My journey to reconciliation has been filled with moments of anger, confusion, and discovery that will benefit both myself and others. I feel that taking the correct steps towards reconciliation is key to any individual with a future of being a teacher. My journey has made me realize what my privilege branches off of and how much power white people withhold everyday. This paper will go through my journey of reconciliation, how my gained knowledge will impact my classroom with diverse students, and how I will teach the students about reconciliation.
I believe that my journey towards reconciliation was originally sparked in my Educational Core Studies: Self And Other class in the Fall 2019 semester. Before the class, I was uneducated about why reconciliation was needed. I truly thought that reconciliation was not a crucial aspect in society because my teachers in elementary school rarely spoke of the topic. Then, I began the class and one of our first discussions was based on what we believed it meant to be Canadian. As a class, we listed things such as: teamwork, winter, fur trader, cooperation, and more (Cappello, 2019). After we made our list, the class realized that none of us mentioned anything about the Indigenous culture in our population. At this moment, I felt shaken and torn that I left an entire culture out of what it means to be Canadian. The professor mentioned that most of his students tend to leave the Indigenous population out of what it means to be Canadian, but this still did not make me feel okay with what I had done (Cappello, 2019). Ever since this day occurred, I made a promise with myself to honour Indigenous people in Canada and to make sure they are constantly included.
Europeans and power tend to easily correlate in modern society and in the past. The power of Europeans was crucially demonstrated within residential schools as the Indigenous people had no control over what happened in their lives. In Muffins for Granny, there were many stories shared by the Indigenous people who were forced to attend the residential schools. A truly heartbreaking story for me was when it was mentioned that bones were found buried in the ground. The Indigenous children were told by the people running the residential school that they were animal bones. However, they were baby bones that were from Indigenous women who had been raped while in the school (McLaren, 2007). This broke my heart as these women had no control over their lives and their body. The Europeans who ran the school held all of the power and tormented these young children with their power in cruel ways, such as rape. Along with babies being buried in unmarked graves near the residential school, I also learned that at this time, it was a practice to bury several individuals together (Saskatchewan’s Project of Heart, 2017). This had me infuriated as the Europeans used their power to enforce disgusting practices that held no respect for the deceased and their families left behind. After reading that sentence, I felt embarrassed that people with the same culture as me once had little respect for the deceased.
White power perfectly connects with both racism and unearned privileges. In “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack, it was stated that “whites are taught to think of their lives as morally neutral, normative, and average, and also ideal, so that when we work to benefit others, this is seen as work which will allow them to be more like us” (McIntosh, 1989, p. 1). This statement is true with both residential schools in the past as well as schooling today. Even though the education system is attempting to move in a direction that incorporates diversity, the “white way” is still taught to children. When everyone is forced to learn the “white way” or pushed to adopt the ways of a white person, it is considered to be assimilation (Pirbhai-Illich, 2020). It creates a sickening feeling in my stomach when I come to the realization that it sprouted from residential schools that each individual should inhabit the “white way” has grown into modern society as something that is to never be questioned. Due to this gained knowledge, I feel that this has informed me as a teacher to ensure that the cultures in my classroom are honoured. I will make sure white power and assimilation is not demonstrated in my classroom as I want each student to feel comfortable being themselves and avoid repeating the past.
Society has made great steps towards reconciliation, but I believe that the most important aspect individuals need for reconciliation are the teachers and how they teach racism, power, coloniality, unearned white privilege, and residential schools. The greatest step towards reconciliation will be within each generation. If young children grow up learning about the past events between Indigenous people and Canada, as well as what they can do to spark the reconciliation process in their lives, there will be many more individuals in the reconciliation process. In order to properly reconcile, it is crucial that individuals correctly understand what occurred in the past and hear stories of residential school survivors. As a teacher, it is important to note that “whiteness has protected me [the students] from many kinds of hostility, distress and violence” (McIntosh, 1989, p. 2). Due to this unearned white privilege, white people will never face tragic times like Indigenous people had to because of the residential schools. When teaching the students, I will be sure that the previously mentioned quote is not honoured. Although the context is true, it infuriates me to realize that this is true. I want to be sure that I am honouring the diversity in my classroom and allowing each individual to have equal amounts of power and privilege.
Along with the context of teaching my students about reconciliation and what society consists of, I am determined to honour the diversity and learning abilities in my classroom. It is incredibly important for me to keep in mind that, “The impacts of sexual, mental, and physical abuse, shame, and deprivation endured at Indian Residential Schools (IRS) continue to affect generations of Survivors, their families, and communities today” (Legacy of Hope Foundation, n.d.). Due to the impact residential schools had, many of the children that come from survivor families face hardship everyday. The residential schools “is one of the major causes of poverty, homelessness, substance-abuse, and other forms of violence amongst Aboriginal Canadians” (Legacy of Hope Foundation, n.d.). This changes the learning level of some of these students because when they are not at school, they are facing serious problems at home with their family. As a teacher I will need to elaborate on subjects with the students, as well as be patient. In order to make each student feel welcome, especially those with families facing pain from residential schools, I will honour the stories of residential school survivors. I will ensure that Indigenous values and beliefs are incorporated into my lesson plans so my students can understand their cultural history.
Indigenous people have faced serious hardship in their lives that will never be forgotten. To work towards reconciliation every day I will, “spread the truth and teach people to be respectful to what Aboriginal people have gone through” (Smith, 2016, p. 25). My artistic component symbolizes my brain while going through this journey with each colour representing an emotion. The red represents anger or frustration, the blue represents sadness, the green represents healing, the black represents calls to action, and yellow represents optimism. My journey to reconciliation is just beginning. I will always remind myself to “Never forget” (Smith, 2016, p. 26) in order to keep working towards reconciliation.