Siyólexwe: Stories of Elders and Seniors is the 2015 Reporting in Indigenous Communities class’s final project. For a full term, first year graduate students immersed themselves in several First Nations communities in B.C.’s Lower Mainland to explore issues related to elders and seniors. The final project consisted of five multimedia stories.
The stories explored how elderly residential school survivors were still waiting for long-promised education credits, how a Shaker church leader trying to keep the blend of aboriginal faith and Christianity alive for a new generation, how an all-aboriginal seniors home highlights a shortage of spaces for an aging population, whether a First Nation with a young population will reserve a governance position for an elder, and how elders are teaching indigenous culture to students in Metro Vancouver.
The students’ reporting was not only featured on the website, but also in CBC Aboriginal. The stories were also featured on CBC Radio.
Adjunct professor and award-winning CBC-TV reporter Duncan McCue teaches the course. Professor McCue is Anishinaabe, from the Chippewas of Georgina Island First Nation.
