Before you can look at where your career is headed, it’s important to take a look at where you are. Like every Canadian institution, Centennial College stands on the lands of the Indigenous peoples in Canada, and as a Canadian, it’s important to understand and honor our Indigenous heritage, whether you’re a recent arrival or here from birth.
At Centennial, students have the option to enhance their learning with Specialized Academic Certificates, and one such certificate is called Indigenous Knowledges – First Peoples in Canada Certificate. It consists of four courses, and has you gain an additional credential while you explore First Peoples’ current issues, community, relationships, self-governance and sovereignty within Canada.
Most importantly, it will help you enhance your knowledge and career no matter what your background is. As proof, we spoke to two very different students who have taken the credential. Shazia Reayi is a domestic student originally from India, who took our Law Clerk program and wanted some additional Canadian context to help with her career. Meanwhile, Stephanie Ouromis is Indigenous herself, and wanted to dive deeper into her own culture to help her on her path to becoming a Social Service Worker.
Different Careers, Same Goal
Despite their different career paths, both students shared something in common: They wanted to help people, and had come to Centennial to pursue careers that would let them do that.
"I chose a Law Clerk program because I genuinely wanted to help others," Shaz says. “Since there is a lot of fraud going on, I believe you should understand how the legal system works where you reside. Additionally, this program allows me to assist others, such as children who are unaware of how the legal system works, as well as the more vulnerable individuals in our society."
“I felt like I just had a need to help people,” Stephanie says of what led her to the Social Service Worker program. “It was just kind of in me. And it was something I was really striving for. It really fulfills my dream of wanting to be able to help people.”
The Wish to Learn More
Stephanie became interested in taking the Indigenous Studies certificate as a way to understand her own heritage better and enhance her eventual career.
“I was already interested in Indigenous studies,” Stephanie says, “because I'm actually Aboriginal myself. I was really striving to get a little bit of that culture added in with the Social Service Worker program, because I feel like having Indigenous knowledge, and being a Social Service Worker are tied together.”
Shaz saw it as a way to address a cultural blind spot where she now lived.
“I'm a Canadian citizen, but I actually don't know about Indigenous people that much,” Shaz says about her motivation for taking the certificate. “What happened in the past, and what's happening right now, I only knew the surface level of.”
The Gift, and the Burden of Knowledge
“I wanted to get more in touch with my culture,” Stephanie says about what she learned in the courses. “And I found that the program helped me to get in touch to learn things that I might have already known, but kind of pushed to the side. There’s a lot of intergenerational trauma, and really understanding Indigenous worldviews.”
“I can say it's an eye opener for me,” Shaz says about the certificate, “and it's an eye opener for a lot of people who didn't know what Residential Schools were, and how inhumane and painful their behaviors towards kids were. I have two kids, and I was putting myself in that situation where someone takes my kids away from me. What would my reaction be to that?”
“My grandmother was part of the Residential School system,” Stephanie adds. “So without the program, I don’t think I would have been able to be in touch with my family and history. It helped to connect me closer to my family and my culture.”
What it’s like to be aware
“The best part is awareness for me,” Shaz says about the program. “I’ve been living here for the past 14 years. If I'm going to tell anyone about our dark history, they won't even believe it because in their minds, this is a very promising land for them. So it is kind of difficult to make other people understand that without the proper knowledge. And moving forward, I know I have a sense that in my career, I can, in some way, provide some kind of justice.”
“I feel like every profession should have some type of knowledge in Indigenous studies,” Stephanie says. “So then you can beat that stigma, and you can push forward, and we can see these people for who they are; we're all people, right? And I think that this program really helps to shape that.”
Written by: Anthony Geremia