{"id":77689,"date":"2021-06-24T13:25:40","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T17:25:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=77689"},"modified":"2025-10-10T10:12:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T14:12:17","slug":"benny-michaud-indigenous-initiatives","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/benny-michaud-indigenous-initiatives\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Pride Month: Benny Michaud Leads Centre for Indigenous Support and Community Engagement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Celebrating Pride Month: Benny Michaud Leads Centre for Indigenous Support and Community Engagement\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Benny Michaud is a proud Michif (M\u00e9tis) eagle clan person from St. Boniface, Winnipeg, Manitoba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Michif language their traditional name is kaa-natawiyiweet dans la sud oschi, which means Medicine Person from the South, and their gender identity is tasta-eeyinew<\/em>, which loosely translates into \u201ca person in between.\u201d In English, the terms they tend to use are two-spirit or non-binary.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWhat has sustained me in my life is the cultural knowledge that has been shared with me about the unique gifts I carry as a two-spirit person,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cKnowing the stories of my family, my community and my people gives me strength.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Benny
Centre for Indigenous Support and Community Engagement Director Benny Michaud<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a child, their parents supported and encouraged Michaud to express themselves as a two-spirit person. This part of their identity, however, was not always celebrated, nor is it regularly represented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In completing a BA, B.Ed. and MA at three separate universities, they were only taught by one M\u00e9tis professor. It was during the completion of their undergraduate degree at Carleton University that they met Brenda Macdougall, who taught a M\u00e9tis Studies class. Now, 20 years later, Michaud teaches that same class.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cWe need more two-spirit people, particularly those who present as non-binary or trans folks, to hold leadership positions within universities,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThe more inclusion we have, the more empathy and compassion will be felt by our students.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Academic, Cultural and Spiritual Supports<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Today, Michaud is director of the Centre for Indigenous Support and Community Engagement<\/a> and a co-chair of the Carleton University Indigenous Strategic Initiatives Committee (CUISIC)<\/a>. They joined the CII team as Indigenous Liaison Officer in October 2016. They work to ensure that Indigenous students have the right academic, cultural and spiritual supports, and they engage with the community at the Ojigkwanong Indigenous Student Centre<\/a> throughout the school year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2019, Michaud and the CII team hosted the inaugural Kin\u00e0m\u00e0gawin Symposium<\/a>, which in Algonquin means \u201clearning together.\u201d The symposium allowed students, staff and faculty to learn about Indigenous teachings from Indigenous faculty and furthered reconciliation dialogue on campus.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cNow, I work within the M\u00e9tis community and with urban Indigenous peoples to create inclusive spaces for two-spirit people so that we can reclaim our role within community, and particularly, within ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

During Pride Month, Carleton University is celebrating some of the many achievements and contributions of our 2SLGBTQ+ community members. Visit our <\/em>Pride Month page <\/em><\/a>through the month of June to read new stories about them.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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\nMore Stories<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Benny Michaud is a proud Michif (M\u00e9tis) eagle clan person from St. Boniface, Winnipeg, Manitoba. In the Michif language their traditional name is kaa-natawiyiweet dans la sud oschi, which means Medicine Person from the South, and their gender identity is tasta-eeyinew, which loosely translates into \u201ca person in between.\u201d In English, the terms they tend […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":66818,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[1931],"cu_story_tag":[1930,1927],"class_list":["post-77689","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-social-innovation","cu_story_tag-equity-diversity-and-inclusion","cu_story_tag-indigenous"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/77689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/77689\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97454,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/77689\/revisions\/97454"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=77689"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=77689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}