Land Acknowledgement
I want to acknowledge that I have the opportunity to study at the University of Regina on Treaty 4 lands with a presence in Treaty 6. The university is situated on the territories of the nêhiyawak, Anihšināpēk, Dakota, Lakota, and Nakoda, and the homeland of the Métis/Michif Nation.
For our ECS 101 class’s final project: Journey Towards Reconciliation, we were instructed to create a visual representation and I wrote a poem called The Community.
This poem is about how schools represent a second home in a student’s life as if it is a community of students and teachers. The poem is in the first-person perspective of a student, who describes how schools are meant to be a community, but that those who are not a part of the social majority are ignored and left unacknowledged. At first for this project, I wanted to create a poem from various student’s perspectives, but I decided to write the poem in a way that can be interpreted by many individuals. I wrote the poem this way so that many could interpret and relate to the poem differently. For example, the poem can be interpreted that Indigenous students’ cultures are not being acknowledged in education. It could also be interpreted that mental health is not being acknowledged and simply set aside and ignored. Another way is that students with intellectual and learning disabilities are not getting the resources they need to be successful in education.
The main meaning of the poem is that many are not getting the resources, help, and acknowledgment they need to succeed in school and are being ignored or told to deal with it. The poem represents the profound problem that students are being ignored every day, and many are not helping students to be successful.
Here is my poem.
The Community
A school is supposed to be a second home
A community of students and teachers
Where we all feel at peace
Where there is always someone to help
Where there is always someone to talk to
But I don’t feel that way
My school is like an empty building
Full of trapped forgotten voices
With no one to listen to them
It’s as if everyone has their hand up but only a few are ever acknowledged
Only the few that don’t have problems
Only the few who are deemed normal are acknowledged
But never the quiet ones
Never the ones who are deemed different
Never the ones who can’t speak up for themselves
Never me
We are treated as outsiders in a place that is supposed to be caring and nourishing
Until we believe we are outsiders
My entire being remains unheard of by anyone in this building that we call a community
If it is a community then this community is ruthless
uncaring
Unaccommodating
And unforgiving
Many do not see the true problems in the foundation of this building
Many choose to simply ignore it
But that does not make the problem go away
This is not a community
We are not a family
We are just kids in a building full of empty promises
Desperately trying to find our peace
