Indigenous students can meet with on-site Cultural Advisor(s) for mentorships, teachings, and support. They are available for one-on-one counselling sessions or for group ceremonies or teachings.
Muriel Lee – Wetaskiwin
Muriel Lee is an Elder from Ermineskin First Nation in Maskwacis. She speaks fluent Cree and identifies as Saulteaux. As the eldest of twelve siblings, Muriel helped her mother raise her younger siblings until she left home.
Muriel experienced very hard time attending school without knowing how to speak English. Her teachers often embarrassed her in front of the whole class because she could not understand what was being asked of her. The teachers were also very punitive and harsh.
Later, in retrospect, Muriel understood that her people were being colonized systematically in schools, and the first thing that is done in the colonial process is to kill the Indian within the child. It brings feelings of shame, unworthiness, and secret anger in a Cree child.
Muriel met her future husband Kisikaw k’seyin (Gordon Lee) in 1962 and got married two years later. They were blessed with five children, nine grandchildren, five great grandchildren. Muriel and her husband moved to Maskwacis from Edmonton and immediately sought out Elders of the Four Nations in Maskwacis. From these Elders, Muriel learned the deeper cultural beliefs, values, and traditions.
Muriel has been involved in cultural ceremonies and works hard to live by Cree teachings to this day. To Muriel, language is the soul of our culture, and she is committed to helping her community healing journey.
Muriel has taken many healing workshops. In 2001, she graduated from the University of Alberta at Augustana in Camrose, Alberta with a focus in Psychology. Muriel pursued this area of study as her grandmother once told her that the greatest gift Kisimanito bestowed upon humanity is the mind. Muriel believes that our culture has the capacity to heal the trauma that resulted from the Residential Schools.
Muriel’s hobbies and interests include:
- Beading
- Walking
- Reading
- Teaching the Cree language to her grandchildren
Muriel looks forward to mentoring the students in their educational journey!
Lance Scout – Cultural advisor, Facilitator, Artist
Lance Scout is a member of the white Weasel Tribe located in Treaty Seven Lands. Lance has been with NorQuest College for the past four years in several capacities starting from Indigenous Program Advisory member to Cultural mentoring and Land-based learning within the Indigenous Studies Program.
The mentoring and Land-based learning persevered into becoming a co-instructor within two indigenous studies courses. “Indigenous ways of being” & “Indigenous Health and Wellness”. To date Lance is the New Cultural Advisor in the Miyo-pimâtisiwin Center here at NorQuest College.
Connect with a Cultural Advisor
To request an appointment with a Cultural Advisor please contact indigenous@norquest.ca or call 780.644.6772