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The Nest is UVic’s independent newspaper the Martlet’s podcast, established in November 2024. The Nest features Martlet Editor-in-Chief Sydney Lobe interviewing UVic and greater Victoria community members about what they’re doing, why they’re doing it, and how you can get involved. It is recorded CFUV 101.9FM’s studios and airs biweekly at 10:00 Saturday morning on CFUV 101.9 FM. Find out more about the Martlet and our volunteer and staff opportunities at martlet.ca.
*Birds chirping, music*
Rae Dawson: Thanks for tuning into the Nest, a podcast by the Martlet, the University of Victoria's independent newspaper. Settle in as we talk with UVic and Greater Victoria community members about what they're doing, why they're doing it, and how you can get involved. The Nest is produced in the studios of 101.9 FM CFUV radio, on the unceded lands of the Lekwungen peoples and the Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples, whose relationship with the land continues to this day.
*Birds chirping, music*
Rae Dawson: Hello, everyone. My name is Rae Dawson and I'm the Operations Manager at the Martlet, and today we're in CFUV studios recording the Nest with Ave Federspiel from the Native Students Union at UVic.
Ave is the Outreach Officer for the Native Students Union and a student pursuing their degree in political science and [a] minor in journalism since 2022. They are Nakota from Treaty 6 Territory in central Alberta on their mother's side, and of European ancestry on their father's side. Although they're Indigenous to Alberta, they were raised in the Lower Mainland B.C. on stolen Stó:lō and Kwantlen land. Over the last year and a half, being in their role, Ave has supported NSU program development, created and maintains the new NSU website, develops and publishes the NSU newsletter, and works hard to support existing NSU initiatives and Council endeavors.
Welcome to the Nest, Ave.
Ave Federspiel: Hello.
Rae Dawson: So just to jump right into it, what is the Native Students Union, and I'm curious about what the day to day operations at the NSU looks like?
Ave Federspiel: Yeah, great first question. The NSU is a nonprofit organization, ran by Indigenous students for Indigenous students. We've been operating since 1969 and our biggest aim is to foster growth, well being, and community, and some ways that we do that is by supporting members in transition to post secondary, upholding local communities protocol and Indigenous sovereignty, creating culturally safe spaces on campus. We also provide multiple programs and relevant literature and information to our members, which can be found in all of our spaces.
Rae Dawson: Oh my gosh, so you guys are like [a] mini university within University.
Ave Federspiel: Oh yeah, oh yeah. We do our best.
Rae Dawson: I love it.
Ave Federspiel: Yeah. So when it comes to our day to day operations, it includes a lot of administration. We get a high volume of external requests from people, either from just students seeking information or organizations looking to collaborate. There's a lot of back end administration. So yeah, again, a lot of emails, paperwork, Microsoft Teams, communication and meetings —
Rae Dawson: The best, Microsoft Teams, baby. Let’s go.
Ave Federspiel: Right? And then there's obviously the front facing work. So a lot of shopping for and restocking our spaces, cleaning our spaces, connecting with people and peer support, and that's usually done by our coordinator partnered with a Council member or myself.
Rae Dawson: Amazing. Wow, it sounds like you guys truly do everything, huh? I love it. I had a similar conversation when we had our episode with IACE, and I was like, wow, you guys are doing everything on campus, but [a] miniature version. It sounds like it's a similar situation for you guys.
Ave Federspiel: Mhmm.
Rae Dawson: That's awesome. I'm really curious, you've touched on it a little bit, but what services and initiatives do you offer to Indigenous students at UVic?
Ave Federspiel: We offer a lot of food security programming and services. So some of that looks like gift cards and Community Cooks. We're also very concerned about Indigenous student well being, so we provide a Care Box that's stacked with hygiene products, face washes, toothpaste, shampoos, conditioners, skincare, lotions, and more. Some of the biggest questions that we're asking is, “are our members’ basic needs being met?” And if not,“how can we meet our members' basic needs in order for them to go after academic excellence, or other goals and endeavors?”
Rae Dawson: Absolutely. So the NSU started more than 50 years ago at UVic, which, oh, my goodness, what an impressive legacy. I'm curious about what the origin story behind the NSU is?
Ave Federspiel: We're actually — one of our work studies is trying to look into this, Haylee Gardiner, she's our meeting secretary, and we're having a hard time finding who founded the NSU and why it started, but we were able to find some information in the 1976 issue of the Ring. And so we found out that it was initially established as a self help group for Indigenous students, with the name Robert Matthew possibly being one of our founders. We don't have much information for specifically 1969 but again, according to the 1976 issue, there were 45 Indigenous students on campus in that year –– in [19]76 not [19]69.
