Season 4, Episode 7: Randy Pitawanakwat - FirstPeoples@Seneca Faculty and Co-Facilitator, Skoden

About Today's Show

In today's show we talk about Skoden, which is not only an Anishenawbe word that means, "Let's go, then!" It's also the name of a 12 week program at Seneca for faculty to begin to understand how to incorporate Indigenous perspectives into their course materials. The Skoden course is an intense 12 weeks, co-facilitated by our guest, and others from the Indigenous community at Seneca College, who share personal stories, colonial history, treaty history, and ultimately our collective shared history as treaty partners.

Also in this episode we talk about:

1. A couple of great Indigenous podcasts - Métis in Space, and Storykeepers.

2. The value of personal history and lived experience in understanding our own unique contribution to the lives of others.

3. Our guest's own journey from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory and Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation, to Faculty member at Seneca College.

4. So much more....

Let me tell you about today's guest.

More about Today's Guest, Randy Pitawanakwat

Randy Pitawanakwat is a faculty member at Seneca College who works out of Odeyto, First Peoples' at Seneca.

Randy co-facilitates two professional development courses, Skoden and Stoodis (Stoodis, as you'll hear, is the follow-up portion of Skoden) They're offered through the Teaching and Learning department of Odeyto. Randy is from Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory and Atikameksheng Anishnawbek First Nation. Previously, Randy worked with the Indigenous community in the Toronto area for over 11 years in the social work profession. Much of Randy's knowledge is a collective of understandings from oral tradition and experiences throughout his life in Wiikwemkoong and Atikameksheng Anishnawbek.

Some Important Links

• Click here for more information, and to sign up for Skoden (link is for employees of Seneca College)
• Click here for a link to the Odeyto Episode of SenecaProud - Season 2, Episode 4.
• Click here for Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
• Click here for Seven Fallen Feathers, by Tanya Talaga
• Click here for Métis in Space Podcast
• Click here for Storykeepers Podcast

Keeping Up to Date on COVID-19

For Updates on Seneca's Policies Regarding COVID-19, visit here:

https://inside.senecacollege.ca/health

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Thanks for listening!

Pat Perdue