So you may be wondering, how did this network get started? Well let me tell you!
This student led initiative came about in the Spring of 2011, upon the urging of the Canadian Association for Social Work Education (CASWE); Student Standing Committee Chair and the CASWE Board of Directors; Student member. These two student representatives were looking to increase the presence of Indigenous social work students among CASWE happenings; such as the annual CASWE conference that takes place every Spring.
The natural place to start was to contact the current chair of the Indigenous Social Work Education Network (ISWEN) to see what kind of student involvement was present within the ISWEN to get the ball rolling. The ISWEN chair then linked the CASWE student representatives with an Indigenous student who was already affiliated with the ISWEN listserv.
Once these initial connections were formed, all three students had a dinner meeting during the CASWE Conference of 2011, which took place in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Over dinner, exciting ideas for creating a virtual network across Canada that would provide points of connection and support for all Indigenous students who are pursuing studies in Social Work, were discussed. And that is how ‘this’ all got started.
