IDEA—Indigenous Design and Engineering Academy

My name’s Kieran. I’m of Coast Salish and Scottish-Settler descent. I’m currently an undergraduate student in the University of Toronto’s Indigenous Studies, English, and Creative Writing programs. This is my second year working as an instructor and content developer for IDEA. Above all else, my intentions for this summer are to help facilitate a connection between students and the land, whether at Gull Lake or on campus in Toronto. I’m passionate about teaching and establishing systems of education controlled by Indigenous peoples and informed by their distinct cultural identities and worldviews. 

My research interests, at the moment, are centred mainly on land-based pedagogy and Northwest Coast Indigenous art and ceremonial items. I intend to focus on these subjects in graduate school. I grew up on the land ceded by the Mississaugas in the Between the Lakes Treaty in 1782. It also falls just outside the Haldimand Proclamation territory, which designates 6 miles on either side of the Grand River for the Mohawk Nation. The space that I call home (from what I understand)– sometimes referred to as Guelph, Eden Mills, and Eramosa– has been cared for at one time or another by the Mohawk, Mississauga, and Attawandaron Nations. Here I consider myself a privileged guest with a responsibility to care for the land and its living beings, as Indigenous nations have for thousands of years.