PME 820 - Indigenous
Leadership & Knowledge

When browsing the Legacy of Hope Foundation website, I was drawn to the above image of a group of Indigenous children outside the Pukatagan day school in Manitoba.  The image struck me because of its irony and contrasts.  

The first thing I noticed was the difference in expression between the Sisters/nuns, who are aglow with smiles and positivity, and the students who appear indifferent.  None of the children exhibit the same enthusiasm as their teachers.   In its place is disinterest and disconnectedness.  As if they can sense how artificial it all is, turning tradition into a toy.

The full title of this image is "Sisters outside the Pukatawagan day school with a group of boys wearing Plains Indian-style headdresses made from paper, ca 1960s."  The Indigenous children have been taken from their homes and families, and removed from the real-life experience of their culture.  In the place of celebrating their culture and traditions authentically amongst their own people, the children instead have a fabricated version delivered in the form of arts and crafts via the Residential School teachers.  What a bitter irony.  

This image breaks my heart.  I find it difficult to pause too long on pictures like this because I can't hep but think of my own four children when they were young.  Imagining them torn from their family is almost too much.

I searched through the video archive to find a story shared by a man who had attended a residential school around the same period as this photo, and I discovered the story of Ed Marten, who attended the Holy Angels Residential School in Fort Chipewyan, Alberta, from 1958-1967.

I was struck, again, by the contrast between his life before and after his experience.  In reality, he just described the innocence of childhood: the freedom to run around freely; the Cree language he shared with his family; listening to his father sing him to sleep; and participating in family traditions.  These are the things we all remember from childhood.

To imagine someone removing those experiences and that innocence is unthinkable.  

References:

Ed marten. Legacy of Hope Foundation. (2020, November 23). Retrieved January 22, 2022, from https://legacyofhope.ca/wherearethechildren/stories/marten/

Liliane, S. (ca 1960s) Sisters outside Pukatawagan day school. https://legacyofhope.ca/wherearethechildren/exhibition, 2022.

Follow this link to check out my Prezi for my Indigenous Leadership Profile.

https://prezi.com/view/BuTaWLeO5VlZmBPzoJtT/

I chose to explore the experiences of the Maori people of New Zealand because when I was growing up, one of my ‘Aunties’ (she was one of my mum’s best friends) was a Maori woman from New Zealand.  According to her stories she was a ‘Maori princess’, from the ‘royal’ line in her tribe, and she came to Canada after marrying a non-Maori man.

The Maori people have lived in what is now known as New Zealand since East Polynesians somewhere around 1250-1300 AD.   After European discovery in the 1600s, New Zealand gradually became known as a whaling station, and a favourable land for raising sheep.  The colonial experience began on February 6th, 1840, when more than 500 tribal chiefs, along with British representatives, signed the Treaty of Waitangi - a highly contentious document to this day due the ambiguity of who would have control of New Zealand’s territories.  As Maori owned land collectively, they were not considered eligible to serve in public office.  These tensions led to the ‘New Zealand Wars’, and the death of 3000 people, mostly Maoris.  This period was followed by a series of land confiscations in the 1870’s called ‘raupatu’.  The New Zealand gold rush of the 1860’s had attracted many European men, who continued European settlement.  The mission schools were replaced by a network of Native Schools and the establishment of the 1877 Education Acts, a colony-wide public school system. 

Some of the effects of colonisation on the Maori are:

• Life expectancy declined from 30 years at the time of first European contact (Cook’s visits between 1769 and 1777) to 25 (men) and 23 (women) in 1891. 

• The Maori population declined from 100, 000 in 1969 to 42,000 in 1896. European diseases (measles, mumps and whooping cough) were the major cause.

• Major decline in standard of living after land confiscations forced overcrowding and poor diet.

• Much lower life expectant than non-Maori New Zealanders into the 21st century.

Indigenous Education and Decolonisation

As with many Indigenous groups worldwide, the Maori rely heavily on oral history and storytelling in their education.  Te reo Maori is actually one of New Zealand’s official languages.  Recently, New Zealnd has received attention due to its attempts to include Maori language and ways of learning and knowing in its curriculum.  There are two main curriculum documents in New Zealand: The New Zealand Curriculum for English-medium schools and Te Marautanga a Aotearoa for Māori -medium schools.  This latter curriculum was developed in order to connect deeply with the Maori community:

“The whānau, the community, and the iwi of learners contribute to their education. For them to experience success, the school, the whānau, hapū, iwi and community must work together effectively and consistently. The curriculum upholds the cultural identity and heritage of learners and their families.

