The article talks about the importance of including old, young, and in between in any sort of learning or decision making process.  The concepts of reinhabitation and decolonization, as they pertain to education, are the topics I have never really thought about before until now.  

Reinhabitation: Elders see the  connection to nature to be very important to children’s intellectual, emotional, social, physical, and spiritual development. This can be enforced in everyday lives. It is important to connect the youth with the elders who have a deeper connection to the land. The community marked places with their original names to help the youth understand the Cree concepts.

Decolonization: Decolonization is seen in the reinhabitation as a whole, the students’ river trip allowed the students to reconnect to their history, something colonization aimed to prevent. The use of Indigenous language in the assignments also showed the reclaiming of identity and empowering the people. An example of decolonization is residential schools, because they drastically reduced the communities fluent language speakers.

When considering my own future teaching strategies and classrooms, I believe it is important that I keep the concepts of reinhabitation and decolonization in mind. Students will be able to formulate their own values and perspectives and use them to advocate for change. Future educators can teach, have discussions and learn from others through events like the orange shirt day. We can learn and understand the importance of orange shirt day and why we participate in it, to encourage change, to better education and better the future.

Think about…

  • What is and what does the words reinhabitation and decolonization mean?
  • What orange shirt day is and the importance.