REM master's student puts together big picture of Sts'ailes food production and sovereignty initiatives in comprehensive report

Irina Borgos is a master’s of resource management student interested in advancing Indigenous sovereignty and agency through environmental and conservation work.

In May, Borgos seized the opportunity to join the Faculty of Environment’s new graduate field school in Sts’ailes, a month-long course that saw participants live on the land and learn from Sts’ailes knowledge holders first-hand.

“[The field school’s] goal of learning from being on the land was much aligned with my research interests and future goals,” Borgos says. “I wanted to learn directly from the people of Sts’ailes Nation.” 

A key component of the field school is learning through oral storytelling, and she loved spending time outside, sitting on the grass for a few hours and listening to the guest speakers. “It was a very different kind of ‘lecture’ experience,” she reflects. “I found it really engaging.”

She was also taken by surprise when she, along with other students who identify as women, were welcomed to join a women-only sweat lodge ceremony.

“The ease with which we were brought into the ceremony felt natural and was very much appreciated. I was expecting to feel completely out of place, but I wasn’t,” she shares.

To complete the course, students were required to take on a project of their choosing that would benefit the Sts’ailes community. For her project, Borgos worked on a report that paints a picture of the various food production and sovereignty-related initiatives, including one focused on community garden-style farming and food preservation, one incorporating traditional foods and plants into the local healthcare center, and one aiming to provide healthy options for a local cafeteria. With one convenient, comprehensive report, they can all be brought up to speed on one another, and as a result, be better positioned to spot and action opportunities.

After interviewing members of the three groups, Borgos compiled and organized the information they provided, “summarizing the main elements, goals, and current status of each initiative,” she explains. “I also included potential places for each initiative to come together for funding opportunities and capacity sharing.”

Borgos says that both the field school and her experience talking to people in Sts’ailes about food and land “and all the community interactions in between”, made a huge and lasting impression:

“The people of Sts’ailes were not only incredibly generous with their time and knowledge, but also inspiring in how to care for the world (people, animals, plants, etc.) around us.”