Schools and kura [Māori immersion schools] working with families, whānau, communities and iwi to use Te Marautanga o Aotearoa as the foundation to build a school curriculum or marautanga-ā-kura that reflects their own unique identity, values and vision to meet their students learning needs.” (education.govt.nz)

Currently, New Zealand is in the process of mandating a set curriculum relating to British colonisation, removing the previous allowance for schools to teach the history in the manner they saw fit.

Two areas I feel New Zealand is succeeding in terms of applying UNDRIP are:

1)     Article 5 - Indigenous peoples have the right to maintain and strengthen their distinct political, legal, economic, social and cultural institutions, while retaining their right to participate fully, if they so choose, in the political, economic, social and cultural life of the State.

• The National Maori Party currently has a 25-year way forward policy based on “āori asserting their right to self-management, self-determination and self-governance over all their domains. Amongst its main recommendations is an end to mainstream management of matters Māori, abolishing full and final Treaty of Waitangi settlements, buying back land for whānau, hapū and iwi, handing back all conservation land to hapū and iwi, and all Māori joining the Māori electorate roll over the next three years” (Robinson, 2020).  The goal of the party is to achieve a separate Maori parliament.

2)     Article 14.1 - Indigenous peoples have the right to establish and control their educational systems and institutions providing education in their own languages, in a manner appropriate to their cultural methods of teaching and learning

• See my consideration of the New Zealand curricula above.

An area where New Zealand has room to grow is:

1)     Article 10 - Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories. No relocation shall take place without the free, prior and informed consent of the indigenous peoples concerned and after agreement on just and fair compensation and, where possible, with the option of return.

• Although the removal of land is not a current action, the Treaty of Waitangi and the taking of Maori land has not yet been remediated.

There are similarities and differences between the Maori and Indigenous Canadian experiences.  Currently I would say that both Canada and New Zealand are still in the early stages of understanding and honouring treaties, Indigenous rights and land rights.  “Just and fair compensation, and where possible, the option of return” is an exceedingly difficult mandate to navigate and achieve.

I would suggest that New Zealand is further ahead than Canada in terms of Article 14.1.  New Zealand has an entire curriculum in the Maori language, and from a Maori perspective.  This may be partly because there are only two main dialects in contemporary Maori, whereas there are more than 70 Indigenous languages spoken today in Canada.  As well, there is a greater language familiarity amongst the Maori – 55% report at least some knowledge of the language, and many are fluent.  However, that’s only 1% of New Zealanders overall, causing the UN to declare the language ‘vulnerable’, and prompting the NZ government to set a target of 1 million speakers by 2040 (Satherley, 2020).

References

Alves, T. (2018, June 28). The story of colonisation in New Zealand. Culture Trip. Retrieved February 15, 2022, from https://theculturetrip.com/pacific/new-zealand/articles/the-story-of-colonisation-in-new-zealand/

History of New Zealand, 1769-1914. RSS. (n.d.). Retrieved February 15, 2022, from https://nzhistory.govt.nz/culture/history-of-new-zealand-1769-1914

New Zealand curriculum. Parents.education.govt.nz. (2020, January 30). Retrieved February 15, 2022, from https://parents.education.govt.nz/primary-school/learning-at-school/new-zealand-curriculum/

New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu Taonga. (2018, February 2). Effects of colonisation on Māori. Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved February 15, 2022, from https://teara.govt.nz/en/death-rates-and-life-expectancy/page-4

Menon, P. (2021, February 3). New Zealand Plans National Syllabus on Maori and UK colonial history. Reuters. Retrieved February 15, 2022, from https://www.reuters.com/article/us-newzealand-maori-idUSKBN2A31G0

Robinson, C. (2020, October 2). The Māori Party's policy for land rights and self-governance is not to be ignored | Claire Robinson. The Guardian. Retrieved February 15, 2022, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/02/the-maori-partys-vision-of-self-determination-is-not-to-be-ignored

Satherley, D. (2020, January 10). Māori language likely doomed, despite recent uptick in speakers - study. Newshub. Retrieved February 15, 2022, from https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2020/01/m-ori-language-likely-doomed-despite-recent-uptick-in-speakers-study.html

United Nations. (2008, March). United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. https://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/DRIPS_en.pdf

Van Driessche, R. E. (2013). INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE: A LOOK AT THE MĀORI IN A MODERN DAY EDUCATION SYSTEM. https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/66676/VanDriessche_Thesis.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y. Retrieved February 0, 2022.

