Journalism program for Indigenous learners, taught by Indigenous faculty, welcomes 1st students

Twenty students from across Canada have been selected for the inaugural cohort of a new journalism program offered by Kenjgewin Teg on Manitoulin Island, the First Nations Technical Institute and Ottawa’s Carleton University.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission issued a call to all journalism schools to educate students about the legacy of residential schools, Indigenous rights and law and nuances of culture and language to better reflect the historical truth of the country and everyone in it.

As schools work to achieve that call to action, this new nine-month certificate is tailored to Indigenous learners and taught exclusively by Indigenous faculty.

Beverley Roy, president of Kenjgewin Teg, said that when approached by Carleton Prof. Duncan McCue about establishing a partnership to offer this program, she had no hesitation.

Roy, a member of M’Chigeeng First Nation, said the institute is well-placed to provide the support needed to students.

“Part of what we do as a place of learning, obviously, is about telling our stories,” she said. “Storytelling is a big piece of what we do as part of education.”

Roy said they’ve done good work so far and want to improve further.

“It’s really about our ability to tell our truth, to tell our stories with some sensitivity and with some integrity and respectfulness,” she said. “And so I think it just made natural sense that we be aligned together for this program.”

McCue, who is the director of the program, a professor at Carleton University and a member of the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation in southern Ontario, said that for the 15 years he’s been associated with journalism schools, every one has struggled to attract Indigenous students.

He said he thought that including more Indigenous content in the curriculum at journalism schools would help attract more Indigenous students, but the numbers didn’t change.

“I still only had one, or two at the most, Indigenous students in any given year,” he said, despite hearing that many were interested in media studies or journalism.

Instead, he began considering that many Indigenous students face financial barriers and some often can’t leave home.

Others, he said, have had negative educational experiences with conventional programs.

“So the idea behind this was to set up a program that would allow Indigenous learners to get foundational journalism skills but stay in their home communities,” he said.

The resulting certificate program began with a week-long introduction, with all students gathering in M’Chigeeng in September.

They’ll be taught virtually, for the most part, although they will again meet in Ottawa for a week-long session and they will do fourteen day internships.

The faculty consists of high-profile Indigenous journalists, the only exclusively Indigenous lineup of instructors at any journalism program in the country, according to McCue.

Another big difference in this program, he said, is that it is designed around Indigenous world views and the ways Indigenous students learn.

He pointed to the first week of the program, where students gathered in M’Chigeeng, went on a medicine walk, participated in a sweat lodge and built a personal bundle.

“Western-based education tends to just focus on the mental or the intellectual,” he said.

“And we know that in terms of student success, it’s important that we go beyond that and, and look at the various strands of what will help them and assist them to grow as a person. So holistic learning is kind of the catch phrase there.” 

McCue said of the 20 students, two-thirds are from Ontario, with the others from as far away as the Northwest Territories, Haida Gwaii and a couple from Saskatchewan.

One of the students, Christina George, a member of Oneida on the Thames, said she feels now is the right time for her to pursue her dream of being a journalist.

“There’s more of an acceptance for the presence of Indigenous storytelling, and I think Canadians and other people want to learn and hear our stories,” she said.

George said she’s also fascinated by the different technical ways to tell stories these days, and feels it’s important to harness them to convey the Indigenous world view — “such as the facts and the history of colonialism in order for reconciliation and rebuilding relationships to happen within Canada,” she said. 

“I feel there needs to be an Indigenous presence in the media, not just for Indigenous people, but for all Canadians, to educate the public about the true Indigenous story of the country, what Indigenous people call Turtle Island.”

The graduating students will have the option of continuing their education at Carleton University, in the second year of the journalism program in Ottawa.