Attending the workshop SPEAK! The Gift of Story which was led by Robert Cutting was fascinating and insightful and brings to mind the importance of how instrumental Indigenous education is for all Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. This education explores not only colonial histories but also the cultures, perspectives, contributions and the importance of Indigenous ways of knowing and storytelling.
Our Federal Government has taken steps to implement mandatory Indigenous education into the curriculum, but more work clearly needs to be done as it does not seem to be implemented the same across all school boards and schools. I believe that appropriate knowledge can be gained by partnering with and building up the Indigenous community as sessions such as Cutting's demonstrated. Cultivating respectful, cultural activities and discussions is groundbreaking. It is so incredibly important for students to not only feel connected to but also see how their history and cultures connect to others around them. The fear of not knowing how or what is appropriate to say will be lessened the more comfortable educators like us become with Indigenous education.
While I have much more reading and engaging to do - I now feel like I have more tools to draw from for my future classroom and I have added several books to my collection that I feel are important and helpful resources. The value of ensuring that one day Indigenous education is taught as part of regular curriculum daily without it being separated as a special unit is well worth the discomfort and fear that currently seems to dominate our education system.
Resources/References:
https://reimaginingmigration.org/
2022 Belonging and Racial Identity in Halton
Stephanie@NUO-EDU491
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