Your liberation is bound to mine and my liberation is bound to yours...

Chris Stewart (@ChrisStewartBC on Twitter) speaking on the challenges faced by aboriginal teachers and the need for allies.

Voices for Right Choices

The following is from Mr. Kevin Kaiser of Warriors for Change, and an educator at MBSS in West Kelowna.  Contact information is at the bottom of the post.

W4C is excited to pass on some news about an exciting event our Aboriginal Leadership class is organizing on the West Bank Reserve on November 24^thand 25^th. After the inspiration of We Day, our leadership, Voices for Right Choices”, wanted to take on an action that really celebrated Aboriginal culture and traditions. This has taken the form of a 24-hour drumming event and everyone is welcome!

25 young leaders, plus countless community members will be participating in 24 hours of drumming to raise awareness about Aboriginal Education past/present/future while raising money to spread their message to other Aboriginal communities in BC. Here is their message.

We are students at Mount Boucherie Secondary School, and co-organizers of “Voices for Right Choices” which is a fund raising event committed to raising awareness about First Nations Youth and Community issues. We are connected to Warriors for Change, A non-profit group that looks to provide Aboriginal youth with the experience they need to succeed and work together to make a positive difference in their local and global community.

Our story begins at We Day 2011 in Rogers Arena, Vancouver. A group of students from our Aboriginal Leadership class had an opportunity to participate in this event and we were motivated to take a stand and make a change. There are many problems on reservations and in First Nations communities, and not enough coverage on them. We, at the Voices for Right Choices Committee, want to change this and have decided to hold a 24 hour drum-a-thon to raise awareness and funds to help make cultural performances in other districts to create inspiration across the province while enhancing aboriginal education.

The Voices for Right Choices 24 hour drum-a-thon will take place at 3:00 p.m. on November 24th-25th at Sensisyusten House of Learning located on 1920 Quail Lane. We are asking for your help to make this possible. You can help by donating supplies or making monetary donations. If you are interested, please contact Rainey Wesley, Rylee Mitchell and Kevin Kaiser at voicesforrightchoices@hotmail.com or visit www.warriorsforchange.com for more info.

PQT Inquiry Update

Just a short update on our PQT Inquiry into health and wellness for Aboriginal teachers.  We are taking a break this year from the current format we were using and will be deciding how we want to move forward with the project.  Essentially, our first phase is done and we are looking to the future and the next stage in the process.
The big question is how do we support the health and wellness of Indigenous teachers in BC? 

Pellteteq'em: The Crossover Moon

The following is an address by Dr. Ronald E. Ignace, PhD, to last year’s New Bright Day 2 workshop held in Lytton.  Printed with permission.  Thanks Marj for bringing this to our attention.

            

  THOUGHTS FOR A NEW RELATIOSHIP                                                                            

Why are we here today? What has brought us to this point?  What has brought to our state of misery and the necessity for a Truth and Reconciliation Commission?  What is it that we Indigenous nations want?  These are questions I have asked myself and have been asked by many.  I was awakened very early one morning by an onslaught of ideas that came to mind to those questions i.e., questions of Man's inhumanity to Man and a longing to end this insanity.  That 's what we must stand for and desire.

         The Honorable Mr. Frank Iacobucci stands for that from what I gather from his statement to the First Public Policy Forum of the G.F. Osbaldeston Lecture (Nov., 15/06) The Honorable Iacobucci quotes Mahar Arar who wrote, “…accountability is not about seeking revenge,” he wrote in the Ottawa Citizen recently. “It is about making our institutions better and a model for the rest of the world. Accountability goes to the heart of our democracy. It is a fundamental pillar that distinguishes our society from police states.” Then he went on to state “We ought to remember that every breach of the Values and Ethics code, every departure from ethical practice requires a proportional response. That’s how a value-driven system works, that’s what makes it so powerful and, as you will have gathered by now, that’s why I believe that articulating and clarifying core values and ethics and holding people accountable for adhering to them is not just a fundamental, but perhaps the most fundamental responsibility of public service leaders today and in the future. ”

 That's what our Indigenous leaders of the Interior of B.C. in 1910 stood and called for when they made their presentation to Sir Wilfred Laurier in Kamloops and for which we still fight for to this day.

        Now the question is how did this "inhumanity to man" become institutionalized in Canada? Where did it come from:-The Residential Schools, destruction of our languages, theft of our Homelands? In short, it was invented in Europe and transported and imposed on our Native soil as evidenced in the words of John Ralston Saul in Reflections of a Siamese Twin: 

“They [Canada's mother countries] invented and sent us organized philosophies, which summarized their own internal battles and prejudices.  These quickly took on lives of their own here and became the clear expression of the forces eager to destroy…"   -

And destroy it did, for it wreaked havoc on us. As evidence to this, by a BC chief, in the early 1900s, who is quoted as saying: 

[We feel] "Like men trampled on, and commencing to believe that the aim of the white man is to exterminate us as soon as they can" (Fisher 1977: 184)

