their home page, an audio-recording of the name of their nation or videos that include people referring to the name. Create pic- tures, and maps to illustrate the territorial acknowledgement. Create movements, songs, poems that bring the acknowledge- ment’s words to life so your students can connect with the words. Create a word wall of Indigenous terms. Canada is home to incredibly diverse groups of Indigenous people and, therefore, there is a diversity of languages spoken. Many words of Canada’s first peoples have become part of everyday speech.
• Use the territorial acknowledgment as a starting point to educate yourselves and your students about building respectful relationships. Use the acknowledgement to learn how you can have an active role in reconciliation.
HOW YOU CAN GET STARTED:
• Give yourself the power of permission to acknowledge not knowing and to model openness to learning. Be vulnerable and learn with your students.
• Reflect: What might you be doing that perpetuates settler colonial systems? I realized I was teaching Indigenous studies as a unit instead of an integrated part of all my lessons. I started to make environ- mental connections to health, clean air, clean water and clean soil and to the seven teachings. I started to see the outdoors as a natural extension of my classroom. Many of my lessons could be taken outside.
• Ask yourself: Do your lessons demonstrate appropriation or appreciation? Cultural appropriation is the taking of culture rather than the consensual sharing of it. Avoid tokenizing activities.
• Do you have a real understanding of the issues currently facing First Nations, Métis and Inuit people? Create a media literacy connection to current issues affecting Indigenous peoples. Teaching Indigenous education should not only be about history but also about present and future issues. Colonization didn’t happen 400 years ago. It started 400 years ago but continues today.
• Bring your school’s territorial acknowl- edgment to life: territorial acknowledge-
20 ETFO VOICE | SPRING 2021
ments are one small part of disrupting and dismantling colonial structures. Do you know whose land you are standing on, and how you have benefited from the people that once lived here? Where we come from is fundamental to our identities. Places that are important to us share our tradi- tions, history, memories and stories. We connect with the smells, sights and feelings of a place. A sense of place is important to humans; it is not only what connects past and future generations, but what connects land and identity. A territorial acknowl- edgement is an act of reconciliation that involves making a statement recognizing the traditional territory of the Indigenous peoples who called the land home long before the arrival of settlers and, in many cases, still call it home.
• Display the acknowledgement in class so everyone can read along and connect with the words. Make it meaningful, personal and responsible.
• Unpack the territorial acknowledgement and break down any words you don’t understand. If you are not sure how to pronounce a nation’s name, find out. For example, respectfully ask someone from that nation or from a local organization such as the Friendship Centre or Indig- enous Student Centre; check the nation’s website. Many have pronunciations on
• Explore with purpose: Collect resources for your class and students: Read books such as The Water Walker, Go Show the World and We Are All Treaty People, among others, and use them as a provocation.
• Investigate the resources your school and board has.
• Make connections to daily news, social media and podcasts.
• Encourage discussions on appropriation versus appreciation with colleagues and students.
• Begin the journey with your students and learn together.
• Share and collaborate with others.
• Make connections with Indigenous com- munity leaders and programs in your area.
• Invite an Indigenous leader or elder to speak with your students.
• Continually reflect on your personal progress towards reconciliation.
If we don’t understand and remember
our past, we will continue to reproduce the systems that created inequality and injustice in the first place. Indigenous perspectives and education have much to offer to our world and our understanding going forward. Find your own ways to honour the First Nations whose land your school occupies. As educa- tors, we must work to ensure that we are on a path of reconciliation. n Courtney Morgan is a member of Peel Teacher Local.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52
