Spoon, Albany in 1701 and Treaties that have not been honoured, becoming sources for contemporary contention between First Nations and the state, such as Oka in the 1990s, and Caledonia and in Mi’mak’i today. In conversation with the OII’s previous Curriculum & Pedagogy Advisor, Sara Mai Chitty.

How do you put a price on land?

November 10, 2020

A discussion about First Nations land claims and settlements from the perspectives of former Chief of Chippewa of the Thames, Leslee White-Eye, and the Chair of the Big Bear Creek Trust, Ramona Sault. The Big Bear Creek Settlement settled a land claim in 2013, a dispute over 200 years old connected with the Longwoods Treaty of 1819, between the federal government and Chippewas of the Thames First Nation (COTTFN). Over 20 years, members and leaders of COTTFN members built their case in a collaborative process, drawing on intergenerational and traditional knowledges, oral history and legal expertise. In conversation with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives’ previous Curriculum & Pedagogy Advisor, Sara Mai Chitty.

What I wish my professors knew about me…

March 22, 2017

At Western University, we asked Indigenous students the following question: What do you wish your professors knew about you? This is what they had to say. Produced by the Interdisciplinary Initiative in Applied Indigenous Scholarship. Music: “Sent from the Stars” by Frazer Sundown