The Nest

In this episode, UVic Native Students’ Union (NSU) Outreach Officer Ave Federspiel chats with Martlet Operations Manager Rae Dawson about opportunities and services the NSU provides to support Indigenous students at UVic. They unpack the history of the NSU, programs to bolster Indigenous student’s wellbeing such as the NSU’s Carebox, Fresh Prep, and Guestcard Programs, and overcoming imposter synd...

In this episode, AccessBC’s research lead Sara Sunderji and campaign coordinator Anahita Seraji sits down with Nest producer Rae Dawson to discuss AccessBC’s current campaign to address IUD insertion pain management in B.C. They talk about what AccessBC is and their goals, their four key asks of the BC Government during this campaign, and the important work of building capacity for uncertainty dur...

In this episode, Mayor of Saanich Dean Murdock sits down with Nest producer Rae Dawson to discuss the updated Shelbourne Valley and Quadra Mackenzie city plans, creating affordable and accessible housing, battling misinformation within municipal government, and the importance of having your voice heard by local councilors. You can reach out to Mayor Dean Murdock here: Email: mayor@saanich.ca Insta...

Nest producer and Martlet Operations Manager Rae Dawson sits down with Lauren McLean, the LE,NONET Student Leadership Program Coordinator at UVic’s Office of Indigenous Academic & Community Engagement (IACE) to talk about support for Indigenous students on campus. In the words of IACE Executive Director Dr. Jacquie Green, IACE “works to support the success of Indigenous students at UVic by pro...

LampPost Victoria Co-Founder Simon Larocque sits down with Operations Manager and Nest producer Rae Dawson to discuss LampPost’s venture into creating community connections in Victoria, B.C. LampPost Victoria is an event calendar platform for finding events, hosting events and regular meet-ups, and community cohort gatherings. They discuss what LampPost is and the inspiration behind it, tangible w...

PEERS Victoria Executive Director Leigh Elliot and Education Coordinator Sarah Smith sit down with Martlet Editor-in-Chief Sydney Lobe to discuss PEERS’ work as a resource society created by sex workers for sex workers in Victoria, BC. For 30 years, PEERS has been providing outreach, harm reduction, and education services for people in the sex industry. They discuss the on-the-ground services PEER...

World leading sea cucumber crime expert Teale Phelps Bondaroff and Martlet Editor-in-Chief Sydney Lobe discuss recent sea cucumber crime on Vancouver Island. Teale leads an international team of researchers with OceansAsia and his work on illegal fishing has helped draw attention to wildlife crime targeting lesser-known but important marine species like sea cucumbers and krill. Together they discu...

Juls Macdonell (she/him), assistant coordinator for the Campus Community Garden (CCG) at UVic, sits down with Martlet Editor-in-Chief Sydney Lobe to discuss the CCG. The CCG is an affiliate group of the UVSS who manages an urban agriculture and permaculture space on campus, hosts free educational workshops and fun events, and rents out plots. They walk through a verbal tour of the garden, the radi...

Martlet Editor-in-Chief Sydney Lobe talks with Taha Qureshi, the coordinator for the Students of Colour Collective (SOCC) about what SOCC’s role is at UVic. SOCC is a student advocacy group that serves all racialized UVic students and works to promote and support cultural diversity on campus and in the Greater Victoria community. Taha speaks to who is a part of the SOCC, how to be an ally to stude...

In this episode of the Nest, Martlet Editor-in-Chief Sydney Lobe sits down with Sean Holman, the founding director of the Climate Disaster Project. The CDP is an international teaching newsroom based at the University of Victoria that works with people affected by climate change to share and investigate their stories. Sean and Sydney unpack what inspired the CDP’s beginnings, the difficulty and ne...