I am still coming to terms with the incredible learning opportunities offered in the Lhulh’uts’ut’en – We Come Together Virtual Indigenous Professional Development Day. The information alone was vast, and the implications are still materializing.

The morning began with drumming and a welcome from the Lheidli T’enneh.The opening keynote, Dr. Dustin Louie, spoke about Truth and Reconciliation, barriers, the difference between decolonizing and Indigenizing and the importance of each. I then joined Guy and Ruby Prince for Session 1 on “Hosting Elders and Knowledge Holders in Education – Guidelines” and Tannis Reynolds for Session 2, “Indigenous Worldview, Identity and Acceptance.” Closing keynote, Dr. Niigaanwewidam Sinclair, while controversial in his words, was also thought provoking in regard to the willingness of the general population to accept indigenous people and ideas, and provided curriculum resources that address the question of how to incorporate Indigenous teachings into education.

To say that my reactions over the past few days have been strong, heartfelt, and life changing barely scratches the surface.

There is simply too much information and too many ideas to cover them all here, so I will focus on one of the ideas I feel most strongly about: the importance of Indigenizing schools. Beyond the obvious reasons that Canada exists on Indigenous land and people with Indigenous cultures comprise a large amount of Canadians,Ā  the Indigenization of schools is necessary because it benefits every individual student and particularly to First Nations students.

Guy and Ruby Prince (2020) explain that many Indigenous people feel fear and anxiety at the prospect of coming into a school. There is intergenerational distrust of the system that inflicted the residential schools and their lingering effects (Prince & Prince, 2020). Tannis Reynolds (2020) shares the feeling of “living in a world where I feel like I don’t belong” and suggests that “Bringing culture into the schools says ‘It’s ok to have a different worldview. You belong here,'”Ā  which highlights the impact that a sense of belonging has on identity. Reynolds further explains that Indigenous people are “either going to lose our language and culture or we are going to hang onto it” and “the language and culture has to be in schools … we need a place to be able to bring in the language and culture if we are going to be able to save our language and culture” showing that language and culture are also significant contributors to identity. If a student can not see themselves within the school this contributes to their personal sense of identity and they have a hard time thinking of themselves as intelligent (Sinclair, 2020).

This breaks my heart as it is important that all students can believe they are smart, so that they feel confident that they have something to contribute to society. All people have something they are good at, and young people especially, need to find that skill so that they can view themselves as valued and successful. Every student needs to feel safe and welcome at school. All should be able to explore and develop their identity and form an idea of self without fear of persecution in any regard. It is important that all students view themselves as intelligent because it seems intrinsic to the belief that a person can learn. If a person does not think they are capable of learning, they will be less likely to try; if all the evidence shows that you will fail, then to try is a waste of your time. There are extensive barriers to education for many students, so if educators can remove some of these barriers as easily as promoting First Nations culture, art, language, and world views, it seems inherently wrong to overlook this opportunity.

So how do I, as an emerging educator, approach this subject? Guy and Ruby Prince were clear in their presentation, that having Elders into the classroom and expecting them to cover the First Nations component is not enough. It is better if teachers and students learn how to interact with these elders and find ways of developing relationships with them (Prince, 2020). One exciting example of how this has been done is The Elder Project, explained by Sandra Lynxleg (2017), as a creative writing project that brings together students and Elders (pp. 156). While Sandra’s proposed endeavours involve rather large time and budget commitments (pp. 170), the idea of connecting students and Elders to create a piece of work is intriguing, and I would like to try this at some point. However, I think it would be necessary to prepare students for such an interaction by generating interest in First Nations culture, too. Perhaps introducing students to indigenous concepts, history, and ideas would work best; to state the obvious, incorporating First Nations culture into all areas of education will likely garner student inquiry. As yet, I am not sure how to do this once I’m teaching, but I will be paying attention to how current teachers incorporate First Nations values into their practice. Dr. Dustin Louie (2020), suggests that people without indigenous background and knowledge could approach the topic “humbly” and “as learners.”

So even though this is a daunting task on a professional level, I have made a personal goal to learn about and incorporate First Nations perspectives into my own life. I am starting with myself and my family: since we are engaging in distributed learning at home, I have the opportunity to join my children as learners and start. We will figure it out together. We will try some of Dr. Sinclair’s curriculum. We will make mistakes, and we will apologize for them. We will do better. Most importantly, we will begin. Perhaps this approach could work on a professional level as well. I get the feeling that many people in the education field and beyond are in the same boat: we don’t know, but we will find out, and something will work.

References:

Louie, D. (2020, Sept. 28). Keynote Address [Conference Session]. Lhulh’uts’ut’en – We Come TogetherĀ From Equity Scan to Action PlanĀ SD57 Online Pro-D Conference, online.

Lynxleg, S. (November 2017). Strawberry Fields Forever: planting seeds, growing poets. In J. Archibald, Q. Q. Xiiem & J. Hare (Eds.),Ā Learning Knowing Sharing: Celebrating Successes in K-12 Aboriginal Education in British ColumbiaĀ (pp. 155-171). Office of Indigenous Education/Indigenous Education Institute of Canada, Faculty of Education, UBC & British Columbia Principals’ & Vice-Principals’ Association.

Prince, G., & Prince, R. (2020, Sept. 28). Hosting Elders and Knowledge Holders in Education – Guidelines [Conference Session]. Lhulh’uts’ut’en – We Come TogetherĀ From Equity Scan to Action PlanĀ SD57 Online Pro-D Conference, online.

Reynolds, T.(2020, Sept. 28). Indigenous Worldview, Identity, and Acceptance [Conference Session]. Lhulh’uts’ut’en – We Come TogetherĀ From Equity Scan to Action PlanĀ SD57 Online Pro-D Conference, online.

Sinclair, N. (2020, Sept. 28).Ā Keynote Address [Conference Session]. Lhulh’uts’ut’en – We Come TogetherĀ From Equity Scan to Action PlanĀ SD57 Online Pro-D Conference, online.