Pre-2000 we kind of kept to holiday parties, graduation ceremonies, and acting as Indigenous representation at UVic, especially at club events. And I found out that some of our first events, which started in the late [19]90s and early 2000s, included the Inter-Tribal Welcome, which is now known as the Indigenous Week of Welcome, graduation feasts, and Elders Dinners. And the Elders Dinners, the first one happened in 2001 and we're still running those, so that's good stuff. And then we also had our cultural programming, which we don't have much of right now, just because of our capacity, but back then, there was a lot of medicine picking, Bannock bake offs, sweat lodge ceremonies, and more.
Rae Dawson: All the good things.
Ave Federspiel: All the good stuff.
Rae Dawson: I love that. So the NSU is an organization run by Indigenous students at UVic, as opposed to IACE, for example, which is a UVic administration initiative. What unique role does the NSU serve at UVic that distinguishes you from other Indigenous resources on campus?
Ave Federspiel: I think the fact that we predate the UVSS is a big distinguisher, as it reflects the long standing relationship that Indigenous peoples have had with this land. And our uniqueness stems from the fact that we are a student governance of our communities, which is a practice that has been carried on since time immemorial. And I think student representation is a big part of practicing Indigenous self-determination here at UVic, and that is definitely different from the rest of the Indigenous services here, I think.
Rae Dawson: I think that key piece you said about self-determination is so important and such a pivotal conversation that's happening between Indigenous communities and the Canadian government, for example, or other groups. And it's really neat to see that you guys are setting up Indigenous students at UVic for success and dipping their toes into that world to kind of prepare them for that work potentially going forward. I think that's awesome.
Ave Federspiel: Thank you.
Rae Dawson: What programming and community events is the NSU currently running?
Ave Federspiel: Yeah, so we have a few programs. So, I can just walk us through them. Our first one is our Fresh Prep Program, which is pretty popular, and that's when our office coordinator purchases codes for — it's a meal provider, like Hello Fresh, it's similar to that. So, Fresh Prep basically sends you prepped ingredients that you can make on your own. So yeah, we provide gift card codes to opt to access those services.
And then we also have a ONECard program, which started about a year ago now, it started in March last year, and that's when we purchase guest card gift cards and they have Flex Funds on them, and you can use them at pretty much all the food places here on campus, including other stores. Like, I think you can use Flex Funds at the bookstore as well and stuff. So you could get pens and paper and can be used for more.
And then we have our Community Cooks, which are personally my favourite. I love a good Community Cook. And it's basically, we come together once a month — we used to do them in the Ceremonial Hall, but now we do them in Robert Wallace, in Room 150, and we cook food. We always make sure it's a soup. So I think last time or no — my favourite one so far has been the clam chowder. Yeah, it was so good.
Rae Dawson: Was it fresh clams, too?
Ave Federspiel: Unfortunately, not.
Rae Dawson: Oh no, next time!
Ave Federspiel: Next time, next time, yeah. So clam chowder, and then we have a vegetarian option. One time we did chili, but yeah, basically anything that can be cooked in a pot and is like a good slop, if you will.
Rae Dawson: They don't call it a potluck for nothing.
Ave Federspiel: Yeah, exactly, exactly. And then we have our Food Box Program, which basically provides shelf stable — actually, it's not all shelf stable, but a lot of pantry items for our membership, that they could just take home. So, that's like eggs, butter, we got Biscoff Spread the other day.
Rae Dawson: Oh my god.
Ave Federspiel: It's just, like, the small things, right? So that way you don't have to spend your money on the small pantry items, and you can focus on getting meats or fresh produce, you know. But, yeah, we're just trying to meet the small cracks.
Rae Dawson: Absolutely
Ave Federspiel: Then we have our care box.
Rae Dawson: What's your Care Box?
Ave Federspiel: Oh, yeah, sorry, our Care Box is anything hygiene related. So we got shampoos, conditioners, face washes, lotions, laundry detergent, menstrual products, face masks, skincare, there's so much more. There's a lot of stuff in there, toothbrushes, I think I said that. Did I say that? I don't know —
Rae Dawson: You can never have too many toothbrushes.
Ave Federspiel: — Tongue scrapers, sorry! *laughter* You need a tongue scraper, come down to the NSU.