A king of finance, Cecil Rhodes who in 1895 wrote and best represents the organized philosophies invented and sent to us stated: 

"I was in the East End of London yesterday and attended a meeting of the unemployed.  I listed to the wild speeches, which were just a cry for bread, bread, bread… I pondered over the scene and I became more than convinced of the importance of imperialism…My cherished idea is a solution for the social problem, i.e. in order to save the United Kingdom from a bloody civil war, we colonial statesmen must acquire new lands to settle the surplus population…The Empire, as I have always said, is a bread and butter question.  If you want to avoid civil war, you must become an imperialist statesman.  As a result of the export of Europe's surplus population to North America, in the words of a renowned historian,  [Europeans] were spared from disease and death…Every year it redeems thousands of men who for want of sufficient work in the mother country…from sinking deeper into poverty and death by famine  - i.e. Ireland and the Potato Famine etc., - the result of the invented philosophy was the rise of an ideology that became embedded in the political economy of this country, and was championed by succeeding  governments of Canada and especially in British Columbia. This ideology concluded that "as an inferior race…we believe, [the Indian] must give way in order to make room for a race more enlightened, and by nature and habits better fitted to perform the task of converting what is a wilderness into productive fields and happy homes (BC Colonist 1861).

To put it into the words of a Canadian scholar and poet laureate, Stephen Leacock, who wrote:

"The continent remained, as it had been for uncounted centuries, empty.  We think of prehistoric North America as inhabited by the Indians, and have based on this a sort of recognition of ownership on their part.  But this attitude is hardly warranted. The Indians were too few to count.  Their use of the continent was scarcely more than that by crows and wolves, their development of it nothing."

This invention of, on the one hand, of racial superiority, and on the other hand, the dehumanization of us took on a life of its own and became a clear expression of the forces eager to dispossess us of our land and eagerly willing to destroy us.  Racism thus became embedded as an ideology in the political economy of this country as a means of maintaining the privileged position of the settler population over us as native nations. In essence an idea became a material force for our destruction.

Witness the United Nations Commission on Human Rights Judgment of Canada in the year 2000. - Canadian quality of life is the #1 in the world, while aboriginal peoples’ quality of life, in the same country, and at the same table, is #47, rife with ill health, poor education, poverty, short life expectancy, misery and degradation. As we can see, poverty is a destructive force and is a condition that has been imposed on us as though it were a pox-infected blanket.

 This is not new.  Our chiefs in 1910 stated that as a result of BC government's policy towards us is driving us to begging and wage slavery in our homeland.  In the words of my chief in 1910, Chief Joe Tomma, who stated that,  "the white man has spoiled us and locked us in on reserves.  The white men have taken all the land and claim everything in it."  The chiefs of 1910 further pointed out that "these guests" of ours in our homeland turned on us, and “imposed your laws on us without regard to any of our laws; tore down our posts - the boundaries of our homeland, long recognized and respected by neighboring nations, and imposed your boundaries on us; refusing to treat our peoples' leaders as men”  - what great humiliation to be experienced by men who were once great leaders and statesmen with 'supreme authority'.  Yet the power and the wealth of this country comes from stolen lands defended by racial superiority.  Our chiefs were led to believe these guests were only going to borrow our land and give it back in an improved state. In spite of all this our chiefs, in the Laurier Memorial, urged not to do anything against the Whiteman for our Chiefs believed ‘that something at this time retards them from doing the right thing, they will in the end do the square thing by us’. It is our Sewepemc law that when someone enters our house as guests we must treat them with respect and be hospitable. Our chiefs struggled to maintain their sense of humanity in spite of the decimation of our population between 1811 and 1910 by 75%, the loss of 99% of our homeland; one of our late elders, Dr. Mary Thomas, used to always reminds us by saying, whatever happens, "don't forget, we are human beings. "  Think about it, we still have to defend our sense of humanity.

In spite of the inhumanity that our people faced, our leaders, our statesmen, put out a hand of friendship.  They said these people who intruded into our house are now our guests so we must be like brothers to them.  In this spirit, they offered up half of our homeland to you-Canada.

They went on to say that what is ours will be yours and what is yours will be ours, and we will help each other to be great and good,   - which non-aboriginal nation has made such a generous offer? 

I ask you, do you have the courage to dream such dreams and then see them into fruition -to end man's inhumanity to man and to measure up to the true beauty of section 35 of your ultimate law, the Constitution, to Delgamuukw, to the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, to Canadian common law, to the international human rights instruments on indigenous rights, and the general rule of law?

We invite you today to stand with us to cast the first stone against the system of Imperialist Colonialism which perpetuates man's inhumanity to man. Break this Colonial chain and recognize our Rights as called for in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in spirit and intent.  Remember, a slave owner is as equally enslaved to the system of slavery as is the slave; likewise, you and I are equally enslaved by organized philosophies which perpetuate man's inhumanity to man born out of the system of imperial colonialism.

