Q&A: Indigenous USask student creates opportunities for Saskatoon youth to explore digital spaces

by Kristen McEwen

Indigenous student Jolon Lafond has always believed in community.

Lafond is being recognized with a Community Engagement Award at this year’s University of Saskatchewan (USask) Indigenous Student Achievement Awards ceremony on March 13.

A citizen of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, located in Treaty Six Territory, Lafond is a father of three children, and also the executive director of the White Buffalo Youth Lodge (WBYL) in Saskatoon. WBYL is an inner-city urban leisure facility for youth in late afternoons and evenings.

As a fourth-year School for the Arts student, Lafond has incorporated his art education with his work at WBYL, creating a digital media lab, including computers, tablets, robotics, coding, 3D printers, and other digital equipment. He has also worked with the USask shARed spaces research project to bring opportunities for youth to create augmented reality animations.

Lafond also sits as a chair for the Community Advisory Board on Saskatoon Homelessness and the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation Land Advisory Authority.

Lafond is one of eight Indigenous USask College of Arts and Science students receiving Indigenous Student Achievement Awards on March 13.

The awards honours USask Indigenous students for their achievements including academic excellence, leadership, research, community engagement and resiliency. The ceremony is part of USask Indigenous Achievement Week (IAW), which celebrates the successes and contributions of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit students, staff, faculty and alumni. This year’s IAW was held from March 10-14.

The following interview with Jolon Lafond has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What are your thoughts on receiving the Community Engagement Award?

Lafond: When I first learnt I was nominated, it’s not something that I was expecting.

The professors that put the nomination forward, I’ve been working with (them) over the course of about seven to eight years. They’re really familiar with what I do as a full-time job and how much I believe in community. It’s really huge, it was really moving.

I come from a family that’s really community engaged in all facets, so it’s really nice to be recognized.

Q: You mentioned that you’re a father of three, you’re also the director of the White Buffalo Youth Lodge (in Saskatoon), and you’re going to school full-time. How do you balance (everything)?

Lafond: My oldest is (almost) 27 years old, my middle child is 17, and my youngest is 12. So, I get a little bit of space there.

The full-time job and schooling are really a lot. Over the last five years, a lot of school has been online or evening courses. (Faculty are) very patient with me and they work with my time management skills.

I remember growing up, and my dad was doing his master’s (degree). When I was six. I’d be sitting there in Grade 1, writing a paper of what I want to be when I grow up, when he was working on his thesis.

It’s cyclical and it’s really good for (my kids) to see that it takes a little bit more effort to get to that next level.

Q: Why did you decide to attend USask?

Lafond: I was a young father, and I made a conscious decision to support my child, and my family at the time. That was through employment.

I came back home from Edmonton, Alta. In 2011. I started working with my band (Muskeg Lake Cree Nation). And over the course of the next five to six years, it was really becoming evident that I wanted to look at different opportunities.

Like I said, my father was doing his master’s when I was young so I’ve been running around the U of S, through the tunnels since a young age. I knew I was always kind of attached to this space.

I really wanted to look at a degree here (at USask). I originally started with ISD—which is interactive system design—in 2016, but I really felt a connection in the arts. I had some background in classical animation, some digital stuff in the early 2000s and a lot of sketching and drawing.

I really felt that calling and (made the) switch in 2017-18. I took a few printmaking classes with (associate professor) John Graham, and some videography courses and digital media with (associate professor) Lisa Birke. I wanted to get into studio art more.

Q: As executive director of the White Buffalo Youth Lodge (WBYL), how have you been able to incorporate your art education with your work at the WBYL?

Lafond: I think being from community, being from Muskeg, and working and growing within Saskatchewan, I’ve seen a lot of opportunities for learning and had a lot of learning opportunities for myself.

One of the pieces I really wanted to build was looking at youth, primarily First Nations youth, but for all youth, and providing an opportunity to learn the “other” arts. It’s wasn’t just about drawing and painting.

And so, working with Lisa (Birke) and we wanted to ensure that the children at the WBYL had an opportunity to experience animation and digital media at a young age. That led to the creation of a digital space during pandemic. I can’t take full responsibility. The digital media lab wasn’t just me. There was a lot of people and vision behind it that assisted in its creation.

Coming out of the pandemic, we had identified that digital arts and digital media, the virtual world was waiting for the kids—3D printing, videography, digital photography. Introducing the kids to that became really paramount in ensuring that as they transition to other spaces that they had a background in that of some kind.

We wanted to introduce them to Adobe Creative Suite before they got into Sask Polytechnic, or USask, or SIIT, or even PAVED Arts. Gave them that opportunity to be on a level where they’re comfortable and give them the confidence to be in those new spaces.

When we’re talking about the digital realm—and Saskatoon, or Saskatchewan being the Silicon Valley of the North—we want to give those opportunities to the youth in the community to understand they have a place there and they can create a space for themselves.

I’ve always felt that kids just need the opportunity, or a chance to experience. It gives them a window and a vision for themselves of what they could do, or what they want to be.

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