Early-Bird Registration available until December 15

tuesday, August 20 – Friday, August 23, 2024

lək̓ʷəŋən & W̱SÁNEĆ Traditional Territories

Hosted By Eyēʔ Sqȃ’lewen

The Centre for Indigenous Education & Community Connections

The S’TEṈISTOLW̱ Conference is a gathering for educators, administrators, helpers and staff in Indigenous programs as well as community leaders, scholars and allies in the field of Indigenous post-secondary and adult education. The goal is to build and strengthen relationships and networks in reciprocity – to create a space of shared learning and exchange with one another.

Message from the Organizers

The S’TEṈISTOLW̱ Conference 2024 theme is ‘Where the Waters Meet’

‘Where the Waters Meet’ is a metaphor reflecting the intentions we put forward with this gathering. We centre ourselves in relationship with stories of place. S’TEṈISTOLW̱ will be held in the territories of the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Esquimalt) and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples. Our 2024 theme acknowledges a sacred story of these territories and an origin of the name Camosun College, the institutional host of this conference. Furthermore, it recognizes the teachings which hold that water is life. Conference Elder Graham Hingangaroa Smith has shared with us a teaching common to many Pacific peoples and their wayfinding knowledge of water, not as divider, but connector.

With this wisdom in mind and heart, we aim to bring together diverse Indigenous and allied educators, community and grassroots leaders, Knowledge Keepers and scholars, helpers, administrators and students in the spirit of Na’tsa’maht (unity, working together as one). While travelling from many directions, on many currents and in many vessels, we are all navigating the often difficult yet transformative work of decolonization, reconciliation and self-determination in education. At S’TEṈISTOLW̱ Conference 2024 we seek to make and maintain good relations with each other and explore confluences in our achievements, difficulties, aspirations, and needs.

Conference Structure

The structure of S’TEṈISTOLW̱ aims to model principles of community partnership, Indigenous pedagogies and good relationality with each other and the storied places, lands, waters and non-human beings with whom we interact. We hope to bring together diverse and international Indigenous and allied educators, community and grassroots leaders, Knowledge Keepers and scholars, helpers, administrators and students in the spirit of Na’tsa’maht (unity, working together as one), a teaching shared with us by both Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ Knowledge Keepers.

Na’tsa’maht, Camosun College Lansdowne Campus

S’TEṈISTOLW̱ will begin with a pre-conference Cultural Day which includes a Welcome to the Territories and opening ceremony at the Songhees Wellness Centre. This day will also include activities in the community, on the land and waters of Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ territories. We will have three days of sessions at Camosun College’s Lansdowne Campus, including keynotes, special guest–moderated tent discussions, workshops, panels and talking circles.

To further nourish our delegates not only in mind, but body, heart and spirit, we will share food (lunches and refreshments included in registration), and during concurrent sessions we will offer drop-in wellness spaces held by Knowledge Keepers, health practitioners and artists.

Topic Streams

Kwetlal | Camas

Indigenous Pedagogies

1) Land & Community-Based Experiential Learning

Exhibiting the essence and goals of immersive education in land, water, and community settings.
Projects focused in land-based education and/or partnerships with Indigenous communities.
Examples of education programs, language revitalization efforts, and models of seamless transitions between institutional and community-based approaches.

2) Supporting Learner Engagement

Engaging Indigenous pedagogies and forms of Traditional Knowledge (re)production in teaching such as storytelling and language regeneration.
Examples of creative and innovative strategies for supporting and realizing student success such as online and distance education, arts-based approaches, filmmaking, community mapping and social media.
Insights into student support systems in counselling, advising and tutoring including working with Elders and community Knowledge Keepers.

Relationality & Living Our Collective Values

3) Practicing Indigenization

Indigenization is the process of infusing Indigenous knowledge and perspective into the structural layers of an institution.

Perspectives on:

How is Indigenization being realized/actualized or not?
What has changed in objectives and processes of Indigenization over the last decade and where can we go from here?
How can we advance Indigenous leadership and self-determination in post-secondary and adult education?
Examples of Indigenization initiatives within post-secondary/tertiary institutions and government/non-governmental educational structures.

4) Strengthening Alliances

Perspectives on:

How can we collectively strengthen relationships, in particular, between Indigenous education practitioners and institutions?
How can we build local, national and international movements and networks of Indigenous educators and their allies?
How good allyship can be modelled in education and scholarship?
Examples of creative, innovative, and reciprocal relationship-building through programs, activities, events, projects, etc. between Indigenous communities, agencies, organizations and partner post-secondary institutions, including internationally.