UNews - Iikaisskini Indigenous Services

ULethbridge celebrates arrival of OKI sign

trevor.kenney — Mon, 06 Mar 2023 21:25:34 +0000

After four months on display in the community at Park Place Mall, the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s OKI sign has come home to campus.

Designed by Blackfoot artist William Singer III, Api'soomaahka (Running Coyote) (Mgt Cert ’89), the OKI sign is currently located outside the Iikaisskini Gathering Centre. Titled Saakiaitapiiyopa (We Are Still Living), the artwork arrived on campus on Tuesday, January 24.

Dr. Leroy Little Bear, vice-provost Iniskim Indigenous Relations, and Nathan Crow, Indigenous student representative, with the ULethbridge OKI sign.

“The Oki Sign project is meaningful because it really brings about reconciliation for Indigenous Peoples here in Lethbridge,” says Lindi Shade (BA ’06), manager of Iikaisskini Indigenous Services. “It's meaningful not only to myself, but to our families and communities to be acknowledged for the traditional lands of the Blackfoot territory, and it brings us together as a community. It means a lot to our community that Oki is the official welcome to Lethbridge.”

In 2019, the City of Lethbridge adopted “Oki” as the city’s official greeting. “Oki” is the Blackfoot word for “greetings” or “hello.” In addition, 2019 was the United Nations International Year of Indigenous Languages. To recognize these events, the City of Lethbridge Heart of Our City Committee and the Reconciliation Lethbridge Advisory Committee partnered to develop an OKI Sign, which is shared throughout the community at special occasions. Due to the success of this initiative, several community partners expressed interest in having their own OKI signs.

In May 2022, the City of Lethbridge, through Opportunity Lethbridge, the City’s Indigenous Relations Office and the Public Art Program, partnered with six community organizations to seek Indigenous artists to design artwork for a series of OKI Signs. This initiative seeks to celebrate Blackfoot culture and language, and the important role that “Oki” serves as a symbol of respect, understanding and reconciliation throughout the community of Sikóóhkotok (Lethbridge).

Api'soomaahka (Singer III) was selected in August 2022 to design the ULethbridge OKI sign. He is a member of the Kainai Nation of the Blackfoot Confederacy and has more than 40 years experience as a professional artist and illustrator.

Each letter on the OKI sign is illustrated with symbolic artwork.

O: The image of the sweetgrass signifies the foundation of knowledge and ongoing spiritual connection with earth and cosmos. The circle of life is the base of a tipi, secured to the land with the ohkotok (rock), an important element in creation as it is the bind that made all that exists in the universe.

K: This connection to the cosmos is defined by the miohpokoiyiiks (pleiades) at the top of the tipi. The north or “opposite” has the iihkitsikamm (the dipper) or the seven stars.

I: Since time immemorial, the Niitsitapi have adapted to many changes as represented by the matapi (figure) and is sign language for Kainai, a division of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Below the figure are three symbols that represent sign language for: “As long as the sun shines, the grass grows and the rivers flow.” We all share the land.

All six signs were unveiled at Park Place Mall on September 28, 2022, in conjunction with Reconciliation Week. ULethbridge is excited to welcome its OKI sign to campus.

“At the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, we need to ensure Indigenous students and staff are equally represented on campus and recognize the knowledge that Indigenous Peoples can bring to these spaces,” says Shade. “It means a lot that our students can be on campus and learn our culture and history, and that starts with the Oki Sign.”

The ULethbridge OKI sign may be moved to various campus locations throughout the year.

Additional OKI sign community partners include: Primaris (Park Place Mall), Galt Museum & Archives, Lethbridge Public Library, Lethbridge Agri-Food Hub & Trade Centre (Lethbridge and District Exhibition Society) and the Allied Arts Council of Lethbridge.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge officially opens Iikaisskini Gathering Centre

trevor.kenney — Thu, 22 Sep 2022 16:40:21 +0000

One of the most important areas on the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge campus opened today and fittingly, it is named after one of ULethbridge’s most iconic figures, Dr. Leroy Little Bear (BASc (BA) ’72, DASc ’04). ULethbridge officially opened the Iikaisskini (Low Horn) Gathering Centre as an integral space for Indigenous students and the campus community to come together in ceremony, celebration and learning.

Education is the new buffalo.

“When I came to university, there was no such thing as a gathering centre. Had there been a centre, I would have really enjoyed the place and I'd probably be running from one computer to another,” says Little Bear. “A centre like the Iikaisskini Gathering Centre starts to bring about an atmosphere of inclusion, and notions of diversity and equity all start to come into the picture. The Iikaisskini Gathering Centre serves that purpose.”

The gathering centre is an integral and unique feature of ULethbridge. It is designed as a welcoming home away from home, a space appropriate for ceremony, smudging and celebration, where students and other members of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ community can gather and collaboratively support one another in their educational aspirations.

“Creating opportunity and an inclusive campus environment for all students is integral to our university and the experience of our students,” says Dr. Mike Mahon, president and vice-chancellor. “This is a welcoming space in the heart of campus, and one which
I invite everyone to visit to engage with one another and to learn from each other.”

The centre provides students a place to meet with Elders and share stories, teaching and wisdom. It is representative of a vibrant and powerful cultural community where Blackfoot and other Indigenous languages are spoken, and where students can explore new knowledge together.

It was named Iikaisskini in honour of Little Bear and his Blackfoot name to recognize his many contributions and services to ULethbridge and to Indigenous Peoples around the world. Iikaisskini Indigenous Services, the department that oversees operation of the gathering centre, is also named after Little Bear, who is an adjunct professor with the Dhillon School of Business, special advisor to the president and a distinguished Niitsitapi scholar.

Little Bear champions Indigenous ways of knowing and being and continues to advance and advocate for Indigenous knowledge in higher education. His work around Indigenous rights, treaties, traditional knowledge and culture has influenced students and communities around the world.

Directly translated, Iikaisskini [ee-GUS-ganee] means low horn.

“The real meaning of it and where the notion of low horn comes from, is if you can picture a buffalo with its head down in attack mode, that's what the low horn really refers to,” says Little Bear, who has been appointed to the Order of Canada and the Alberta Order of Excellence.

The buffalo holds great significance in Blackfoot culture as a keystone species.

“The buffalo was a very important animal in our culture. Wherever the buffalo roams, it brings about ecological balance. They're so important, that we refer to them as eco-engineers,” says Little Bear.

Its importance today comes in the notion that education is the new buffalo.

“Some of our Elders talk about the buffalo as our education portal. They start to speak about education, especially university education, as the new buffalo,” says Little Bear. “In my own life I've always pushed for education. To have my name associated with an institution like ULethbridge is a great honour, but more importantly, is that the legacy of the buffalo is being incorporated into the overall ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ culture.”

The Iikaisskini (Low Horn) Gathering Centre is now open for students, staff and faculty to study, relax, visit with friends, family and colleagues or engage in prayer or ceremony to set their paths forward in a good way. The Centre is located in the Centre for the Arts Atrium in room W650.

The Iikaisskini (Low Horn) Gathering Centre is supported by generous donations from the Government of Alberta, the Government of Canada’s Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) and an investment from TD Bank Financial Group.

UNews - Iikaisskini Indigenous Services

ULethbridge celebrates arrival of OKI sign

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��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge officially opens Iikaisskini Gathering Centre

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