Episode 44: Indigenous Immersion Initiative Mini-Series episode 7
April 21, 2023
Episode 46: Gwen Lankford
June 1, 2023
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Episode 45: III Mini-Series episode 8: Dr. Joe McDonald, Cinda Ironmaker, and Major Robinson from the Flathead Nation
This mini-series episode was recorded on the Flathead Nation and is made up of 3 parts. For part 1, Major Robinson interviews Dr. Joe McDonald, founder and former president of Salish and Kootenai College. For part 2, Major interviews Cinda Ironmaker, Public Health Specialist for the Rocky Mountain Tribal Leaders Council, and participant in the III program. And finally, we turn the mic on Major to ask him a few questions about examples of indigenous culture reflected in architecture and what he is learning in this Leadership Montana program.
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Dr. Joe McDonald
Powerful Quotes
Dr. Joe McDonald on Tribal Colleges serving both indigenous and non-indigenous students:
“It’s done so much to promote understanding here. The students are in classes together, visit together, recognize one another’s cultures and needs and appreciate one another more, so it really has worked out very well.”
Major Robinson
Powerful Quotes
Major Robinson on Indigenous Culture reflected in Architecture:
“You know that’s important because it makes me stand a little taller, it makes me smile, because it’s us reflecting our culture in our buildings that we work and we live in and we play in, and it just shows once again that same message of “we’re still here” and not only are we still here, we’re thriving, we’re expressing our cultural identity through architecture.”
Major Robinson on his learning during the CSKT session of III
“We’re taking our people, hopefully to that next level, and leading in a way that’s thoughtful, but leading from a position of identity and connection to our community.”
“What I’ve learned on this trip is realizing how integrated we are with other tribal members as native people. I was reminded that back in the 1980s I actually worked very closely with a lot of the tribal members because we were in that kind of unique group of firefighters you know, a couple of us were smoke jumpers and I actually was a smokejumper that worked with the current tribal chairman, Tom McDonald, and it just made me laugh and smile because you know that was kind of part of our upbringing on the reservation, is that if you can do firefighting, you know, that was something. Because you were giving back to your people, you were giving to your family, you were challenging yourself, and then to go on and do smoke jumping was just a real honor to represent my tribe. It wasn’t just representing me it was representing my tribe. There’s not too many that do that and I felt like I was carrying my tribe with me and to see that the tribal chairman here was also a smokejumper and lived that life, and in fact, councilwoman Carol Lankford that we met last night, and that I’ve known for some time as well, that she was also a firefighter as well, so it’s just those connections that are so important that you know we’re taking our people, hopefully to that next level, and leading in a way that’s thoughtful, but leading from a position of identity and connection to our community.”
Cinda Ironmaker
Powerful Quotes
Cinda Ironmaker on her experience in the CSKT session of III:
It’s just the learning. I think with all of the tribes that we have went to, a lot of the cultures are different on each reservation. And many of those I did not know. So, I am learning as we go along too, like I say, like we get into those individual conversations with Leadership Montana and whoever is teaching those classes and, I learn. I learn things that I never knew before, even though I’ve traveled to many of these reservations many times, spoken to many people, some of these conversations are things that I have never known before.”
