Four years on the job for Strathmore Indigenous liaison

Time seems to have flown by for the Town of Strathmore's Indigenous Liaison Astokomii Smith.

What began as a summer student position recommended to her by her teacher has now morphed into a position that sees Smith travelling and meeting with members of the community on items like the town’s anti-racism campaign and the development of a YouTube series called Coffee with Astokomii.

Smith says she was a was nervous about her position at first.

“I was still in high school when I did my interview. It was really nerve-wracking, it was my and it's been my first job and only job since then,” she said.

“It was always supposed to be for the summer, but they just decided. ‘Why are we doing something so big with Indigenous engagement for only a summer?’”

Smith says things have gone well so far.

“It's something that I really enjoy doing, teaching about my culture and educating others, and so definitely not something that I was new to, but I am grateful for the experiences that it gave me as well,” she said.

In terms of the series ‘Coffee with Astokomii,' she says they are holding back just a little bit for now and working on a new topic to address this summer.

She explained that the series was created during the pandemic during the time of the anti-racism campaign and held in order to engage with the community.

“There was a lot of concern about it too. It was a fun way to address some of those questions that people had,” she said.

On the topic of anti-racism, visitors to the town’s Facebook page can now watch the film called ‘Ayoungman’, directed by Two Canoes Media, which chronicles the impact of the murder of Kristian Ayoungman.

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