Rae Dawson: Hell yeah.
Ave Federspiel: Yeah, yes. That's kind of it for now. And I think we're looking to make a — we're in collaboration with IACE. We're going to do an Emergency Bursary program as well.
Yeah, because IACE provides an emergency bursary that can be accessed like three times throughout your degree, and I think it's up to $900. And so, for anybody who has accessed that but has maxed out, they're going to be able to — soon, not yet, but soon — apply for the NSU Emergency Bursary, which is for, again, specifically for students who maxed out to the IACE emergency bursary.
Rae Dawson: And do those bursary funds go towards just tuition or school supplies? Or is it like, you're given that money to cover whatever costs you need to cover?
Ave Federspiel: Yeah, it's basically for whatever costs that need to be covered. I think a part of the application we put, “give us some insight as to what's going on,” you know what I mean? Like, “oh, I couldn't make rent, I'm struggling to eat. I had a crisis happen, and I need to go home.” You know what I mean? Just like those small and unexpected things. I mean, not necessarily small, but the expensive unexpected things.
Rae Dawson: Yeah, absolutely. I remember the first time that I bought moisturizer for myself, and I was like, ‘it's so expensive.’ And it's just a basic need, a basic thing that everyone should have access to, or toothpaste being like $15. So, to have access to not only funds to be able to pay for those basic necessities that often get overlooked when we're talking about budgeting and what students are spending their money on. But also to just have those resources available, just for people to come in and grab, I think is really exciting and really awesome.
Ave Federspiel: Yeah, I definitely think if you're not thinking about the small things, you're able to think about the bigger things. If you're not worried about what's going on in your pantry or how you're going to brush your teeth the next day, you're going to be able to worry about homework or other opportunities, which is something that we want for our membership, for sure.
Rae Dawson: Yeah, amazing. I'm so glad to hear that. So we've talked about it a little bit, but a lot of the recent initiatives by the NSU are targeting food insecurity amongst Indigenous students at UVic. And I'm curious as to the why and the how, as to why NSU has chosen to target food insecurity specifically in their recent programming?
Ave Federspiel: I think there's been a lot of, within the last — at least since I started, and I started in 2024. There's been a lot of focus on respecting the local protocol here. So, again, we live on Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ land, and one of the biggest teachings is that you provide food when you are organizing people, and so our food security programming fulfills two needs. One is feeding our communities and coming together in order to do as such. Yeah no, it's cultural custom on these lands to share food when bringing folks together, and with the increases to cost of living, food security has become extremely important, while also simultaneously carrying on cultural tradition.
Rae Dawson: Amazing, I love that. Yeah, we all need food to live.
Ave Federspiel: Yeah exactly.
Rae Dawson: Yeah, and that's one thing I really appreciated about Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ practices specifically, is how much of it revolves around food. I remember I popped into the AVP a couple of months ago just to chat with them about something, and immediately they were like, “oh, here's a juice box, here's a snack, come sit on a comfy couch.” And I feel like in [the] corporate world or university world, it's so easy to overlook those simple comforts as something that really brings people together. But, when you have those options offered to you, it makes such a difference to the general vibe of whatever conversation you're entering in.
Ave Federspiel: Yeah, exactly. Such a small thing that makes a huge difference.
Rae Dawson: Absolutely. I'm curious about the NSU government structure. So as we're currently recording this in February, the NSU is undergoing their election season, which is, I'm sure, very exciting.
Ave Federspiel: Oh, yeah.
Rae Dawson: I'm curious about what the roles and responsibilities of NSU Councillors [are]?
Ave Federspiel: Yeah, so there's two types of councillors. We got our core councillors, and then we have our councillors-at-large. So I could just quickly walk through our core councillors; we have administrative, firekeeper, advocacy, communications, and stewardship — administrative core councillors responsible for the financial aspects of the NSU. So, they work closely with our coordinator and keep track of our budgets, making sure that we're spending enough, commenting on if we're spending too little.
Our firekeeper plays a large role in leadership, so they run and organize our council meetings. They're responsible for attending [UVSS] Board of Directors meetings. They sit on multiple committees, such as the UVSS Committee, the UVSS Advocacy Relation Committee, and the Office of Vice President Indigenous Committee, just being some of them. And they also play a big role in facilitating elections.