We invite you, ordinary Canadians, to join with us to have the courage to end the government's policy to us, which has been dehumanizing and shameful in every way.  We invite you to join with us to have the courage of the people who rose up from the ashes of Nazism to tear down the Berlin Wall, like Mandela and Botha who put an end to Apartheid which Cecil Rhodes had a hand in building.

Let us stand up and take the first step into the new millennium on the path of brotherhood  - we invite you who are self-imposed guests in our house.  We invite you to be brothers with us to walk shoulder to shoulder with us, to build an even greater nation for our, yours and my, children, and their children's children.  Let us have the courage and the vision to begin laying down the foundation of such a legacy.

Let us be brave and save the honor of The Crown, the Queen’s law and spare it from further shame and let us hold the banner of humanity and brotherhood high as we march into the next millennium.  Let us have the courage to see this Truth and Reconciliation Commission be the first moment of the "crossing over moon": like the Winter Solstice signaling the ending of long dark nights of colonialism and the beginning of long days of sunlight of a fair and cooperative and just society.

For was it not your government in their apology to us who stated that never more will they subject aboriginal peoples to such inhumanity as was brought upon us from the time of the Beothuks to the present!

A great statesman who our chiefs called a "real white"  -Laurier, said in a speech, “When we find a governments ill-treating a poor people, simply because they are poor and ignorant, we ourselves feel that injury and injustice…it is the duty of all citizens to resist this violation and to fight freely with all the means that the constitution places in our hands.”

Sir Wilfred Laurier went on to say,

"Loyalty must be reciprocal.  It is not enough for the subject to be loyal to the Crown.  The Crown must, also, be loyal to the subjects.”

We pray to the Creator for a loaf and not a stone.  But remember, as long as we-Indigenous Nations feel injustice in our hearts there will always be disaffection and rebellion.

Remembering the words of Laurier:

“Rebellion is always an evil, it is always an offence against the positive law of a nation; it is not always a moral crime.

What is hateful is not rebellion but the despotism, which induces rebellion. What is hateful is not rebels but the men who, having the enjoyment of power, do not discharge the duties of power.  They are the men who, having the power to redress wrongs, refuse to listen to the petitions [to Laurier 1910 and Hon. Frank Oliver 1911] that are sent to them; they are men who, when they are asked for a loaf, give a stone."

We wish no more, forever, to be rebels; we wish no more, forever, to be thrown stones.  To this end and as is always been the case, "we always trusted the Government, as representing the Queen, to do the right thing by us…. We wish to press on you the desirability (for the good of all concerned) of having -our Title and Rights and our languages recognized and respected -for the sake of humanity at as early a date as possible. We wish that you would listen to our earnest appeal to end man's inhumanity to man and do the right thing by us so that we may rebuild Canada as a great and good Country.

I pray that we can rise up to the challenge and to the name, that I have given to this Time and to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Pellteteq'em -Winter Solstice, a time when our people celebrated the end of long cold nights and the beginning of long warmer days of sunlight.

Let us cross over from long dark and cold nights of colonialism to long warm days of justice; to a day when we can hear the praises of Native children in their Indigenous languages of their countries leaders; leaders who had the courage to change and its (Canadian) people who lived up to their duty to see that we, Indians, got a square deal. Finally, we were once proud and powerful Indigenous Nations but now we are poor and downtrodden and all we have to put beneath your feet-Canada is our dreams and it is our dreams you are treading on so we ask that you tread softly.

   It is Time to change our way of Thinking and Behaving                                         

To you my Indigenous brothers and sisters, I say by way of an abridged story-

Long time ago there was a man by the name of Tlli7sa who lived in Kamloops with his Grandmother and his 4 brothers and a nephew. His Grandmother told how we were suffering great sorrow because of the Cannibals who ate our people and that she had the Knowledge on how to defeat them and said to Tlli7sa that you have the strength to carry it out. With the knowledge of his grandmother and his strength he went about and defeated all the cannibals and transformed them into useful helpers of the people after which the Secwepemc prospered and grew numerous.

Today, modern intergenerational cannibals-alcoholism, drugs, gossip,

mistrust, divisiveness(political), sexual abuse, etc plague us. On the one hand , We need to rid our communities of these modern cannibals through forgiveness of all past deeds and move onto healing ourselves, our communities and our Nations . On the other hand, society at large has a duty to see that their government does the right thing by us.

In the words of Nancy Williams from Lake Babine who stated and I paraphrase her:

‘Money and apology won’t stop abuse.

The cycle of abuse-(these modern cannibals) won’t stop unless we take the bull by the horns and say no more-(abuse!)

That is something that you and I can do! That is something that is within our power to do.’

I agree with Nancy and we cannot continue blaming the residential schools. We all have a duty to say enough already. It is time for us to move onto Reconciliation and Healing and rebuilding of our lives, our families, our communities and our Nations so that we may build a life that is great and good.

