Journey Toward Reconciliation

My experiences thus far has been extremely eye-opening as it has shown me just how little I know about the history of our province, and our country. This has made me want to educate myself on reconciliation, not only for myself, but to prevent a future generation of learners from growing up without this powerful knowledge. 

I believe in order to implement Indigenous teaching into my classroom, teachers should have Elders come in and share their stories and journeys. In addition to having knowledge, it means you have the ability to share your past experiences and hope to create a better future for our youth. Not only will all my future students be treated as equals but I will also celebrate each of their cultures. I believe all students should learn about their surroundings and learn to appreciate, respect and have empathy for cultures especially those that are different from them.

Indigenous knowledge and teaching methods were passed down by generations, both oral and experiential. However, since the introduction of Residential schools, much of their culture has been lost. Residential schools were created to try and erase Indigenous culture and traditions which operated from the 1860’s to 1998 (Schmidt, 2019). The impact these schools had on Indigenous people is still happening today. The hurt and the missing blocks are evident in at least the past three generations. As I continue to learn more about Residential schools and the horrific events that took place in Canadian history, I will continue to educate myself and appropriately educated those around me to help move forward towards truth and reconciliation. 

Throughout my secondary education I learned about how Indigenous people hunted to feed their people, however that was the extent of it. I wanted to further my knowledge on Indigenous livelihood and way of life. My journey toward reconciliation should not only be my online research but it should also be making connections with Indigenous people which is why I reached out to a friend within the Indigenous community. For part of my journey towards a reconciliation, I wanted to make bannock, which was a staple food in the Indigenous community. Making traditional bannock is when you wrap the dough around a stick and cook it over an open fire. It was extremely important to me that I made bannock as traditionally as I could. I hope to honour Indigenous way of life and continue my journey toward reconciliation. as Harold Johnston said “we must change the story” (2019).

References

 Johnston, Harold. The 2019 Dr. Gordon Wicijowski Law Foundation of Saskatchewan Lecture. 
Faculty of Arts, University of Regina. (2019)

Schmidt, Heather. (2019). Indigenizing and Decolonizing the Teaching of Psychology: Reflections on the Role of the Non‐Indigenous Ally. American Journal of Community Psychology, 64(1-2), 59-71.

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