Advocacy, their role is to promote the social justice issues that we are involved in, any advocacy initiatives, and addressing student grievances. So, I remember our past Advocacy Councillor Anakin Bennett held office hours. So when they held office hours, students were able to come in and be like, “Hey, such and such happened,” and then they were kind of responsible for navigating that with the student and supporting the student.
Our communications councillor is responsible for creating content and managing the social media and advertising platforms. So just making sure that people know about our events, our programs, and any relevant information that's happening around Victoria. So like, the Stolen Sisters March, making sure people know about that, any art exhibitions. There's been a few art exhibitions that have been shared on our social media and just things happening around campus.
And then we have our stewardship, and they are basically our supervisor. So they oversee staff, Council, volunteers, our members, and they just make sure that any of the decision making happening is aligning with our Constitution, aligning with protocol, and aligning with our mission statement and our goals.
And then we have our four councillor-at-large positions, which are pretty general. They kind of do bits and bobs of everything. They're basically responsible for just showing up to meetings, making sure that their voices are being heard, and they're speaking when it comes to decision making, and supporting the facilitation of NSU events mainly, and rolling out our programming — yeah, and if they have the capacity to organize events, if they would like, but that is not necessarily a requirement of them.
Rae Dawson: That's awesome, such a large team to get so many important things done. Yeah, it sounds like there really is something for everyone.
Ave Federspiel: Oh yeah.
Rae Dawson: Also, I often find that getting involved with student groups can give you such great resume boosters. And every single thing you said, I'm like, that would look so good on a resume.
Ave Federspiel: Oh yeah, no, that is definitely one of the better things about joining NSU Council is you do get that good experience, and expanding professional capacity is also a pretty big thing for Indigenous students.
Rae Dawson: Yeah, and being able to do it amongst your fellow community members, I'm sure, is just such a beautiful thing.
Awesome. So we've talked a little bit about engagement and different programs you guys put on, and stuff like that. But I'm curious about what meaningful engagement from the student body looks like for the NSU?
Ave Federspiel: Yeah. So when you say student body, I'm just going to separate them into two, so Indigenous and then the non-Indigenous. And what we are looking for from our Indigenous student body is, “come and take advantage of our resources.” We have a lot, and we want to give. And we're finding that our members right now, some of them are like, “Oh, we kind of feel guilty for taking some of these things, because we know that there's other people that might need them.” But we need to remember that we are the people that need them! *laughter* And it's okay. It's okay to come and take things from our food box and take things from our care box, and to come and give us feedback on our program, or say, “Hey, I need this. Can you add that to the grocery list next time you go shopping for our food box?” It's okay to come and take advantage of what we are and who we are.
And showing up to community events as well. That's a pretty big one, making yourself a familiar face around the First People's House. We love our new members. We love having new people around and the new vibes that people bring in, the new perspectives, the different philosophies, the collaboration, the enthusiasm, that's all something that we really like from our members, and so that's kind of some things that we look for.
And then from the non-Indigenous student body, we're basically just looking for respect, reciprocity, and actions that reflect commitment to truth and reconciliation. So, an example actually would be when the residential school denier showed up to campus, and just seeing everybody show up — not to like be against the denier, but to be with the survivors. Again, that's a perfect example of what we expect from the non-Indigenous student body, is showing up in times like that and acting in support of our self-determination, our sovereignty and truth and reconciliation.
Rae Dawson: Absolutely, yeah. Myself and our Editor-in-Chief went to the rally that was called in opposition to the OneBC event, and it was just so beautiful to listen to all of the — heart wrenching at times, absolutely, and also beautiful to listen to all the speakers. I remember one speaker was like, “today is a victory.” Looking around at all the people who have gathered to stand up for truth and reconciliation, stand up for our local Indigenous and national Indigenous communities, is so beautiful. So those are all wonderful things, and I hope everyone listening is paying attention, taking notes.
*laughter*
I noticed that the NSU host collaborated events often, like a recent event you guys did with the UVic Pre-Dental Club to kind of talk about career opportunities and things like that for Indigenous students. What other kinds of partnerships does the NSU seek to create with other groups on campus in the future?
Ave Federspiel: Yeah, that's a good question. I think the kinds of partnerships that the NSU seeks to create are partnerships that are, again, rooted in respect and reciprocity and mutual learning, and partnerships that expand opportunity for Indigenous bodies, Indigenous student bodies. We're eager to collaborate in the best, most respectful way possible.
