UPEI's Mawi'omi Centre embraces and educates students from all backgrounds

The University of Prince Edward Island's Mawi'omi Indigenous Student Centre is tucked away on the fifth floor of the campus administration building, Dalton Hall. For students who know it, the room provides a much-needed space to catch up with each other, get academic advice, or just relax. 

In the middle of the morning on the first Tuesday drop-in of the semester, a handful of students were gathered around Elder-in-Residence Judy Clark. She was teaching them how to play waltes, a traditional Mi'kmaq game that involves flipping pieces of engraved bone or antler on a game board.

"You can feel it, and you talk to it, and you want them to dance for you," Clark said, shaking the pieces on the centre's game board, made from a tree burl.

One of the students was Jessie Lawrence, in their third year of diversity and social justice studies with a minor in Indigenous studies. Their family is part of the Qalipu First Nation on the west coast of Newfoundland.

Lawrence grew up hunting and fishing, and always wanted to connect more with other Indigenous folks.

"It's always a really nice, calm space that has really good people in it all the time," they said. "And you're allowed to smudge in there, so that's always nice, to have a place on campus [where] we can do that."

Lawrence said connecting with elders like Clark help them feel a sense of connection to their Indigenous heritage.

"I really think it's one of the best things that UPEI has, period. For many of us, we haven't had access to our elders for so long," they said. "So having an elder-in-residence really gives us that opportunity to ask questions, learn and navigate life circumstances in a very holistic approach."

As elder-in-residence, Clark doesn't just advise students; she also helps campus departments connect with Indigenous people in the community and works to meet cultural needs on campus.

"Sometimes a faculty doesn't know what protocol is, and so they come and they ask me, 'What's the protocol of offerings?'" Clark said. "So it's just helping them to understand our way of life."

One of the Mawi'omi Centre's two small offices belongs to Clark, and the other to Jasmine Pauzé, who's been the centre's co-ordinator since 2022.

Pauzé said the centre's most important role is as a gathering space. That's fitting, since Mawi'omi means "gathering" in Mi'kmaw.

"We have people — from students to staff to community members and faculty — come here and either share how their week's going, ask us to collaborate with them, or they have questions about culture or spirituality. It's just kind of a knowledge-sharing space," said Pauzé.

The centre doesn't just help Mi'kmaq students. Other Indigenous students from across Canada come to connect and learn about the local culture. For example, Pauzé is from Garden River First Nation in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.