Director of Education
Songhess Nation
(Bio Coming Soon)
Indigenous Education Elder & Indigenous Knowledge Facilitator SD61
’Uy’ skweyul,
I am an Indigenous Educator and member of Snuneymuxw (Nanaimo) First Nation, working in the Greater Victoria School District’s Indigenous Education Department as the Elders and Indigenous Knowledge Facilitator. I am grateful for the privilege of living, working, and playing in the traditional territory of the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations and passionate about weaving local Indigenous perspectives and knowledge into educational opportunities for youth. As an educator and a father, I have found that incredibly profound learning occurs at the intersection between traditional ecological knowledge of local First Peoples, land-based experiential teaching, and an openness on the part of student and educator alike to embrace Uy’skwuluwun (a good mind and a good heart) when doing this work.
Huy ch q‛u Siem
Adult Education Facilitator WSANEC Schoolboard
I am a Facilitator for Language Revitalization with the W̱SÁNEĆ School Board. My interest in being involved in the Living Lab work revolves around helping transform educational structures to be more inclusive of Indigenous ways of knowing and being in our homeland. My passion lies in expanding W̱SÁNEĆ ability to practice their treaty rights through education.
WSANEC School Board, Executive Assistant
Hi, I’m Esther Morris from Tsartlip First Nation, and I work with the WSANEC School Board as the Executive Assistant. My role with Living Lab is to help coordinate the WSANEC School Board engagement; we are currently focused on the new Indigenous Education and Resurgence Research Project. This project will re-connect our WSANEC peoples to Salish Sea relatives, such as Lekwungen and Lummi, supporting our community priorities for education, land rights and culture.
My interests are being at home in this pandemic (sarcasm); remaining culturally active in our Coast Salish culture and traditions; keeping my children engaged in education and culture, and passing along teachings that have been passed on to me from my parents and grandparents.
Living Lab is a great project coming alive that will be used for generations. My late grandfather, Ivan Morris Sr, was a key knowledge keeper and with the SENCOTEN language and education – being a part of this project has significant meaning to me. I’m excited to see it all unfold for our learners to use for many years. Once this project is complete and utilized in the curriculum, it will have even greater meaning to the Coast Salish people.