Rae Dawson: Absolutely. Yeah, I know that when we had our conversation with IACE — which, of course, you guys are different groups — but I know that one thing that they mentioned when it came to issues that Indigenous communities were facing on campus is that there were so many initiatives created to boost Indigenous student populations at UVic, and they've been super successful. But now the problem is that they're running out of space again, and kind of expanding — and one of the things we talked about was how the future kind of looks like more collaboration and cross campus collaboration, especially when –– I know our guest, she said that oftentimes, a lot of issues of truth and reconciliation, issues of how to be conscientious of Indigenous peoples and respectful and all those things, often falls on Indigenous students, on Indigenous faculty, to solve those issues or to comment on it.
And I know you mentioned in the administrative tasks that you often get reached out to [with] random questions people have, and I'm sure that that's a lot of work on you guys, as well. Yeah, so I guess that's where the idea of the question comes from — long-winded way of saying.
Ave Federspiel: I mean, I could speak to the evolution of the requests that we were getting. In the beginning, we found that the requests that we were receiving were quite uneducated, in the sense of — for example, there's this one Marine Biology opportunity. And there they were, like, “Hey, we got a grant, and in order to receive the funding, we need an Indigenous body. Can you provide us an Indigenous student?”
Rae Dawson: Oh my god. *laughter*
Ave Federspiel: So kind of just like that, like — I don't even know, just like, “You're the Indigenous student bank.” Like, we can just shell out students, which is not the reality. You know, there needs to be a framework there — again, the respect, whereas the acknowledgement of the kind of student that you want — do you want a local student? Just like, I don't know — the way that we were getting asked is as if we were almost a commodity, more than an advocacy group.
Rae Dawson: Yeah, of people —
Ave Federspiel: Exactly, exactly.
Rae Dawson: Who have individual skills and things and yeah, I feel like that would — if I were the person sending that email, I'd be so embarrassed. *laughter* That is actually a very crazy email to receive.
Ave Federspiel: No, we found that we were — like over the last couple of years, I think we really pushed that this is what our collaborations look like, and this is what we want them to look like. And our communications councillor spent a lot of time putting together a communication strategy and what external collaborations should look like with the NSU and since then, we still get the small little nuances, but they've become a lot more respectful, I think.
Rae Dawson: Well, thank god. *laughter*
Ave Federspiel: Yeah. I know, yeah.
Rae Dawson: Awesome, thank you. On a separate note, what are some upcoming events that you're excited about that the NSU is putting on?
Ave Federspiel: We have our Community Cook next week. I keep talking about those, but they're so good. I forget what we're serving, but we have that next week on the 26th [of February] which is going to probably be after this [comes out]. And then we also have our AGM, which is happening at the end of March. And so, right now we're kind of in our self nomination period, which ends on the second, and then our AGM is — I'm pretty sure it's on the 26th or the 27th, we haven't fully decided yet, but it's going to be one of those two days. And I'm really excited for that, because we get Songhees Catering to come out —
Rae Dawson: Oh, yummy.
Ave Federspiel: Oh yeah. And for any Indigenous students listening, we provide Indian tacos, all right? That's good stuff. Do you know what Indian tacos are?
Rae Dawson: I don't, tell me.
Ave Federspiel: Oh, my goodness. Oh, okay. So there's — they're different where you are. So I found that down here for Songhees specifically, they cut up Bannock — it's just like tacos, except indigi-fied. So Bannock, meat sauce, sour cream, lettuce, cheese. It's so yummy. And then back at home on my reserve — and I'm from Alexis First Nations and Paul First Nations, but on Alexis during powwow season, they'll just take a thing of fry bread instead of it being cut up, and then you just stack the fry bread with meat and good stuff and sauce.
Rae Dawson: Oh that sounds so good.
Ave Federspiel: It's so yummy, it’s so yummy.
Rae Dawson: Oh my god. Well, I definitely would be excited about that too! *laughter*
So one of the goals stated by the NSU is to advocate for Indigenous rights and wellness, and we've talked a little bit about how you guys are doing that, but I'm curious about any specific advocacy campaigns that you guys are currently focused on?
Ave Federspiel: Yeah. So, we're very localized. So we have a capacity — not a capacity issue, but we're at capacity quite a bit. So, reaching national initiatives is difficult. So on campus, we do, again, a lot of work with the Office of Vice President Indigenous, just making sure that our voices are heard, even if they're not fully taken into account, we want to make sure our piece is said on behalf of all of our members.
