When I arrived at MacEwan, I was a white-presenting 17-year-old, four-and-a-half hours away from home. My family’s experience with residential schools meant I hadn’t been raised in my culture, and I struggled with my Indigenous heritage. 

I had tried to connect a few times over the years, but it hadn’t gone great. So, even though people kept telling me to go to kihêw waciston, I was afraid. If the people there were as kind as people said they were, and they rejected me, I wouldn’t have anywhere left to go.

Then I met Roxanne Tootoosis, MacEwan’s first Knowledge Keeper, at a women’s gathering. She asked me why I had never been to kihêw waciston before, and I told her what I was feeling. As I was ugly crying, she hugged me with real kokum energy and made me promise to go. 

So I did. And when I walked up to that desk, the person who greeted me made me feel so safe and at home. I started hanging out in the centre, doing my homework and taking naps there. 

Over time, I came to see that kihêw waciston is more than just a place. It’s a community – people to talk to, Knowledge Keepers who can teach you about culture and student advisors who can help you find a laptop or funding. A whole group of people who are there to give you a hug or listen when you’ve had a bad day. 

I’ve watched stressed or upset students come through kihêw waciston’s doors, shoulders tensed up or tears in their eyes. Then they smell the sage and medicines, hear students and staff aunties laughing or smell bannock and frybread cooking, and you can see them relax. You can tell they feel at home. That they feel safe. That they can be their authentic selves.

That’s what I found at kihêw waciston. And it’s what I hope to help other people find as well. I like to think that students come to us as baby eagles – kihêw waciston means "eagle’s nest" in Cree – and we take care of them until they’re ready to fly off to do great things. And a few of us stay behind to take care of the next set of baby eagles. 

Working at kihêw waciston has never been just a job to me. This is my community. And being part of a community is about supporting and caring for each other. 

If you haven’t been to kihêw waciston before, come. Everyone is welcome here. It doesn’t matter what you do or don’t know. Just treat this place like your kukom's – or grandma’s – house. Come with respect. Come with an open heart. Come to listen, learn, chat or hang out. 

I promise there’s nothing to be afraid of. Just kind people doing amazing things.

– Alix Lamothe, Indigenous Communications Coordinator, kihêw waciston, Bachelor of Arts ’24