Because MacEwan’s kihêw waciston Indigenous Centre is a home away from home for many of the university’s Indigenous students, the people who work there often start to feel like extended family. For several students who graduated at the Spring Convocation ceremonies, the centre’s Elders and Knowledge Keepers have played a special role in their university experience.
“The counselling that Elders and Knowledge Keepers have given me in my years of identity-forming and reconstruction is a gift I will always treasure,” says Larissa Heron. “When I began to visit kihêw waciston regularly, I was introduced to a big love and way of living that valued life in a way I had not experienced before.”
Roxanne Tootoosis, kihêw waciston’s first full-time Indigenous Knowledge Keeper who passed away in 2021, greatly impacted the 24-year-old Cree/Métis woman from Buffalo Lake Métis Settlement.
“She would sit with me when I was confused about ideologies and talk it out with me, never forcing me, but always telling stories and letting me process however I needed to,” says the Bachelor of Science graduate. “She taught me that we can be proud of who we are as Indigenous peoples and continue in our own learning and healing through adversity because we are resilient, intelligent and full of love. I wouldn’t be here if we weren’t.”
This spring, the Roxanne Tootoosis nêhiyawêwin Scholarship was awarded for the first time. The scholarship, presented annually, goes to a Faculty of Arts and Science student who self-declares as an Indigenous person and is the highest achieving student in nêhiyawêwin (Cree) NEHI 101 or 102.
Language – particularly language revitalization – is a special interest of Cheyenne Greyeyes, who graduated at the Spring Convocation with a Bachelor of Arts. She also made a special connection with Tootoosis.
“Roxanne was the most important person I met at MacEwan,” she says. “She brought me closer to my Indigenous community, opened my eyes to traditions and ceremony and ended up helping me find my sense of belonging and identity. She pushed me to go beyond what I thought I was capable of.”
Tootoosis, who assumed the role of Knowledge Keeper at MacEwan in 2017, saw herself as kokôm to students.
“I do what any grandmother would do,” she said in May 2019. “We have a huge responsibility to ensure our children know who they are, where they come from and why they're here. Of grounding them spiritually. Those are big shoes that should be filled by a family, a community or a nation, but sometimes our students are disconnected – as a result of residential schools or the Sixties Scoop or from being raised in the system – and are trying to find their own way.”
Elders and Knowledge Keepers support students and employees with cultural guidance, share Indigenous ways of being, knowing and doing, and help move forward the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s calls to action in classrooms across campus. They also lead sharing circles, teach about protocol and share histories and experiences. Each month, Knowledge Keepers host events to connect the MacEwan community to the culture, ceremony and community at kihêw waciston.