The first thing we want to share about the start-up of our project is how our team dynamic and building is going. We feel that we are working well together and that shows through our communication. Whether it is delegating important tasks or listening to each other’s ideas and building off of them, the team has been collaborating well. A lot of the conversations and moments in this project pertain to Indigenous people and it can be a bit uncomfortable as we are trying to be sensitive and we all understand how little knowledge or experience we have given our backgrounds. The humility our group shows to each other and the willingness to learn and to do our best is something each of us has expressed to each other and it has made these hard conversations feel authentic and that we are on the same page for our research. As of now, we are still looking for advice and insights into how we should approach research for this project. On Tuesday, we all expressed general anxiety and fear that we do not feel adequate to be doing the research and choosing information as none of us are of Indigenous background nor are we well-versed in Indigenous Studies, History, Anthropology etc. However, in our afternoon meeting with Dana, we got to express these concerns and she had some valuable resources and leads for us to follow up on and that eased our worries a bit as we had some new paths to explore. On Wednesday we sat in at the First Peoples House as they held a networking event intended for Indigenous students, staff, and faculty to get to know one another. As a team, we felt a little uneasy and anxious as we had concerns about whether or not we were welcome due to the nature of the event. We felt that the networking event was not an appropriate setting to bring up our project, so attending the event for that purpose made us slightly uncomfortable. Our last moment that really stood out was meeting with Kennedy. Kennedy is an Indigenous student at UVic and our conversation with her was really meaningful and powerful. We felt reassured, inspired, and left with a sense of direction and she sparked some new conversation points for us to have with each other.
