The Queen’s Native Student Association (QNSA) kicked off Indigenous Awareness Week (March 10-18) on Friday with a mass KAIROS blanket exercise in the ARC main gym.

With support from the Four Directions Aboriginal Student Centre, the event introduces participants to historic and contemporary relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada.

Events continue on Saturday with a Powwow Bootcamp from 10-11 am in Studio 4 of the ARC and a Poetry Slam at the Grad Club starting at 7 pm.

On Monday an Indigenous Mental Health Open Discussion, in collaboration with the Mental Health Awareness Committee, will be held in the Queen’s Centre’s Fireside Lounge from 6-8 pm. 

Documentaries on Two-Spiritness will be screened on Tuesday followed by a panel discussion in the Red Room at 6:30 pm, while, on Wednesday, the Department of History will screen the documentary Colonization Road in Rm. 100 of the School of Kinesiology and Health Studies Building, from 4-5:30 pm. 

On Thursday, there will be a walk through campus to celebrate Indigenous presence, successes, and contributions to Queen’s. The walk starts at Grant Hall at noon. Sign-making and craft vendors will open at 10 am. That evening the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures will screen The Pass System in Ellis Hall at 7 p.m. 

On Saturday, March 18 a discussion on environmental issues their affect First Nations communities will be hosted in the BioSciences Atrium at 6 pm.

For more information visit the QNSA website or the QNSA page on Facebook.