And in the past, we've collaborated with the Indigenous Student Law Association in funding some of their initiatives. So that's another thing that we do, is we provide funding for Indigenous groups that need it. And then when it comes to community events, we do a lot of either promotion or showing up to or providing something, like a donation or an honorarium, for events. And I think the last thing that we supported was honouring the legacy of this Stolen Sisters Memorial March that happens every year here on February 14. And we just held space in the Ceremonial Hall for allies and community members who are feeling that, and going through — it's a heightened emotional time, and so just being able to feel that with a group of people who resonate with it, that's very important. Especially when it comes to feelings of isolation, coming out and being with a group that understands what's going on or will support what's going on is very important to us.
And then we try to promote events that support Indigenous initiatives — I feel like I'm repeating myself a lot, but I think –– we blasted this fundraiser that was held at Cafe Fantastico. And it was a — I can't remember, it was a poetry reading. And they had a few speakers, and any of the funds that was going towards that night went towards the Gitxsan youth resistance. And basically, they're trying to protest the pipelines that are being put through their territories. And yeah, again, it's information that we want our membership to know about. Like, hey, here's things that you could support, put your time and money and energy towards.
Rae Dawson: I love that, all of those things are so important. And especially what you're saying about the March for Stolen Sisters, there's this beautiful phrase — I love doing Tarot in my free time, and there's a card that's the two of cups, and one of my favorite descriptions of it is grief shared is cut in half, and then joy shared is doubled. And I feel like that's so true for holding grief, I definitely feel that. Doing it in a group who are all feeling that same heaviness together, I'm sure is so powerful and so, motivating isn't the right word I want to use, but invigorating, I guess is a better word. To know that you're not alone in that grief and in that struggle, I'm sure it's very, very healing and supportive.
Ave Federspiel: Yeah, no, powerful and empowering. Yeah.
Rae Dawson: Yeah. I'm so glad. I'm also curious about what success looks like for the Native Students Union, and if there's any moments or anecdotes that you've experienced during your time at the NSU that stand out as a moment of success to you?
Ave Federspiel: Success to us looks like upholding our mission statement. It looks like serving our community and fulfilling the purposes that we have outlined in our Constitution.
Yeah, some of the administrative successes looks like the referendum increase, which we've been able to use to expand our programs, and to buy more things for our spaces and such. And being able to have regular programming is also a pretty big success for us. I think our Fresh Prep has been here for been around for a long time, and where I've been able to maintain the Guest Card Program for a while with the support of Council and work studies, and since doing that, we've also been able to move to professional spaces such as Microsoft Teams, and we were able to switch our website. So during the summer of last year, I created a new website for the Native Students Union on WordPress instead of Google Sites.
Rae Dawson: It's very beautiful, by the way. I was really enjoying looking through it while I was researching.
Ave Federspiel: Oh, that's awesome. Thank you. Yeah, no, I spent a lot of time on that, so I'm glad that it's easy to look at and navigate. And then just like making sure that, like — I think success is like seeing our members fulfilled, seeing our members happy. Like, you're leaving our space with a full belly, and you've had a couple of laughs. And I think that once you come around enough and you're a familiar face, the banter that can happen, the conversations that can happen, the support that you receive is incomparable to what you will get outside, you know? And so I think those are all pretty big things and signifiers of success for us.
Rae Dawson: Absolutely. On the flip side of that, I'm curious about what challenges that the NSU is facing?
Ave Federspiel: Oh, yeah, I think the most obvious one would probably be just having to exist in a colonial institution. I think that when you’re student-ran, you're also still dealing with issues that the institution will throw at you, as well as trying to find solutions for the members who are dealing with the same issues as you, which can take a toll on people sometimes.
Yeah, just having to deal with systemic racism, systemic oppression, and those systems being enforced in class. Like, either amongst conversations of your peers or by professors or faculty, I think not everyone is looking through an Indigenous eye, which sometimes I forget. Yeah, but you know, having to navigate those challenges and obstacles is definitely difficult, but we persist. I think we persist very, very well. We're rather resilient, I think. But another one would obviously be the fact that we're volunteer run, because that means we're always at capacity. So some ways we're trying to expand our capacity is by providing compensation for our Council members, which we have yet to do — again, finding ways to do so. But yeah, because we're at such a low — it's difficult to collaborate with external groups. And the student population is always growing as well. So I think we're at just over 2 000 Indigenous students on UVic and, oh, yeah. And there's 22 000 [students total] I think —
Rae Dawson: Yeah, I was about to say, it's about 10 per cent of the population, which is really, really awesome.
