ollege needs Indigenous staff Langara continuing to work on 2025 Indigenization strategy By MARCO SHUM alfway through Lang- ara’s five-year strategic plan, the college still faces challenges retain- ing Indigenous staff. Under the Indigenization section of the plan, which was unveiled in 2020, there were three main goals: implement an Indigeniza- tion strategy, maintain and deepen the college’s relations with the Musqueam First Nation and recruit and retain staff from the Indige- nous community. Graeme Joseph, executive direc- tor of Indigenous initiatives and services, said the college is still working to launch the Indige- nous strategic plan and is engag- ing in more consultation with the Musqueam. "Once the Indigenous strategic plan is launched, it'll be much more detailed and focused: goals and mileposts for the college to work towards in terms of supporting indigenization reconciliation, and of course, the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and how the college can implement that,” Joseph said. Joseph said he has made rebuild- ing the Indigenous education services team one of his main prior- ities. “Of course, there's been some changes to staffing here within Indigenous education and services. And that, of course, has been chal- lenging.” Wasé Young, an Indigenous student at Langara who was at The Welcome Figure, carved by Musqueam artist Brent Sparrow Jr. The post honours the passing of Si?em Henry Charles who led the January 2016 ceremony in which Langara recieved its Musqueam name, snaweyad lelam [snuh-way-uh-th-huh-leh-lum]. aaco sum PHOTO the Indigenous Gathering Space last week, said he has seen a lot of Indigenous staff leave Langara. “T’ve seen a lot of good people leave the Indigenous student services centre. I’d just appreci- ate it if they could work on retain- ing the talented and educated staff they currently have,” Young said. “If those people [Indigenous staff] leave, a big portion of the support for Indigenous students goes with them and the relationship they had.” Langara Indigenous carving instructor Aaron Nelson-Moody, also known as Splash, a name derived from his Squamish name, Tawx'sin Yexwulla, meaning Splashing Eagle, works part time as an instructor for four differ- ent colleges, but focuses his work within the Squamish Nation. Nelson-Moody said Indige- nous staff can get a lot of good job offers. “There’s way more demand [for Indigenous staff] than there are people to fill the positions,” said Nelson-Moody. But he added that a college “can still be a bit of a colonial institu- tion,” and can be an awkward fit for Indigenous people. “It’s not the first way we would like to teach. We would like to teach more in our own cultural approach, and this is not our cultural approach, so we have to adjust.” Nelson-Moody said one of his biggest challenges as an instructor is a lack of resources. “I’m having to invent things from scratch, very primary research. I’m talking to other carvers, how to teach carv- ing I’m having to write my own resources, I’m having to write my own rubrics for grading the class.” Young wants students to be more understanding of generational trauma. “Like residential schools, people think it happened a long time ago, but my grandparents went to it.” He said that this trauma can “trickle down the generation ... it’s not as impactful as the first gener- ation that went ... but the issues are still real and the trauma’s still there.” Nelson-Moody said he liked how the college dealt with receiving its Musqueam name, sneweyat lelam [snuh-way-uh-th-huh-leh-lum]. “They wrestled with how to carry that name. What does that mean? Was it just a gift or is it a responsi- bility? You know, is it just a gesture or are they now connected to community? And they really tried to study it,” he said. “And they're still wrestling with, which I like. I like that they don't think they know exactly what that means yet.” Langara levels up More infrastructure can make Vancouver a global esports hub By KALVIN MOSES fter a change in leadership and rebound in member- ship, the Langara Esports Association is looking beyond campus to the wider world. Since the summer, the associa- tion has gained 500 new members with an estimated 100 monthly active members. The club meets in room T001 at Langara College, every Friday for students to play at a competitive level or unwind among like-minded people. “T think it’s a nice meeting ground to meet other people who might have similar interests,” said science student Melvin Liu. “Nowadays, around this age demographic, I feel like most people definitely are into video games, to some capacity,” he said. Derian Chow, vice president of the club, said there is still a stigma around esports being an activity enjoyed by unhygienic nerds in their basements. “But realistically, I think through esports, I’ve met a lot of good people, I don’t think I’ve really met too many people that actually fit that stereotype at all,” said Chow. This year the association is collaborating with The Home Key to host a screening of the League of Legends World Championship, a major esports event. The Home Key is a startup in downtown Vancouver providing a space for esports profes- sionals to train, network, and host events. Chow said the partnership with The Home Key is good for the club as it provides necessary infrastruc- ture and support for it to grow. “There needs to be more govern- ment support towards gaming,” said Jonathan Kim, chief executive offi- cer of The Home Key. He said there will be more global gaming events, but governments | ts esx fo $e pay {4 laf Members of the Langara Esports Association watch the League of Legends World Championship live at The Home Key. KALVIN MOSES PHOTO need to give out grants to people who want to organize those events. The future of esports seems promising, says Marius Adomnica, partner of Segev LLP, a Vancouver law firm that provides legal services to esports players. “In a couple of years, esports is going to take over and be on par with traditional sports,” said Adomnica. Chow is hoping for more support from schools for esports. “What I hope for Langara to look at is with how Langara esports has grown over the years, and how we can easily become one of, if not the biggest clubs at Langara, if not already. A lot of other schools in Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta and the U.S., they’ve adopted esport as an activity.” According to the Vancouver Economic Forum the esport indus- try globally generates US$1.1 billion in revenue which is expected to double within the next four years. Liu said the Langara Esports Association will prosper as long as esports continue to flourish. “For as long as there’s like genuine interest, I think it definitely has a future.” said Liu. The Voice is pub- of the staff and lished by Langara are independent of College’s joumalism views of the student department. Editorial © government and opinions are those administration. Email: ebulman @langara.ca Have a news tip? Write tous at thevoice@ langara.ca 604-323-5396 Erica Bulman oversees The Voice. thevoice@langara. The Voice ca 100 West 49th Ave. Vancouver, B.C. langaravoice.ca V5Y 226 Room A226 Langara College Laisa Conde Kenneth Wong Lauren Accili Jordan Copp Juan Ramierz Michael Su Jordan Copp Daniel Johnston Corvin Vaski Aishwarya Singh River Kero Rigo Bacalto Joyce Liew Andrea Dante Hannah Mondiwa Thomas Eley Nicholas Naylor Seth Forward Nils Rummler Shashi Goel Kalvin Moses Chris Harcourt Jay Schnell Sam Holomay Marco Schum Melbah Jacob Virender Singh