Join us on March 10 for the inaugural event of the REDI Lunch & Learn series
The Office of Respectful Environments, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion is proud to present a new REDI Lunch & Learn series featuring our team of advisors: Robyn Campol, Dr. Neila Miled and Derek Thompson. This fresh and informative series will be spontaneous and conversational in its approach to talk about issues that are timely and relevant. These sessions will also highlight the importance of showing up to these necessary conversations with presence and persona – so bring your very best of curiosity and energy!
Each session will also provide an opportunity for the participants to engage in a Q & A or to simply to reflect on the merits of the conversations. This exciting series will be offered every month starting in March 2022, with each advisor presenting their own one hour session. Please join us on March 10 for the inaugural offering: Parts Known and Unknown, with Derek Thompson (details below).
Please note that the event will be not be recorded
Topic: Parts Known and Unknown: Derek Thompson – Thlaapkiituup Talks About the Bits and Pieces of a Meaningful Conversation
Date: Thursday, March 10, 2022
Time: 12:00 – 1:00 pm PST
Parts Known and Unknown
Um. Let’s see. I’m writing this bit of narrative as I’m devouring a Banh Mi sandwich. It’s delicious. As I am chomping, slurping and thoroughly enjoying my meal I’m struck by the absence and impact of Anthony Bourdain. For me, and right from the start, he was like a friend that was altogether strange and familiar. And since his passing, and as much as he did in life, the meals that I enjoy these days are the meals that I enjoyed as a child. My Gran’s homemade duck soup or my Great-Grandmother’s barbeque sockeye salmon, and she would make the cedar stick herself and fasten a whole fish on it and cook over an open fire. My Mom’s fresh bread enjoyed with a bowl of beef stew made from scratch, or the egg, bacon and cheese sandwich wrapped in foil that I would demolish on the way to school on the 3-hour return trek from Nitinaht Lake to Port Alberni.
This makes me think about the spaces where we all feel welcome – the kitchen table that you grew up around, your Auntie’s home, a favorite restaurant, a picnic, a smorgasbord, holiday meals – and it is food. Tony said, “when someone cooks for you they are saying something. They are telling you about themselves – where they come from, who they are, what makes them happy.” So, bring your favorite lunch, pull up a virtual chair, and we’ll talk about the bits and pieces of a meaningful conversation, and chew on the many and layered flavors of telling the truth and reconciling for the future.
Derek Thompson – Thlaapkiituup is an advisor in the Faculty of Medicine Office of Respectful Environments, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (REDI). Thlaapkiituup is from the diitiidʔaaʔtx̣ – Ditidaht First Nation, one of fourteen Nuuchahnulth Nations on the west coast of Vancouver Island. As the REDI Indigenous Initiatives Advisor, Derek provides leadership and support across the Faculty to help create and sustain learning and work environments that incorporate standards of cultural safety and humility and that are free from Indigenous specific racism and discrimination. Derek promotes inclusion of an Indigenous perspective in all Faculty initiatives. Derek also works closely with the Director, Indigenous Engagement to implement the Faculty’s response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action in a way that will best support the formal commitments made to Indigenous peoples for a better and just future. This important work will also create opportunities for students, staff and faculty to engage with Indigenous people and communities in meaningful ways, and to begin anew the creation of redressing what we believe ourselves to be - as Indigenous peoples, and as Canadians.
What Will I Learn?
Anthony Bourdain said, “Perhaps wisdom is realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go.” So, what we’ll strive to learn about is our potential for curiosity and compassion for and with each other.
Upcoming REDI Lunch & Learn Sessions
Check the REDI Events page for updates on this series and all REDI offerings
Demystifying Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Starting the Journey of Learning and Unlearning
- Thursday, March 17, 2022
- 12:00 – 1:00 pm PDT
- Facilitator: Dr. Neila Miled
Reporting Learning Environment Concerns: The Process From A-Z
- Thursday, March 24, 2022
- 12:00 – 1:00 pm PDT
- Facilitator: Robyn Campol
Introduction to The Indigenous Initiatives Speakers Series
- Thursday, April 7, 2022
- 12:00 – 1:00 pm PDT
- Facilitator: Derek Thompson