Ave Federspiel: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And so, with the Indigenous student population consistently growing every year, but the capacity slowly changing. Yeah, there's definitely bumps, for sure, but we do our best.
Rae Dawson: Yeah, and your best is pretty fucking fantastic.
Ave Federspiel: Thank you, thank you.
Rae Dawson: As we're coming to a close of this episode, a question I ask all of my guests, but I'm curious about what meaning that working with the NSU has taken on for you personally in your life.
Ave Federspiel: I think that my showing up to the NSU has changed almost every aspect of my life. One thing that I've heard about people who just joined the NSU, or just coming around the First People's House is like, “Oh, I've been going here for two years, but I've been terrified walking in. I've been so scared to be involved.”
And obviously there's a lot going on in the brain. You have a lot to work through and think about, especially when you're existing in that space. It is not unfamiliar for Indigenous students to feel imposter syndrome and to feel like you're sticking out like a sore thumb, because you're not. And we have a birthright, and these are stolen lands, and so, if anything, you're the opposite of the sore thumb. And I think coming into the First People's House and working at the Native Students Union has really helped me come out of my shell in that regard. I've been able to feel confident in what I'm doing, and I still struggle with that. You know what I mean? I think white spaces have a hard time welcoming Indigenous bodies and Indigenous brains.
Yeah, no, my confidence has grown exponentially. I think that by being in the NSU, I've just been able to grow so much as a person. I don't really know how else to say that. When I, when I first showed up, I was in such a bad area, I didn't have a good sense of security, and I felt like people weren't out there to take care of me and again, the imposter syndrome. And so when I see and heard other students who have similar backgrounds and are dealing with similar issues, it's such a powerful thing to feel like you are not alone, because it just changes the way that you approach things. Beforehand — I don't even know what I was doing beforehand? Like, what was I doing? Not a lot. The NSU has just really flipped my life around, and I'm very grateful for that. And I think that's why I've spent such a long time here. I think this is the longest I've stayed at any job, and I've been working for a while. So they've been good to me in many ways.
Rae Dawson: I'm so glad. That's one of the things that I really love about doing these episodes with student groups, is that there's this — every time I ask the question about personal impact, there's a sense of passing the baton. Because oftentimes, when you start university, or at least this was my experience, you see all these people who are in their upper years doing all these things, and you're like, “Oh my god, they're so cool and powerful, how do you do all those things?” And then as you go through university, you gain experience, as you find the right groups and spaces for you and your needs, you develop this sense of confidence, this sense of self, the sense of place, and then without even realizing it, you become the person that you were really looking up to, and then you get to pass that baton on to the next generation.
And yeah, like you were saying about imposter syndrome, and the difficulties of being Indigenous, existing in white spaces, especially a university, which is like [the] epitome of colonial institutions, I can imagine it grates on your skin, feeling out of place, and I feel like imposter syndrome is so interesting because it's that voice in your head that's telling you you don't belong here, you feel bad because you are lying or whatever it is, but it's like — the reason you feel bad is because you are that person, and you are Indigenous, you are whatever it is. I know I feel that way often with my transness, I saw a video the other day that someone was like, trans people are great because they teach us a lot of lessons in self determination and being like, “No, fuck you. I am who I am. You can't tell me otherwise.” And it sounds like a similar feeling that the NSU cultivates and brings about in Indigenous students, which is just so powerful and important.
Ave Federspiel: I think a theme or a repetitive sentence that I've heard from members is like, “Before university I never thought I could go to university or school, because of the way that the system works.” It makes you feel like you can't, like you're actually incapable of doing things, and that is so hard to overcome, because you're only limited by yourself and when the system beats into you that you can't do it and you can't succeed, it's very hard to be like, “No, I can. I can show up to class, I can do my homework.” I can do all these small things that in retrospect, to other peers, may seem small, but these are really big things. Showing up to class is a big thing, doing the readings, that's a big thing, and especially Euro-dominated readings. I mean, you know that this is actively going against your philosophies in your brain, but still doing it, still persisting through this hard education, that's such a big feat, that's such a big feat, and being able to dissect those things as well.
Rae Dawson: Yeah, it's so cool. It's almost like Indigenous students are experiencing this multilingual-ness, where it's having to enter into colonial space and being forced to think and create in colonial ways, while still maintaining your sense of indigeneity and Indigenous ways of knowing, and also finding ways to change the system, to change these institutions into understanding how important those things are to all of our growth and all of our education, I think is awesome. And yeah, I'm so glad that there [are] spaces for Indigenous people on this campus, because they're such invaluable members of our community.
