Decolonization

Race, identity, and how these have been interpreted in Canadian society have profoundly shaped perspectives policies and actions throughout Canadian history.  Examining these topics in the classroom in a respectful open manner gives educators the opportunity to build new alliances and greater cross-cultural understanding between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians.

St. Denis, V. (2007). Aboriginal Education and Anti-racist Education: Building Alliances Across Cultural and Racial Identity. Canadian Journal of Education, 30(4), 1068-1092. (University Library login required)

Ethical engagement and ethical space regard the goal of strike a balance between different ways of knowing (e.g., Indigenous and non-Indigenous) and ensuring that they are created equally and in a manner that invites and encourages dialogue that advances greater recognition of common ground and understanding that extends beyond the institutional limits that people may let themselves be contained by.

Donald, D. (2016). From What Does Ethical Relationality Flow? An Indian Act in Three Artifacts. In J. Seidel & D.W. Jardine (Eds). The Ecological Heart of Teaching: Radical Texts of Refuge and Renewal for Classrooms and Communities. New York, NY: Peter Lang. (University Library login required)

Ermine, W. (2007). The Ethical Space of Engagement. Indigenous Law Journal, 6(1), 193-203.

Ermine, W. (2011). What is Ethical space? (video)

McKegney, S. (2008). Strategies for Ethical Engagement: An Open Letter Concerning Non-Native Scholars of Native Literatures. Studies in American Indian Literatures, 20(4), series 2, 56-67. (University Library login required)

Greater consciousness about the privilege and influence of settlers in Canada can reframe the perspectives from which the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples is viewed. Greater recognition of the advantages and power that settlers benefit from can guide them in the process of reconciliation.

McIntosh, P. (1990). White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack. Independent School, 49(2), 31.

Regan, P. (2010). Unsettling the Settler Within : Indian Residential Schools, Truth Telling, and Reconciliation in Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press. (University Library login required)

Keep Calm and Decolonize. (2017). A series of six brief videos produced by the CBC done by a variety of film-makers who strive to answer the question, "What would Canada be like if it were decolonized?"

The changes that have impacted Indigenous peoples throughout the colonization of Canada and North America continue to manifest themselves in a variety of manners. The disconnection from language, culture and land that has occurred has caused overwhelming upheavals amongst Indigenous people in all regions of Canada. Healing from the individual and collective traumas that have been experience must occur as a new alliance between settlers and Indigenous peoples takes place.

Brokenleg, M. (2012). Transforming Cultural Trauma into Resilience. Reclaiming children and youth, 21(3), 9-13. (University Library login required)

Kirmayer, L., Dandeneau, S., Marshall, E., Phillips, M. K., & Williamson, J. (2011). Rethinking Resilience from Indigenous Perspectives. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 56(2), 84-91. (University Library login required)

Over the course of the last generation, Indigenous artists, politicians, scholars, writers, musicians and activists have reshaped and retold the story of their experiences and have redefined the story of Indigenous people in Canada and started the dialogue that will restore their knowledge and culture to a more significant place in Canadian institutions, culture and politics.

Coulthard, G. (2014). Red Skin White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press. (University Library login required)

Idle No More calls on all people to join in a peaceful revolution, to honour Indigenous sovereignty, and to protect the land and water.

Red Works Photography is a dynamic photography company empowering contemporary Indigenous lifestyles and cultures through photographic essays, features, and portraits.

Simpson, L. (2011). Dancing on our Turtle's Back: Stories of Nishnaabeg Re-creation, Resurgence and a New Emergence. Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring Publishing. (University Library login required)

The preeminence of Western epistemologies in the post-secondary setting in Canada has institutionalized the marginalization of Indigenous ways of knowing. As Canadian universities strive to integrate more Indigenous scholars into their faculties, there is a need to acknowledge, validate and integrate their ways of knowing within the post-secondary environment.

Donald, D. (2012). Indigenous Métissage: a decolonizing research sensibility. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 25(5), 533-555.

Indspire. (2018). Post-Secondary Experience of Indigenous Students Following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Leason, J., Lindstrom, G., Murry, A., & Prud'homme-Cranford R. (2017). Reflections on Decolonizing the PhD: A Roundtable. (Video)

Louie, D., Poitras Pratt, Y., Hanson, A. J., & Ottmann, J. (2017). Applying Indigenizing Principles of Decolonizing Methodologies in University Classrooms. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 47(3), 16-33.