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Research
Solh Temexw Te Siwes: Connecting People and Places in Sts'ailes Traditional Lands — A different kind of learning
In May, the Faculty of Environment launched a new field course co-developed by SFU’s Department of Archaeology in partnership with the Sts’ailes First Nation.
Led by Dana Lepofsky, professor of archaeology, and Morgan Ritchie, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department and Heritage Research Archaeologist for the Sts’ailes, the field course was founded on three principles of Indigenous ways of sharing knowledge: learning on the land is the most meaningful way to gain knowledge; Indigenous ways of knowing cross disciplinary boundaries of typical academia; relationships with the land and other beings should be reciprocal.
During the four-week field school, an interdisciplinary group of SFU graduate students and upper division undergraduate students lived on Sts’ailes traditional lands and interacted daily with the Sts’ailes community, learning about traditional food sovereignty, fisheries, forest management, health, governance, land-stewardship and eco-tourism. Knowledge holders from the Sts’ailes community and collaborators from various universities gave presentations in the Nation’s ceremonial longhouse and in the field.
To give back and honour the relationships they formed, students selected final projects that benefit the community, developed from recommendations, requests, and perceived needs after engaging with Sts’ailes knowledge holders. Project examples include applying for funding to vitalize a heritage space, creating signage for a heritage trail, recording and transcribing oral histories for a Sts’ailes school curriculum, writing an analysis of Sts’ailes’ food sovereignty initiatives, researching and writing a report to support the Sts’ailes Justice Program and creating an instructional fisheries video.
“These projects exceeded my expectations in their creativity and contributions to a range of Sts’ailes initiatives,” says Ritchie.
“The expert paper that [a student in the field school] did was insightful and applicable to our needs in Sts’ailes for the development of our policing service,” adds Boyd Peters (Xoyet thet), a Sts’ailes councillor and the director of the Sts’ailes Xwilexmet Department. “It suits Chief and Council’s vision of creating our own security and self-administered police force according to our distinct needs.”
Faculty of Environment Dean Naomi Krogman visited Sts’ailes during the field school and shares:
“I came away with a sense of wonder and increased curiosity, and humility for the wisdom of this Nation. I am in awe of the warm welcome and generous sharing of the Sts’ailes to support Morgan to lead this field school and welcome our students on their lands. The course provided a tremendous opportunity for SFU students to learn from their knowledge holders on important and interrelated roles and I hope we can continue the field school with the Sts’ailes and that our students will continue their work toward conciliation and Reconciliation, with this Nation and others.”
Solh Temexw Te Siwes: Connecting People and Places in Sts'ailes Traditional Lands is part of the Faculty of Environment's Sea, Land and Sky Indigenization Initiative. Learn more about the initiative here.