Towards Reconciliation in the Classroom

If you ask any of my friends, they will tell you that I am a person with a generally positive outlook on life. My last post, and some others, were definitely more negative in tone, so I figured I'd find some positives to share with you this week, about Indigenous education in Canada. I thought I'd start local (PEI) and move on to the national level.  Locally, I'd like to share what kinds of Indigenous-focussed courses are available to high school and university students. Nationally, I'd like to share about a recently improved online resource for lessons and units built around the education of Canadians re: aboriginal knowledge and culture. I teach at the only high school in PEI that has an Indigenous studies course, Colonel Gray High School, in Charlottetown. Now, the school is named after a father of the confederation, who perhaps inadvertently helped create the nation of Canada which oppressed Indigenous Peoples, but I digress. Keeping it positive. Our school is lucky...

Continuing on my path of learning, I was reading through a new section in Learning About Walking in Beauty: Placing Aboriginal Perspectives in Canadian Classrooms, Section 2.1: Naming Oppression. All of a sudden I stumbled onto some bits of ideas that I immediately wanted to learn more about, to do a little side research on, so this post explores these more in depth: Social Darwinism and Terra Nullius. You see, I teach the History of Canada to high school students. Every year, we travel through time from pre-contact North America to present day. We stop to appreciate indigenous culture, and make all kinds of links between decisions the federal government made and their consequences on First Nations. We look at Treaties, the Indian Act, Residential Schools, Idle no More, Truth and Reconciliation, etc. Almost every year, a student will put their hand up and ask: why were the Europeans so disrespectful and controlling of First Nations peoples? I tell them I'm not sure, it was just the...

  The topic of this blog post will veer away from education for a minute, and look at something incredible. Something that never ceases to amaze me, and that I see again and again. First Nations have a desire to work together with all who live on Turtle Island. They were committed to this idea from the moment the Europeans arrived, and they continue to express this today. Let's go waayyyyy back to the 1700s, when some European explorers had made contact with First Nations and were beginning to build relationships with them. At that time, Hotinonshon:ni people created a two-row wampum which was presented to the explorers. Wampum belts took months to complete, as beads were made from bone or shells. They were used as a sort of contract, or a treaty, between nations. The two rows in is particular wampum symbolized how the Hotinonshon:ni and Europeans were to learn to live side by side, two nations working separate and equal, working together on this land, neither in each other's s...

  As teachers, we know students are struggling with mental health. We have PD on helping them to develop resilient mindsets and set up support teams in schools. Counselling offices are busy from 9 to 3, every day. Still, the above graphics (Canadian Institute for Health Information, 2022) show that the situation in Canada is dire.  Yes, the pandemic is being blamed for a lot of this sharp downturn in mental health, but even prior to COVID, students were working hard to maintain a positive mindset. For example, Werner (2016) talks about how studying world issues such as poverty, famine, ecological stress, social chaos and international debt, can have a profound effect on student state of mind. Anxiety, despair for the future, etc. can contribute to near complete student shut-down. The author talked about how learning is affected in these situations. He said "without hope, there is no incentive for learning". I would argue, based on the above infographics, that more than just l...

  I accidentally found the above printed resource while I was reading another document, and decided to check it out as I thought I could link it to my blog content. It did not disappoint. This is a 200+ page pdf published by Alberta Education and had 7 chapters dedicated to helping teachers connect with First Nations, Métis and Inuit learners. I wanted to explore aboriginal educational philosophies, from a First Nations point of view. This blog post will speak, in particular, to aboriginal world views, how they compare to Western PBL ideas . The authors identify common threads that run through many Aboriginal cultures are can therefor be referred to as foundational worldviews. These are: a holistic perspective the interconnectedness of all living things connection to the land and community the dynamic nature of the world strength in "power with" Furthermore, Aboriginal education is based on spirituality, relationships and the expression of traditional values, and within each ...

This is the question I am now asking myself. Yes, there is dialogue at the national level. Yes, investments and committees have been dedicated to Reconciliation and movement has been made in a positive direction. But what is the readiness of teachers, curriculum planners, and publishers to engage Reconciliation? To begin, let's look at a few sources that talk about how teachers are feeling. In a CBC video, Isaiah Shafqat, the Indigenous Student Trustee for the Toronto District School Board, is interviewed. He states that, in his district, students are more than willing to learn about indigenous perspectives, and teachers are more than willing to teach (CBC The National, 2021). In PEI, Nancy Peters-Doyle says things are moving in the right direction. She is Mi'kmaw herself, is a member of the Indigenous Education Advisory Committee and teaches at 2 island schools, one on reserve and another in a small nearby non-aboriginal community. She states, in her interview, that cogs are t...