Congratulations to Dr. Amy Parent, Noxs Ts’aawit, Associate Director of CCEJ, for receiving $4,000 in funding from SFU’s Community Engagement Initiative for the “Raising Nisga’a Language Cultural Sovereignty and Land-Based Education with Traditional Carving Knowledge” project! This funding will be used to develop a trailer for a documentary on the Nisga’a Nation’s historic rematriation of the Ni’isjoohl Memorial Pole from the National Museum of Scotland, which was facilitated by Dr. Parent and Nisga’a hereditary and political leaders.

In 2022, Dr. Parent, in partnership with the Lax̱g̱altsʼap Village and Nisga’a Lisims Governments, began producing a documentary detailing the journey of the Ni’isjoohl Pole from Scotland back to the House of Ni’isjoohl. The funding received from CEI will go towards making a trailer that promotes the need for funding a full-length documentary.

The film’s content will reiterate the importance of Indigenous rematriation, sovereignty, and leadership. It will also highlight the significance of promoting decolonising practices and policies within museums and other colonial institutions.

The Centre congratulates Dr. Parent on this exciting funding opportunity!

Congratulations to Dr. Özlem Sensoy, Director of the Cassidy Centre for Educational Justice, for receiving $4,400 in funding from the Community Engagement Initiative at SFU! Dr. Sensoy and CCEJ are working collaboratively with the Youth Alliance for Intersectional Justice (YAIJ) on the project “Finding Your Voice;” a youth symposium dedicated to working with and listening to Indigenous, Black, and other youths of colour on matters of injustice within schools.

Dr. Sensoy, CCEJ, and YAIJ will also be collaborating with secondary school teachers, nonprofit community partners, university-based education researchers, and community partners to work towards a shared goal of creating socially just environments for all students.

The “Finding Your Voice” symposium’s purpose will be to support and provide resources to students in attendance, all of whom experience systemic racism and are currently members of social justice clubs in secondary schools across the Lower Mainland. The project will connect these students with mentors to learn how to best use their voices in speaking out against racism and other forms of injustice within schools and other communities.

Congratulations to Dr. Sensoy and the “Finding Your Voice” team!