Dr. RONALD E. IGNACE PhD

Dr. Ronald E. Ignace is a member of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) Nation. He was the elected Chief of the Skeetchestn Band from 1982 to 2003 and between 2007 and 2009, also serving as Chairman of the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council and president of the Secwepemc Cultural Education Society for several years. After heading up the Assembly of First Nations Chiefs� Committee on Aboriginal Languages from 1997 to 2003, he became the Chair of the Task Force on Aboriginal Languages and Cultures from 2003 to 2005, overseeing the production of Towards a New Beginning: A Foundational Report for A Strategy to Revitalize First Nation, Inuit and M�tis Languages and Cultures. From 1989 to 2002 he was the co-chair of the Aboriginal university partnership between the Secwepemc and Simon Fraser University in Kamloops, B. C., where he continues to teach courses in Secwepemc Language and First Nations Studies. He holds B.A. and M.A. Degrees in Sociology from the University of British Columbia, and completed his PhD in Anthropology at Simon Fraser University in 2008 with a dissertation titled Our Oral Histories are Our Iron Posts: Secwepemc Stories and Historical Consciousness. He was appointed Adjunct Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology in 2009 at Simon Fraser University.

He is presently a political coordinator for the Sexq�ltkemc (Shuswap Lakes Secwepemc communities) in their quest to seek resolution of Secwepemc land title.

Truth and Reconciliation

From Marjorie Dumont

Tuesday, October 26, 2010 at 8:30 a.m. in the Chief Joe Mathias Centre was the beginning of a powerful day for me.  The Indian Residential School Survivors Society invited BCTF to the Public Education Initiative Reconciliation: If not now...when?  If not us...who?  Glen Hansman, 2nd Vice-President and I, Marjorie Dumont, went on behalf of the BCTF to be amongst many other witnesses.
 
I was honoured and privileged to be in a room full of people wanting, as Robin Gray (intergenerational survivor) put it, to feel comfortable talking about the uncomfortable.  On this day I would shed so many tears when listening to truths shared about the legacy of the Indian Residential schools and the children who didn’t make it out of the Indian Residential schools, as well as for the many lives still affected by the Indian Residential schools.  But I also shed some tears of joy and peace.  Joy that I was given hope of a better future for my own children and grandchildren to come.  I felt the joy because of the peace being restored in many lives and in many communities because of events such as this one, and others, throughout the country.   I would like to raise my hands in honour and respect to many people who have helped organize the Indian Residential School Truth and Reconciliation Commission held at the Squamish Nation’s Chief Joe Mathias Centre.  I also would like to make a special mention to Samaya Jardey for her hard work and dedication in making this day a success, and to Chief Ian Campbell for ensuring we do not forget to laugh.  Thanks for your humour.

A message that was so strong and loud, to me, spoken from many dignitaries; knowing who you are and where you come from is vital to the Aboriginal people, especially the youth.  I would also like to say this is very important for all nations.  Another strong message of many was the residential school issue is everyone’s responsibility, not just an Indian problem, or an Inuit problem, or a Metis problem.  This is a shared history and we must work together to begin the healing.  It will take all of us to reconcile—one heart, one mind, one family. 

The elder’s panel commenced just prior to the church panel, and the youth panel ended this wonderful day.  It was so appropriate to have the elders begin and youth end.  Representatives of the churches followed the elders and led the youth; symbolically it was like arms wrapped around the churches and embraced their courage.  The church representatives were courageous to be present and speak.  To me, this is a huge part of the healing, to have representatives of the churches be present on this healing journey. 

I was meant to be amongst the witnesses of this event.  It was healing for me personally.  Knowing my grandmother went to a residential school and for many years kept her story a secret.  It is my responsibility to set her spirit free by telling her truth so that it may never happen again, not in my life, in my children’s lives nor in my children’s children’s lives.  I would like to honour our ancestors for living through what seems the toughest part of our history; the residential schools and other assimilation tactics of the government of the day.  I am forever grateful for this powerful day of healing.

Marjorie Dumont, C’tan
Assistant Director
Aboriginal Education
Professional & Social Issues Division

October 4th Sisters in Spirit Vigil

The Following is from a Joint Statement to be read nationwide on October 4th 2011 as part of
Sisters In Spirit Vigils—A Movement for Social Change:

Each year on October 4th communities across Canada come together to honour the lives of missing and murdered Aboriginal women and girls. As we do so, we remember the lives of sisters, daughters, mothers and grandmothers tragically taken from us.

Today, we offer our support and sympathy to their families and we join with them in demanding justice.

Statistics consistently show that Aboriginal women face much higher levels of violence than all other women in Canada. The Native Women's Association of Canada has documented more than 600 cases of Aboriginal women and girls who have been murdered or who remain missing.

This violence has touched the lives of almost every First Nations, Inuit and Métis family and community. And it has moved Canadians from all walks of life to demand action. Violence against Aboriginal women is a national issue, one that must concern us all.

Please take a moment in your classrooms tomorrow to stand in silent vigil for these women. Please take a moment to read the full Joint Statement, preferrably to your students. Please ensure that the invisible and vulnerable are made visible and are protected as they deserve to be. The Joint Statement can be found at http://www.kairoscanada.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/DR-IR-11-10-SISVigilJointStatement.pdf

I will also be posting this on my personal education blog wherearethesheep.blogspot.com.

