UFV’s Callison is first Indigenous person to receive prestigious national award

Camille Callison (right) with Dr. Stacy Allsion-Cassin, Camille’s co-lead on the Respectful Terminologies Platform Project.

UFV University Librarian Camille Callison was presented with the 2024 Ron MacDonald Outstanding Service Award at a reception in Ottawa on October 3, 2024. The award recognizes an individual from a Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) member institution who has demonstrated vision, dedication, and outstanding service in building bridges and collaboration to advance knowledge infrastructure in Canada.

She is the first Indigenous person to win the award.

Callison, a Tāłtān Nation member, is a passionate cultural activist pursuing a PhD in Anthropology at the University of Manitoba, focusing her research on the intersection between memory institutions and Indigenous knowledges, languages, and cultures. Camille is committed to creating meaningful change related to equity, diversity, and inclusivity in the library, archival, and cultural memory professions.

“I believe this work is critically important as we move from a time of national collective amnesia into a time of moving along the path to reconciliation that we ensure Indigenous voices are heard,” she says. “It is vital that we rectify systems of information management which have too often marginalized Indigenous and many other diverse and underrepresented voices.”

Camille called it “a tremendous honour to receive this prestigious award and be nominated by my peers that I respect and admire.”

“I strongly believe in the power of collaboration and building bridges across organizations to ensure that we support the preservation of First Nations, Metis, and Inuit, and other diverse knowledges, languages, and cultures to create meaningful change within cultural memory institutions,” she says.

A challenge from a mentor changed Camille’s life in ways she never expected, igniting in her a passion for preserving, organizing, and providing access to traditional knowledge. Camille was working as a Library Assistant in 1993 at the Xwi7xwa Library under the mentorship of the Founding Librarian, Dr. Gene Joseph.

Gene saw in Camille the potential to be a defender and advocate of First Nations, and she has spent the three-plus decades since answering the challenge.

“Camille has used all of her leadership and networking skills to bring our needs to national and international peoples and organizations who are now supporters of the various initiatives which she is bringing forward to preserve our people’s language, culture, spirituality and history,” Gene says. “Camille is a cultural warrior, and I am very proud to have recruited her into the profession of librarianship.”

While Indigenous peoples are still vastly underrepresented in GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums) sector professions, Camille’s career is an inspirational example of what’s possible.

She chairs the National Indigenous Knowledge and Language Alliance (NIKLA-ANCLA) aimed at unifying and amplifying First Nations, Métis, and Inuit voices.

Camille is currently partnering with Dalhousie assistant professor Stacy Allison-Cassin on the Respectful Terminologies Platform Project (RTPP). Camille and Stacy are developing a dynamic, multilingual platform for Indigenous terminology that can be used in libraries, archives, museums, and information systems worldwide.

The RTFP is an initiative of the National Indigenous Language and Knowledge Alliance (NIKLA), of which Camille is founder and current Chair. Stacy says she’s personally witnessed Camille’s “efforts to better support Indigenous-related materials through personal investment in time, care, and attention to relationship building and sharing of her knowledge and passion.”

Leslie Weir, Librarian and Archivist of Canada at Library and Archives Canada, says volunteering is a way of life for Camille.

“She reflects the values of Ron MacDonald and the award in his honour, leading the UFV Library while making meaningful, impactful contributions to her Nation, the Indigenous peoples of Canada, and the communities of libraries, archives, galleries, and museums in efforts to make the world a better and more respectful place for all.”