Educators respect and value the history of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis in Canada and the impact of the past on the present and the future. Educators contribute towards truth, reconciliation, and healing. Educators foster a deeper understanding of ways of knowing and being, histories, and cultures of First Nations, Inuit, and Metis.
Truth and reconciliation are something that feels both all-consuming and over-generalized. I find this is the same for most forms of Indigenous education in the classroom. There is a desire to weave all areas of the curriculum with Indigenous ways of knowing, but no true understanding of what that looks like. My personal belief of what Indigenous education is like is based on water.
For many years we have attempted to create a Eurocentric education space. This would be like building a dam to hold back the water. We understand that we cannot eradicate Indigenous ways of being and knowing, but we tried our best to keep it out of the classroom. This seemed to work for some time, but in reality, the dam was slowly weakening. When we realized this, we decided that some of the pressure should be taken off of the dam, so we began removing small glasses of water at a time. This again worked for a time, but in the grand scheme of things, a cup at a time does not do much.
We have moved into a space where we are taking multiple cups of water at a time and watering our gardens with it. We are beginning to see the first signs of new growth in classrooms. However, we are still too scared to fully embrace the water and remove the dam. Our Eurocentric classrooms have been developed by aspects that we are maybe scared the water will destroy and wash away.
As we move into the action phase of truth and reconciliation, I believe we will see the removal of the dam. Some people may be washed away, but over time we will see a large majority adapt and grow gills. Standard nine for me is how we take the steps to begin the adaption process, and eventually stop being bothered by the barriers that hold Indigenous ways of knowing at bay.
I have had the opportunity to address Indigenous education in a new way during my 10-week practicum. Previously I have been caught up with how to remove the tokenism from Indigenous education and deliver a more authentic product. I realized that the biggest thing I was doing wrong, was that I kept confusing intention with expectation. I was not intentionally putting Indigenous content into my work but rather was plopping it into open spots out of expectation that it would be shared. To help avoid this from happening in this practicum, I chose a focus of the week. The students were tasked to think about how it would relate to our activities and if there was something they connected to in the principle. The students began considering how their social connections reflected the standards.
There was a group of girls who acknowledged that they consistently broke the principle of sacred knowledge. There was constant gossip about their peers and the crushes they had or the difficulties they were facing in life. During a girl’s meeting, they decided the best course forward was to not share anything. If people do not respect the importance of information being shared, then they do not have the right to know that information. The trust is currently being earned back, and one day they hope to be able to confide in their peers again.