Targeted Funding Questions

Hello.
I have received a few email questions regarding targeted funding and concerns over the distribution of this funding provincially and locally. The essential questions being asked are:

1.     How much funding per student is given?

2.    What does “targeted” funding mean?

3.    What are districts supposed to spend those funds on?

There was some concern expressed that not all funding was being used to support Aboriginal students.  I do not have all the answers yet around this but thought I would post the response I received from Marj Dumont at the BCTF Aboriginal Program when I asked her.

The information that parents are looking for can be found on the Ministry of Education website:  http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/policy/policies/funding_abed.htm  and http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/k12funding/funding/11-12/operating-grants-manual.pdf (funding is listed on this site).

The target funding is at $1160 per student self identified as having Aboriginal ancestry.  This funding is intended for over and above the curriculum, not intended for implementing the curriculum.  And again the above website gives the explanation of what the funding is to be used for.  The Aboriginal Education Advisory Committee at each district gives advice to the boards on the allocation of the target funding.  Most districts are using the funds to hire both support staff and teachers to support students (culturally).

The policy often limits the service to schools that have low enrolment of Aboriginal students, however the AEAC can suggest ways to support those students.  It is very important that parents attend the meetings so that they can voice their concerns as well.

The allocation of the target funding should be transparent.   If parents or community members request for this information, the districts should be providing them with this information.

I welcome these questions and any answers that might be available, please feel free to forward to me.  How is targeted funding distributed in your district?  How transparent is the process?

Check out the Fraser River Journey!

http://www.fraserjourney.ca/

The following from the website:

The Fraser River Journey documentary follows a group of 12 B.C. First Nations youth on a raft trip down the Fraser River. Wielding waterproof video cameras, the youths set out to document their adventures on one of the most stunning and diverse river systems in the world. In the process they learn important things about their province, their heritage, and themselves.

The documentary film and this website were created to help us take a brief look at the past, present, and future of native life in B.C. One goal of this project is to explore how Aboriginal youth can develop an identity and a place in contemporary society. Another is to show how adults are finding ways to help Aboriginal youth participate in a culture that is adapting, regenerating and changing.

Available on the website are various resources for use in the classroom. Worth checking out, I quite enjoyed the documentary but I haven’t had the opportunity to use it in the classroom myself. I would love to hear your thoughts on the documentary in the classroom if you have used it. Send your reviews to bcabeducation@gmail.com.

Once I realized I wasn’t alone

The following piece is an article from Marjorie Dumont, Aboriginal Education Program Co-ordinator at the BCTF.  It is a an excellent piece.

It is a cold, crisp autumn morning.  As I make my way to the smokehouse, I can feel the dew from the long grass blades along the path.  The sun is just about to greet us so the air can be seen with each breathe I take.  When I get to the smokehouse, my mom and grandmother are already getting prepared for our long days work.  I rub my eyes, stretch and yawn. It is pretty chilly I say to myself and wish I were back in the warmth of my warm cozy bed.

Dinï ze’, ts’akë ze’, skiy ze’  Had’i’h/Greetings.  My traditional name is C’tan and my English name is Marjorie Dumont.  My father’s name is Wah tah k’eght and my mother’s name is Wila’at.  My house chief’s name is Chief Namoks.  I belong to the Tsayu clan of the Wet’suwet’en Nation.  My roots are also of the Gitksan Nation. 

I want to first of all thank the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Watauth First Nations for allowing me to live and work on their territory.  I feel very privileged to be working for the British Columbia Teachers’ Federation as the Assistant Director for the Aboriginal Education program in the Professional and Social Issues Division.  I have learned so much from the processes of the Federation, from my colleagues within the BCTF building, as well as from the teachers and students in the public education system. 

My journey through Aboriginal education at the Federation is like my experience growing up around the smokehouse.  There were many days I felt alone as I did many mornings walking towards the smokehouse.  Yet just as my mom and grandmother appeared from front door of the smokehouse so did others appear from their offices at the BCTF building or from their schools and classrooms from around the province.

Once I realized I wasn’t alone I was able to continue with my responsibilities.  As a child, I was shown by example what my duties were at the smokehouse.  If I ever made any mistakes, I never heard my grandmother tell me that I was doing something wrong.  She would be right by my side and would help me with whatever it was that I was doing at the time.  I would see that she was doing it differently than I so I would change what I was doing to what she was doing.  I made many mistakes in my current position at the Federation and as with my experience in the smokehouse; I learned by doing and learned from my mistakes. 

I am still learning and with the many other BCTF members, we are still persevering and determined to make the public education system a better place not just for the Aboriginal students but for all students in the province.  Advocating that the curriculum include Aboriginal content in all subject areas and to have more Aboriginal teachers in the classrooms is just two of the many initiatives the Federation is working on.  I look forward to the many more opportunities to come in the next couple of years as we forge into uncharted territory with Employment Equity for Aboriginal teachers.  I would like to thank all those who are yet to join me in my journey and to all those who have joined me thus far.  For me, the smokehouse is BCTF and BCTF is my smokehouse.

