Connecting with Community

Rachel Burke Helps Indigenous Youth find Connections

Growing up outside of her Indigenous community always left Rachel Burke feeling disconnected and unsure of her roots. The St. Thomas alumna eventually found those roots and her own role within the Wolastoqey community in New Brunswick.

“I grew up with the non-Native side of my family and I always felt kind of awkward when I had to reintegrate (into Sitansisk or St. Mary’s First Nation),” she says. “I thought there’s no way I’m ever going to be able to work with the community in a meaningful way, but I have realized that the way I’m Indigenous is in helping my Indigenous community. It’s my job to understand tradition and be able to help people if I can.”

Burke graduated from St. Thomas in 2021 with a Bachelor of Arts and Political Science and Sociology and a minor in History. In her last academic year, she was hired as the university’s Indigenous Experiential Learning Coordinator. The position helped draw Burke closer to her Indigenous roots.

“The trust that Clara Santacruz, Manager, Experiential Learning and Career Development, gave me in doing what I thought was right for our Indigenous students was just what I needed,” Burke says. “And I could say the same for everyone in the Student Services team. They were there to support me, and they wanted to learn. I’ve never really been someone that people go to for Indigenous knowledge, even though I have some of it. And they valued that in me, which really helped me.”

Burke is now senior advisor to the Wolastoqey Tribal Council and Wolastoqey Nation executive directors. She is also a member of the Sitansisk Youth Council and part of the 2022-23 cohort for the National Learning Community’s 4Rs Youth Movement, a youth-driven initiative that was launched to bring Indigenous and non-Indigenous young people together in the spirit of reconciliation.

“I found my way toward an Indigenous focus in my work,” Burke says. “I learned that I was a little bit more knowledgeable than I thought, and my experience was more valid. I was welcomed with open arms.”

Burke plans to enroll in law school but for now she is enjoying her current position in her community.

“What I really like is that I’m not thinking of my community as only St. Mary’s now,” she says. “I belong to so many different communities. I’m part of the Wolastoqey community, but I’ve met people from all nations. I now feel part of the larger Indigenous community, and I have shifted my world view to think more broadly. It’s just very fulfilling to have the opportunity to support and strengthen my community.” •

by Eric Lewis