ReconciliACTION
Teachers, from Kindergarten to Grade 12, collaborated with their students, with school board representatives, and with an advisory committee made up of Algonquin, Métis, Inuit, and Non-Indigenous community members to explore the question “How can the OCSB community address one or more of the 94 Calls to Action and, in doing so, actively contribute to Reconciliation?”
As a First Nations educator, reconciliation and Indigenous education are topics that are very important to me. While reconciliation is not the responsibility of Indigenous people, efforts should certainly include us. In order to reconcile, settlers should not be deciding what Indigenous people need and what to do about it, which is a colonized mindset, but rather listening and acting with humility. The Calls to Action and UNDRIP are targeted to governments and institutions; an individual cannot look at the document and have a blueprint for what to do to further reconciliation. What they can do is read between the lines at the broader picture.
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It is my hope that as my students build positive relationships through listening to Indigenous voices, they will recognize that we are real, contemporary, and relevant people worthy of respect, and that we are not the stereotypes about our people, and that when they rise to positions of power they will remember their learning from this experience and be able to concretely enact the Calls to Action in their lives and careers.
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action I chose to focus on were:
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62. We call upon the federal, provincial, and territorial governments, in consultation and collaboration with Survivors, Aboriginal peoples, and educators, to:
i. Make age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools, Treaties, and Aboriginal peoples’ historical and contemporary contributions to Canada a mandatory education requirement for Kindergarten to Grade Twelve students.
ii. Provide the necessary funding to post-secondary institutions to educate teachers on how to integrate Indigenous knowledge and teaching methods into classrooms.
63. We call upon the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada to maintain an annual commitment to Aboriginal education issues, including:
i. Developing and implementing Kindergarten to Grade Twelve curriculum and learning resources on Aboriginal peoples in Canadian history, and the history and legacy of residential schools.
ii. Sharing information and best practices on teaching curriculum related to residential schools and Aboriginal history.
iii. Building student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect.
iv. Identifying teacher-training needs relating to the above
Integrating Indigenous Knowledge and Teaching Methods: Decolonzing Education
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Students practiced "two-eyed seeing," appreciating the respective strengths of both Indigenous and Western ways of knowing
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The project design centered the learner and engaged them to take ownership of their learning: the educator acted as a guide rather than director
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Students developed respectful relationships with Indigeous community members, developing respect and empathy
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Students co-constructed knowledge as appropriate for themselves
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Students were given the curriculum expectations with the freedom to demonstrate their knowledge in any way they wished, with some suggestions provided
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Students self-assessed and collaborated with the teacher to determine their final grade
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Students were encouraged to collaborate with others
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Students were free to structure their own time for the month we worked on the project
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There was purpose beyond the curriculum expectations to develop in the Deep Learning Global Competencies
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The classroom was structured with flexible groupings and seating for students to work in a manner that worked for them.
Students were introduced on Day 5 to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (with Indigenous peoples in Canada) 94 Calls to Action (TRC 94CTA) in both formal language and kid-friendly language, as well as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). In their topic groups, students skimmed through both to think about why their chosen question matters and how it can tie to UNDRIP or the TRC 94CTA. Strong ties were not expected at this time, and the connection may have been as simple as listening to and elevating Indigenous voices through the inquiry. I also developed a document outlining which Calls to Action/UNDRIP articles I thought students might make connections to through their inquiry.
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I emailed the students' questions to our school board's Indigenous Education consultant, who connected me (directly and through the advisory committee) to Indigenous artists and scientists with expertise in the topics students are inquiring about. The intention I had was that students could then connect with these individuals to interview them and garner their perspectives on the inquiry questions, however in practice it worked out that I booked guest speakers for the whole class and students made ties from the presentations in their work. Students were exposed to Indigenous peoples from a variety of contexts. Listening to their unique perspectives on their inquiry questions, their perspectives on reconciliation, and noticing commonalities in the presentations of all speakers, such as the understanding of the world through Indigenous language structures and caring for the land helped students appreciate the diversity and commonalities among Indigenous people.
Impact on Students
"I definitely learned more than content. As someone who is not very culturally in touch, exploring the Indigenous side of propaganda helped me to develop a greater understanding of the impact of the media on Indigenous people."
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One student created an art piece and provided an accompanying written response, making connections to the views our guest speakers shared on beauty
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Another learner asking "Is propaganda art?" examined the impact of propaganda on Indigenous people through a film study
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This student completed a research paper on Indigenous perspectives on gender and beauty
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This learner created a podcast script about how different philosophers including Indigenous people determine beauty.
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This student created a Venn diagram with explanation
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This student created an art piece and response
These products represent a variety of students' understanding of various Indigenous points of view and issues related to colonization; while their understanding may have errors or be incomplete, all students showed growth and increased appreciation and respect for Indigenous peoples.
Community Sharing
At the end of our journey, we were able to share our learning. Unfortunately because of exams, we did not have student representation at this event, but I was able to share a condensed version of the learning our class did.
Our work is also being shared board-wide as an example of reconciliation projects happening in our schools on an internal Virtual Garden website.