Indigenous Spaces on Campus

The Chief Jake Thomas Room

The Jake Thomas Room, located in room 345 in the Enwayaang Building/Gzowski College is named in honour of Chief Jake Thomas. Chief Thomas was a condoled Cayuga chief who taught Iroquoian culture, tradition and history and the Mohawk language at Trent during the 1980’s. He was one of the first Indigenous Elders to be granted tenure on the basis of traditional knowledge. The room contains an exhibition of wampum belts that he made to teach about Iroquois political theory.

The Gilbert Monture Oral History Lab

This lab, named in honour of one of the founders of the Indigenous Studies program, was opened in 2015 to serve as a hub for the production of oral history and digital story work.   The lab offers computers with specialized software for the production of digital stories by faculty and students.  The lab has sponsored training workshops for students in digital story production using various models e.g. Berkeley model and Free2Choose.  Students with technical expertise are hired annually to assist students who are producing digital stories as class assignments.

A competition for best digital stories has been organized to recognize excellence in student production.  Stories may address such topics as personal experiences with colonization, Indigenous-settler relationships, relationships to Mother Earth, and personal learning journeys.  Some of the winning entries can be found on the Youtube channel:   https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWRafGgP849Ulnb2yirD4sA

The Mon-Ki-Ki Reading Room in Native Studies

The Mon-Ki-Ki Reading Room in Native Studies, located on the third floor of the Bata Library with the generous support of Gerald Hanbidge who made a donation to establish the room in honour of his wife, Mary Hanbidge. The room, in the shape of tipi, provides a space for special collections and exhibition of Indigenous artefacts.