Learning from Story-telling Teepee. (left to right - group member Kulas Umo, Professor Jolan Hsieh, group member Lin Jiayi, and WINHEC Co-Chair Laura Horton)

In early October, Professor Jolan Hsieh（Bavaragh Dagalomai / 謝若蘭）, Director of the Center for International Indigenous Affairs（CIIA）led a group of students from College of Indigenous Studies to visit Canada for a two-week field research course. The group went to the traditional territory of the First Nations in Ontario and participated in the traditional Hall Harvest held by local indigenous communities and educational institutions. The group also attended the Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning workshops co-hosted by University of Toronto to acquire the first-hand experience of integrating the indigenous knowledge system into different educational levels. Kulas Umo（谷拉斯．吾木）, winner of the 2018 Dr. Y.T. LIN Scholarship（林又新博士紀念獎學金）, said that he had been deeply impressed by the profound integration of various issues of the First Nations, such as fishing, hunting, education, contracting and so on, into everyday life and pedagogy.

"We learnt from the First Nations a holistic view about its historical trauma caused by the colonizers' assimilation policies when we visited its communities and education institutions," said Professor Hsieh, who is currently serving as the reconciliation subcommittee convener of Presidential Office's Indigenous Historical Justice a Transitional Justice Committee. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada（TRC）was officially established in 2008 in order to document both the history and impacts of the Residential School, and in 2015 the TRC released an Executive Summary of its finding along with 94 "Calls to Actions" for the propose of reconciliation between Canadians and Indigenous Peoples.

Another highlight of this visit is the discussion with Dr. Simon Scott（史國良）, Professor of the University of Ottawa（UO）about the 2019 Canada–Taiwan field research courses, and Memorandum of Understanding between UO and NDHU. Since 2015, with the assistance from the CIIA, the U O has been working with Dr. Scott and providing "Introduction to Taiwan Indigenous Peoples" course. Professor Hsieh was invited to give a public lecture on "The Rights of Indigenous People" followed by a very lively discussion. The group was also welcomed by the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Canada, and the representative Winston Wen-Yi Chen（陳文儀）expressed his vision that indigenous cultures exchanges of both countries should be highly promoted.

First Nations elder teaching traditional hunting culture

Community language course for indigenous language revitalization

The group visit University of Ottawa, also welcomed by Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECOC) in Canada. (From left - to right Lin Jiayi, Kulas Umo, Professor Jolan Hsieh, Representative Winston Wen-Yi Chen, and Executive Director of Information Division Simon S.W. Sung)