By Ava Whelpley
Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) Gdoo-maawnjidimi Mompii Indigenous Student Services (GMISS) featured TMU alumna Jules Arita Koostachin as this year’s Indigenous Role Model on Feb. 6 in the Podium building.
The Indigenous Role Model initiative has taken place annually for 10 years. The event brings in Indigenous peoples with stories to inspire and support the TMU Indigenous community while fostering connection and learning between university community members.
According to TMU’s website, Koostachin is a member of Attawapiskat First Nation, the Directors Guild of Canada as well as an acclaimed filmmaker, writer, academic, performance artist and mother.
She is a graduate of the TMU documentary media (MFA) program where, according to her website, “she produced her first feature documentary Remembering Inninimowin (Swampy Cree). According to her website, Koostachin “has extensive knowledge of Indigenous story and methodology” and applies said knowledge to her creative craft. She continues to inspire those she speaks with.
“That [connection] happened at a very early age, like it’s just something I was born into and then being from a family of storytellers and Cree speakers. It’s just a part of my DNA,” said Koostachin in an interview with The Eye.
Harshi Shah, a second-year TMU student in the nutrition and food program who attended the event described Koostachin’s talk as “inspiring,” explaining how she resonated with Koostachin’s story as an international student. She said it inspires her to “try harder to [achieve] whatever you want.”
When asked at the event how she found her voice, Koostachin explained that you have to speak with intent, honesty and that storytelling is about sharing your truth. She said “when you speak your truth, things do change.”
Koostachin also described a Cree teaching in which you connect with your words. When learning Cree, she told the audience, you spend up to three days learning one word, connecting with it and understanding it in different contexts.
“Of course, that is a place where it always starts from, is an Indigenous way of knowing, a Cree way of being,” Koostachin said.
Additionally, Koostachin mentioned having a hard time finding her voice as English is her third language. She described her hardships with language during her undergrad at Concordia University but she was determined to be an academic. This led her to make connections with Indigenous student services accessible to her, creating a smoother transition to higher-level academia.
Koostachin now works with Indigenous communities, supporting those who have faced challenges similar to hers.
Leave a Reply