THUNDER BAY – By engaging in dialogue with "patience and love" the library's new senior advisor for Indigenous relations hopes to strengthen the relationship between the library and Indigenous communities in the city.
Stephanie MacLaurin has been brought on to work with community partners in achieving the goals in the Thunder Bay Public Library’s relationship-building and reconciliation action plan.
“I'll be building relationships with Indigenous community organizations and non-Indigenous as well. I'll also be working at helping advise management on decolonizing the library and the services that they provide,” MacLaurin told Newswatch in an interview.
She said she is excited to start working on action plan items that are directly linked to her home community, Fort William First Nation — including bringing the Thunder Bay Public Library to the community.
“I can envision a path forward. It will take some conversations with the community and the library. I couldn't envision exactly a time frame or how long that might take. I do see support from both the library and my home community as well, so I think that's part of why I'm looking forward to it so much is having support from both angles,” MacLaurin said.
When asked if she foresaw any challenges to her role as a liaison to both the Indigenous Advisory Council and organizational partners she said one of the biggest challenges is opening up the dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
“I think it takes a lot of patience and love to engage in conversations like this, so I'm looking forward to that aspect, but I believe fully that there will be challenges around that and with respect and care. As I said, love, I think that can overcome a lot of the challenges when you're engaging in such complex and convoluted conversations,” MacLaurin said.
CEO Richard Togman said MacLaurin will strengthen the community's knowledge of Indigenous relationships.
MacLaurin's role isn’t just external relationship-building. Inside, she will be curating programs focused on bringing Indigenous knowledge perspectives to the library patrons.
“Stephanie will be supervising a whole new suite of programs focused both on programs that appeal to the Indigenous community themselves and also bridging programs that bring both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together to learn about Indigenous culture, engage in practices to build that mutual understanding and education. That is the foundation of the library,” Togman said.
“We know that there's a lot of work to do around reconciliation, so some of these programs will help in that effort. Things that are more traditional, like beading workshops and moccasin creation programs, but also some more innovative stuff that she'll be developing over the course of her first year in the role.”
MacLaurin holds a double honours bachelor of arts in political science (pre-law) and Indigenous learning, as well as a master’s degree in Indigenous governance. She has worked in fields of lands and governance, political science, and mental health. She also taught in an aboriginal law and advocacy program for four years.
