With W̱SÁNEĆ Matriarch Tracy Underwood, PhD Candidate, and Assistant Teaching Professor in Indigenous Studies

Date: July 17, 2024 Time: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM PDT​

W̱SÁNEĆ Matriarch Tracy Underwood PhD candidate, Assistant Teaching Professor in Indigenous Studies. Tracy upholds daily her Matriarchal duties of protecting and preserving Children, Land, Language and Culture of her people. Tracy is an expert in land-based learning, history, storytelling, ethics and care for children, families, and communities. She can discuss issues of land occupancy, the doctrine of discovery and how ongoing land dispossession negatively impacts herself and her husband, her eight children and eleven grandchildren in their daily lives. As a part of her PhD ȽÁU, NOṈET SXEDQIṈEȽ framework, Tracy does a presentation that is called “JÁEȽNOṈET” described below:

JÁEȽNOṈET: A Framework for Respectful Relationships and Living on Indigenous Land

JÁEȽNOṈET (phonetic JAYE-LLL-NONG-IT) is aSENĆOŦEN (phonetic Sencha then) word and the name of her workshop which means to acknowledge, to thank; it is a reciprocal framework for respectful relationships and living on Indigenous land. Tracy describes the background:

My JÁEȽNOṈET presentation derived as a response to University of Victoria’s Land/ territory Acknowledgement “We acknowledge with respect the Lekwungen peoples on whose traditional territory the University of Victoria stands, and the Songhees, Esquimalt and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.” I intertwine my story as someone who has grown up in W̱SÁNEĆ and connect our language, culture and history related to cultural genocide that is real. I conclude with my thoughts of full circle(s) of RECONSTRUCTION(reconciliation).

My hope is for people who attend the workshop to think about the Indigenous land where they live. My goal is that you will understand our people and be a part of RECONSTRUCTION (reconciliation).