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Friday, April 5, 2013 Capital NewsC
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Cobwebs from A3 At the end of the ritual, she offers something back to the Earth, like a bit of loose tabacco or a cigarette. The smouldering smudge is placed in tinfoil, later to be returned to a stream or lake or the ground beneath a sacred tree. Shackelly and Vera Camille, a student in the business program from the Canoe Creek Band in the Shuswap, will both
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be performing and teaching students how to use smudge thanks to the efforts of Gail Smith, the aboriginal transitions planner at the school. Smith has developed a lesson plan around bringing traditional practices onto campus and helped grease the wheels and set up the space where smudging will be performed beneath a particularly important tree. The young evergreen is planted at the front of the school to commemorate the individual who held her job before she assumed the role. Ethan Batiste is a prime example of where students can go if they can overcome the cultural adjustment needed to stay on track, and on campus, in the first few years. Originally from the Osoyoos First Nation, Batiste was working toward a doctorate focused on indigenous studies in an interdisciplinary program at UBCO when he was killed in a traffic accident on the Westside a year ago. The first smudging ceremony was held in his honour last month at his memorial tree. Richard Jackson Jr.,
Gail Smith
James Coble
an elder with the Westbank First Nation, helped perform the ceremony to a crowd of roughly 60 people, but when the average student comes out to the space, they will be able to sit almost unnoticed with their smoking pot beside its young boughs. Aboriginal students represent about seven per cent of the population of Okanagan College and the Aboriginal Centre, where Smith and her colleague James Coble, aboriginal access and services coordinator, are situated, ensures those students have the resources to achieve their goals. “We’ve always encouraged bringing traditional knowledge onto the campus,” said Coble. “But we don’t always have the right students;
so we’re just fortunate they’re interested in doing it.” Spirituality on a public campus sits in a bit of a grey zone. Where the public school system, and the college teachings, may be void of many forms of religion, describing spiritual practice in a secular, instructional environment, there are still prayer centres and rooms where faith clubs might meet on most North American campuses. The college convocation often begins with a prayer from a member of Westbank First Nation; but for the most part, it is an environment devoid of obvious spiritual practice. As much as this approach to creating equality opens the doors for those of every faith and
spiritual tradition to learn on neutral ground, it’s at times a barrier for aboriginal students who might come from a background steeped in traditional practice. “For students who are coming from smaller communities, coming to Kelowna can be a real culture shock not seeing people like them or being a real minority,” explained Coble. There are other resources the students would like to see added to the Aboriginal Centre to assist those adjusting to this new college life. A counsellor might be an asset, Shakelly said. Smith concurs. “It’s so easy to get diverted when you’re out there promoting your culture and somebody does a personal attack,” said Smith. For now, there is at least a way to cleanse one’s self of those negative feelings. The opportunity to learn about and practice a smudging ceremony is open to any student who is interested on the campus, not just those of aboriginal ancestry. jsmith@kelownacapnews.com
Come Meet the 2013 Lady of the Lake Candidates
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The Towne Centre Mall invites you to come meet the Candidates, this Saturday April 6, between 11 am and 2 pm. Join them, at 565 Bernard Avenue, during Small Shop Saturday.
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