Our Newsletter 2010

It is a little late in coming out, I put it together in October of last year, but our inaugral newsletter is up on the blogsite.  You can find it here.  I won't go into the details of the adventure that was our attempt to get this up and published but for the moment it is available.
I do need to point out that several of the articles in the newsletter have been published elsewhere; I posted Why Do We Need Aboriginal Education? on my personal education blog in December.  Some of the others, particularly the resources are available here on this blog as individual posts.  Indeed, many of them will be going up here, to ensure that they get the fair coverage we hope to acheive with our audience, via the blog and newsletter.  As such, some of the articles I am collecting for the next issue will also be appearing here, to ensure we get them out to as many people as possible.
Hope you enjoy, would love feedback.  Please be kind, it is a first issue and mostly reflects my writing as, since we are just starting up, I haven't accumulated many contributers yet.
Robert

THE FRASER RIVER JOURNEY

http://www.fraserjourney.ca/

The following from the website:

The Fraser River Journey documentary follows a group of 12 B.C. First Nations youth on a raft trip down the Fraser River. Wielding waterproof video cameras, the youths set out to document their adventures on one of the most stunning and diverse river systems in the world. In the process they learn important things about their province, their heritage, and themselves.

The documentary film and this website were created to help us take a brief look at the past, present, and future of native life in B.C. One goal of this project is to explore how Aboriginal youth can develop an identity and a place in contemporary society. Another is to show how adults are finding ways to help Aboriginal youth participate in a culture that is adapting, regenerating and changing.

Available on the website are various resources for use in the classroom.  Worth checking out, I quite enjoyed the documentary but I haven’t had the opportunity to use it in the classroom myself.  I would love to hear your thoughts on the documentary in the classroom if you have used it.  Send your reviews to bcabeducation@gmail.com. 

PSA Conference Details Now Available!

Hey everybody!

I hope that the new school year is off to an excellent start for you and your students.

This is the official notice of the Wellness and Our Environment Conference: brought to you by the BCTF Aboriginal & Environmental Educators’ Provincial Specialists Associations, the Langley School District Aboriginal Program and the Social Justice Committee.  The conference will be held on Friday, October 21, 2011 at Fort Langley Elementary School.  Looking forward to seeing you there!

In the mean time, you can find our poster here, and you can find a rundown of our workshops and the registration form here. 

*Please note that the registration form is at the very end of the second document. 

Learning About Walking in Beauty: Placing Aboriginal Perspectives in Canadian Classrooms

This is kind of a cool report.  Check it out at http://www.crr.ca/content/view/252/538/lang,english/

Below is the Report Highlights cut and paste from the start page.

Learning About Walking in Beauty: Placing Aboriginal Perspectives in Canadian Classrooms comes from the Coalition for the Advancement of Aboriginal Studies (CAAS) with funding support from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation (CRRF). Walking in Beauty is a term that speaks of conducting oneself in harmony with all of the living world, and is respectfully borrowed from the Navajo People.

In 2000-2001, the CAAS conducted a national Student Awareness Survey, measuring awareness, attitudes and knowledge of facts about Aboriginal Peoples' histories, cultures, worldviews and current concerns. Five hundred and nineteen young adults (460 Canadian, 35 Aboriginal and 24 Newcomer students in first year university and college courses across Canada) responded to this 12-page survey. The survey questionnaire was developed and administered by Aboriginal and Canadian educators, scholars, traditional Elders and advocates within the 300-member CAAS network.

The Learning About Walking in Beauty report includes the findings from this survey, together with pedagogical, social and historical analyses. The report offers a pedagogical framework and proposals for learning about "walking in beauty" together.

Foundational Reading in Aboriginal Education

Starleigh Grass is a teacher, blogger, and mother from the Tsilhqot'in Nation who currently works in St'at'imc territory.  This article is reposted from her blog Twinkle's Happy Place, where she connects teachers to research and resources for integrating Aboriginal curriculum and pedagogy into their classrooms.  I encourage you to check it out, it is an excellent blog.  You can also follow her on Twitter at @starleigh_grass.

@SheeKhaTe on Twitter is preparing for her graduate studies in the fall and is also spending the summer preparing for her studies by doing some reading before classes started. She was wondering which readings I found especially powerful.

I'm glad she asked because one of the things on my mind is how to indigenize my studies. I'm a little bit worried that my courses won't have a lot of Aboriginal content. UBC is pretty good, and I've noticed that since I did my undergrad at UBC Okanagan they've worked really hard at increasing Aboriginal student support and content. 

Still, though, it is a mainstream course and I doubt there will be enough Aboriginal content to satisfy my appetite.

I have been doing my reading journal, but I also wanted to spend some time reflecting on which texts shaped my perspective during my undergraduate studies and brief time in the classroom so that I could use them as foundational texts during my research. I've also been thinking, if I were to design a course on Aboriginal education for pre-service teachers, which texts would I use?