Ave Federspiel: Thank you.
Rae Dawson: Yeah, thank you. Just as we finish up, how can students get involved with the NSU, or what's the best way for students to support the NSU?
Ave Federspiel: Yeah, for our Indigenous students, showing up, becoming a member, just filling out that silly little Google form on our website makes such a big difference because — there's also the back end stuff, you're adding to our numbers, you're adding to our data and our statistics. And by doing that, we're able to expand our funding, and spend even more money on our members and distributing our wealth that we have.
And then for our non Indigenous students, for non Indigenous student bodies, or just students in general, we actually have a specific like Frequently Asked Questions page on our website. I don't know if you found it, but if you go to “About” at the very bottom, there's a bunch of questions that we get quite a bit from, from non-Indigenous people. And it's like, it's usually just like, “Oh, what is territory?” Or like, “Why do some Indigenous students get free schooling,” and things like that. And so going there, for sure, is encouraged.
Rae Dawson: Avoid sending an embarrassing email. *laughter*
Ave Federspiel: No, yeah, exactly, and taking Indigenous focused classes, you're here, you have a certain amount of electives, take advantage of that. Go sit in IS100 or POLI263, Politics of Indigenous Peoples. I took that class, that's a great class for people who are just starting out in their learning; and participating as well in volunteering projects, like land restoration projects — going and weeding out literal weeds, things that are not native to our habitats. Or going to community events. I know there's every year, there's the South Island Powwow, go volunteer at that. Or go volunteer at the soup kitchen, the Victoria Native Friendship Center. These are all very small things that non-Indigenous peers can be doing that I think are kind of easy to access. It's all about communicating, and sending that email, and showing initiative and those good things and don't be afraid to read, you know?
Rae Dawson: Guys, please. Reading, it's not gonna bite you. I know — I say this like all the time now, but it's from — we did an episode with Students of Colour Collective, and we talked a little bit about what allyship looked like for that group. And he said — Taha, our guest, he was like, “Google is free.”
Ave Federspiel: No, literally, that's like — I shared your questions to Council, and on the bottom one of the comments was like, “Yeah, Google's free.” I think that's all you have to say.
Rae Dawson: Absolutely. Google, do some reading. I believe in you listeners, you can do it.
Alright, and where can people find you to get in contact?
Ave Federspiel: Yeah. So again, you could go to our website, which is www.uvicnsu.com, and then we also have our Instagram, which is just @uvicnsu, nothing crazy. And then we have our spaces, so we have a space in the SUB in the basement, B023, and if you are a member, your ONECard will be able to open up the door. If not, you can come by the First People's House, where we have an office space in Room 126, I am pretty sure. And [that’s] usually where I work, and the office coordinator works. I can't say how often people are in there, but if there are people in there, do not be afraid to come by and introduce yourself and ask any questions and all the good stuff.
Rae Dawson: Thank you so much, Ave. It's been such a joy talking to you today.
Ave Federspiel: Thank you for having me. This was really great.
Rae Dawson: Yeah, everyone check out the NSU and give them some love.
Ave Federspiel: Mhmm!
*birds chirping, music*
Rae Dawson: Thanks for tuning into the Nest, a podcast by UVic’s independent newspaper, the Martlet. You can read the latest edition of the Martlet’s publication on martlet.ca or find us on Instagram as @humansofthemartlet, or on BlueSky, TikTok and LinkedIn as @theMartlet. Interested in getting involved? Email info@martlet.ca to learn more about volunteer writer, editor, and design positions.
*birds chirping, music*
Rae Dawson: And now a note from the Martlet fact-checking team.
At 5:25, Ave Federspiel says the first Elders Dinner happened in 2001. According to the "Our History" section of the NSU website, it was 2000.
At 6:10, Federspiel says 'the fact that we predate the UVSS is a big distinguisher.' The UVSS was first founded in 1921 as the Alma Mater Society (AMS), and was incorporated in 1964. It was renamed to UVSS in 1989.
At 10:10, Federspiel says IACE "provides an emergency bursary that can be accessed three times throughout your degree." The Emergency Funding is called the “Indigenous Emergency Assistance Fund Program” or IEAF. The funding comes from the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training.
At 33:36, Federspiel says 'I think we're at just over 2 000 Indigenous students at UVic." The Martlet could not confirm this fact.
*birds chirping*