Several international students at Thompson Rivers University shared their experience participating in a course focused on Indigenous traditions. In the course, students had the opportunity to learn introductory Secwepemctsin from Secwepemc language teacher Marie Sandy, build traditional Indigenous drums with Elder Norman Retasket, and take part in a sage-picking ceremony with Tk’emlups te Secwepemc Elder Colleen Seymour. “These students have been in Canada for a very short period of time and they came to the classroom having heard stereotypes about Indigenous people, […] but they really didn’t know very much about issues that shape Indigenous peoples’ lives in Canada,” said TRU Associate Professor Mukwa Musayett (Shelly Johnson), who led the course. Several students also told CFJC Today that the practice of sitting in a circle and listening to classmates speak changed their perspective of one another. “Whatever background you have come from, it makes no difference,” said TRU Student Ali Alizadeh.