Anyhow, here's a portion of the email I sent her. Perhaps you might find it useful, too :)

Online articles/reports
I went through my old blog posts using the research tag and found some articles online which you might find useful. I've attached the blog links which contain links to the full article because the blog posts provide brief summaries:

• http://twinkleshappyplace.blogspot.com/2010/12/response-responsibility-and-renewal.html Aboriginal Healing Foundation's "Response, Responsibility, and Renewal" provides a variety of perspectives on the Residential School Apology

• http://twinkleshappyplace.blogspot.com/2010/11/coalition-for-advancement-of-aboriginal.html Coalition for Advancement of Aboriginal Studies - Learning Circle - this article provides a cool lens through which to view Aboriginal educational issues

• http://twinkleshappyplace.blogspot.com/2010/07/if-you-cant-beat-them-educate-them.html This one is from the 1990s and I think it's American, but it was an interesting read nonetheless.

• http://twinkleshappyplace.blogspot.com/2010/07/marginalization-decolonization-and.html This one is also from the 1990s but it articulates things which are still relevant today. It's actually one of my favorite reads in the past year or so.

• http://twinkleshappyplace.blogspot.com/2010/05/some-thoughts-on-qallunaat-teacher.html This article focuses on Nunavut but its lessons are broader than that. I really appreciated how it focused on how teachers have to tailor instruction and content to Indigenous students and go against the mainstream in order to best serve their students and how difficult this is to with limited resources and support. I feel like it's a very realistic portrayal of many teaching situations.

• http://twinkleshappyplace.blogspot.com/2010/05/aboriginal-rights-and-royal.html This is actually a backgrounder on Aboriginal politics, but it's useful if you want a big picture perspective on things.

• http://www.tdsb.on.ca/wwwdocuments/programs/aboriginal_voices/docs/Decolonizing%20Our%20Schools%203.pdf Decolonizing Our Schools - this is a report done for the Toronto School Board. It's excellent!

Academic Books

In terms of book books, like, things you hold in your hand, here are some books that have shaped the way that I look at education. Hopefully you can find them in your university's library, and if you can't find them librarians are usually happy to order things or to borrow a copy from another library -

• CCPA's The Gifts Within - Our Schools Ourselves is a periodical and this issue focused on Aboriginal education. The articles are written from a variety of Aboriginal educator's perspectives from pre-school to post secondary.

• The Circle Game: Shadows and Substance in the Indian Residential School System in Canada . This is a frequently cited report. It is absolutely a must read! You can find this full text online but if you can get a hard copy it'll be much easier to readhttp://www.nativestudies.org/native_pdf/circlegame.pdf If you have to read it online definitely read the recommendations

• Volume 3 - Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples - the section on Aboriginal education can be found here http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/webarchives/20071124125456/http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ch/rcap/sg/sim5_e.html This is a document of historical significance because it was one of the first government publications to address underlying issues in Aboriginal education and propose progressive reform. Many of its recommendations have not been implemented despite the fact that they are bang on. This document is frequently cited in academic writing by and about Aboriginal people. Your library should definitely have a hard copy.

• The Dispossessed: Life and Death in Native Canada by Geoffrey York - The education chapter is excellent. If you choose to read the book be warned that you'll cry a lot. The chapter on suicide is worthwhile. It's a good book, it's just really hard to read emotionally. You'll want to burn something down when you're done.

• Wasase by Taiaiaike Alfred - this focuses less on education and more on how to break free from the chains of colonialism. I'm almost done it and am really enjoying it.

Fiction Books

• In Search of April Raintree by Beatrice Cullen
• Halfbreed by Maria Campbell
• Will's Garden by Lee Maracle
• Keeper N'Me by Richard Wagamese   

As a habit I look for ministry publications on Aboriginal education in my province and district documents. It's also useful to look on websites like the AFN or the Ontario Federation of Indian Friendship Centres to see what kind of publications they have that might align with what you're researching.

You might also want to poke around in your public libraries, K-12 school libraries, and university libraries to see what's there locally. I found a 1985 report by the Lillooet Tribal Council that totally shaped the way that I worked in that community by just poking around in the public library. Just pick stuff up, read the table of contents, the back of the book, the first and last paragraph of the introduction, and then decide if it's worth your time.

I think that a lot of Aboriginal students in different fields are in the same position. They are in a mainstream course but they want Aboriginal content so they have to be pro-active and tailor the course to their own needs. This usually has a ripple effect because in the course of doing this they educate their professors and peers about Aboriginal education. If you have readings in your field that are useful for people who want to learn about Aboriginal perspectives I encourage you to share your list of "must reads" too! We are like a village and we have to share with each other in order to survive and if we get into the habit of doing this we will all be stronger at the end of the day.

If you think that there are texts that should be considered foundational readings in Aboriginal education, feel free to share! I am almost done Wasase and will be looking for something new soon so any advice would be much appreciated!

