Round Square Conference in Canada

By Frances Davis '24

At 7:00 p.m. on the 12th of February, five student delegates, along with Mr. Holmes and Mr. Pouye, loaded their bags into a van and headed north to the Winter Round Square Conference in Ottawa, Canada. Armed with heavy down jackets and a surface level understanding of the theme ‘Living the North,’ we thought we had a decent idea of what was to come. Despite it being different than we expected, we were all very pleasantly surprised at the direction the conference ended up heading.

Our week-long stay was broken up into three portions; the first with a host family in Ottawa, then a couple of nights at a resort near Montréal, then back to the host families. While in Ottawa, we ate and slept at our host families’ homes, getting to know them and the other student delegates we were living with. We spent the rest of our days listening to fascinating speakers who taught us about the Arctic Circle, indigenous people and their relationship to nature, and the effect of climate change on northern territories. Some of these incredible keynote speakers included Hanne Fugl Eskjaer – the current Danish ambassador to Canada, Waneek Horn-Miller – the first Mohawk woman in the Olympics, and Natan Obed – the President of Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. Every speaker we were so fortunate to hear from challenged predisposed beliefs many of us carried and encouraged us to learn more about what climate change is doing to northern communities and the North’s impact on the broader ecosystem.

On the last day, we were split into groups to learn a particular trade important in indigenous culture, including making beeswax candles, beading, and making dreamcatchers. I believe I speak for everyone who attended when I say that overall it was an incredible experience during which I learned so much. We are presently thrilled to bring what we learned back to Cate through an upcoming project with the rest of our Cate delegation.