Wellness and Our Environment Conference

October 21, 2011 Fort Langley, BC AEA (Aboriginal Education Association) "Wellness and Our Environment." Keynote speaker: Dr. Jan Hare, Associate Dean of Indigenous Education, UBC. Fabulous workshops including, protocol and ceremony, mask making, rattles, blankets, anti-racism, cedar pouches, enhancement agreements, environmental learning and experience framework and more. Langley Elementary, 8877 Bartlett Street, Fort Langley, BC. More information will be posted here shortly,  or contact Gail Stromquist at 604-888-4819, ext. 232 or gjstrom@hotmail.com.

Aboriginal Teachers Face Racism, Need Allies

Special thanks to Larry Kuehn, Director of Research and Technology at the BCTF

"Aboriginal Teachers' Professional Knowledge and Experience in Canadian Schools" was a research project undertaken by Verna St. Denis for the Canadian Teachers' Federation.  Excerpts from the Executive Summary are included here.

 Eager and willing to teach Aboriginal content and perspectives, Aboriginal teachers in this study

wanted to share what they knew and sought each other out to learn more. They described their
culturally grounded teaching practices and how these practices positively influenced both non-
Aboriginal and Aboriginal students.

 Many described how they began their teaching of Aboriginal content and perspectives by talking about their own lives and identities as Aboriginal persons. The Aboriginal teachers in this study emphasized that the integration of Aboriginal content and perspectives into public education must happen every day, for all students, in all subject areas.

 But Aboriginal teachers in this study suggested that there is still a lot more that can be done to ensure that Aboriginal content and perspectives are being taught in a meaningful way to all students. The often implicit hierarchy of school knowledge and subjects within a school system typically places a low valuation on Aboriginal subject matter, and this had negative implications on how others received both the Aboriginal teachers and the Aboriginal content and perspectives they taught in schools.

 Many Aboriginal teachers in the study still encountered attitudes and behaviors that suggested they do not belong in the profession, such as a questioning of their teacher education, qualifications or capabilities. This questioning occurred even as these teachers performed a number of services, such as developing Aboriginal curriculum and supporting their colleagues to teach Aboriginal content and perspectives; services that they often did willingly, and usually without compensation.

 The participants in the study identified ways to support the integration of Aboriginal curriculum:

meet the on-going need for schools to acquire Aboriginal curriculum and materials; adequately support Aboriginal teachers and non-Aboriginal teachers to teach Aboriginal content and perspectives; find supportive and understanding administrators and develop policies that come from the top down; accept Aboriginal teachers as fellow professionals; and hire more Aboriginal teachers and professionals.

 Feeling that racism in education was typically denied, ignored and trivialized, Aboriginal teachers in this study described various ways in which they experienced racism. They reported a disregard for their qualifications and capabilities, and for Aboriginal content and perspectives; a lowering of expectations of Aboriginal students; and a discounting of the effects of colonization and oppression on Aboriginal people. Institutional responses to racism were often seen as inadequate, leaving the burden for addressing racism on Aboriginal teachers.

 Aboriginal teachers in the present study interpreted the idea of who is an ally of Aboriginal teachers and Aboriginal education broadly, including themselves, their families and communities, in addition to non-Aboriginal colleagues, as potential allies. They identified non-Aboriginal colleagues who were allies as being genuine, honest and trustworthy; good listeners; and persons who remained positive

and open minded despite facing many challenges in education. Those non-Aboriginal colleagues
who were allies also were said to show respect and support for Aboriginal people by learning to
use community resources. Aboriginal teachers in the study stressed that allies seek to be a part of the local Aboriginal community without taking over; that allies avoid becoming experts about,

or saviours of Aboriginal people and culture.

The entire report is available on the CTF web site at

www.ctf-fce.ca/Documents/BulletinBoard/ABORIGINAL_Report2010_EN_re-WEB_Mar19.pdf

Holistic Lifelong Learning Websites

This is an interesting group of websites.  Check them out.

The Canadian Council on Learning offers three online Holistic Lifelong Learning websites: First Nations, Métis and Inuit.

Each of these consists of an interactive Flash program that allows for navigating the roots, trunk and branches of the model. Each includes definitions and descriptions of elements of the model and underlying indicators and information.

In each case, a visual model is used to reflect appropriate cultural context.

CCL has a Facebook page for people to discuss the models and share experience using them. They invite discussion of teacher training, community planning, curriculum development, measurement purposes or "simply personal reflections."

To "like" the page, go to Facebook and enter " Aboriginal-Learning-in-Canada-CCL" in the search box.

First Nations Holistic Lifelong Learning website

http://cli.ccl-cca.ca/FN/index.php?q=home&l=en

Métis Holistic Lifelong Learning website

http://cli.ccl-cca.ca/Metis/index.php?q=home&l=en

Inuit Holistic Lifelong Learning website

http://cli.ccl-cca.ca/Inuit/index.php?q=home&l=en

Thanks to Larry Kuehn for bringing this to my attention.