Preston et al noted that a positive, nurturing and stimulating environment impacts children’s brain development, as well as “positive personal, social and intellectual traits including self-confidence, mental health, motivation to learn and the ability to control aggression, solve conflict in nonviolent ways and develop and sustain friendships” (Preston et al, 2011, p.5).  As such, it is extremely worthwhile to spend time, energy and resources on ensuring a healthy environment for young children, including in the educational setting.  

I have not had direct experience in ECE, although I did teach grade 2/3 for three years.  At that level, ast the children are transitioning into the intermediate grades, there is a fine balance, and a delicate dance that educators must navigate.  Before my brief stint teaching primary, I had taught middle school for half a dozen years, and if I were to teach primary again I would take a much different approach.  Initially I focused too much on academics and a rigorous application of curriculum standards.  There was a heavy feeling of obligation in my teaching, and I constantly faced the challenge of making sure my students were ‘enough’ - good enough readers, good enough writers, quick enough with their math facts.  I still believe those things are important academic goals, but having had four of my own children go through the early school years now - one of whom struggles academically - I’m almost ashamed to look back at those days… although in reality I didn’t know any better. 

I think Mr-Osborn-teaching-Grade-2/3-2.0 would be about appreciating and developing student curiosity.  I would try to make the student experience one of discovery and joy, harnessing the enthusiasm that students naturally bring to learning.  I would try to remember that my students’ education is not just books and numbers, letters and sentences - it’s learning about themselves, appreciating and interacting with others and developing relationships, and laying foundations for lifelong learning.  

My parents epitomise this approach with their grandchildren, including my own children.  They listen to their grandchildren, invite them to share their interests and passions, and look for opportunities to extend their knowledge slowly in these areas.  My dad is the consummate storyteller, and there’s nothing my children like better than to crawl into grandad’s lap and listen to him craft an adventure for them.  He brings little trinkets, or pinecones, or books that he thinks they’ll like, and uses them to build relationships with the children by extending their knowledge as he’s acknowledging their individual passions and personalities.  He connects them to their British heritage (my parents emigrated to Canada in 1970) and helps them understand, appreciate, and strengthen their roots.

As I’m writing this, I can’t help but think of all we’ve learned about the important place of elders in Indigenous leadership and ways of knowing, and the value of experiential knowing.  Archibald (2005, in Preston, 2011, p.9) notes that “the design of Aboriginal early childhood educational programs needs to foster the unique identities of Aboriginal peoples through the implementation of curricula built upon local Aboriginal cultures, languages and knowledge” (Archibald, 1995). Considering this has helped me appreciate some of the gaps in my own pedagogy for sure.  

References

Preston, Jane P., Cottrell, Michael, Pelletier, Terrance R., and Pearce, Joseph V. (2012). Aboriginal early childhood education in Canada: Issues of Context. Journal of Early Childhood Education Research, 10(3), 3-18

On the discussion board, reflect on what culture, and culture-based education, mean to you. How would you define these terms? 

In his book, Primitive Culture, founder of cultural anthropology Edward Tylor defines culture as “that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law, customs, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by [a human] as a member of society” (Tylor, 1874).  When I think of culture, I think of what groups of people share in common - whether those people belong to a nation, religion, ethnic group, business, or even a family.  One has to be careful of stereotyping culture, and as such, culture and its accompanying values should be defined more by those inside it than outside it.

Culture-based education is education that is sensitive to shared values of (Indigenous) groups, with a focus on community, relationships, responsibility to self and others, and appreciation of the natural world.  It is based on a curriculum that honours Indigenous history, while situating Indigenous culture in a positive and forward-thinking application.

Education Northwest has produced a series of Indigenous Culture-Based Education Rubrics to measure culture-based education in participating schools.  Education Northwest emphasizes that Indigenous culture must be honoured in both an historical, as well as present-day context.  In other words, while traditional values, content and pedagogies must be featured, education must also be placed in a modern and world-relevant context in order to prepare Indigenous youth for success in modern society.  They measure the effectiveness of culture-based education on adherence/inclusion of:

1. Recognition and use of Native American languages;

2. Pedagogy that includes traditional cultural characteristics;

3. Pedagogy using strategies congruous with traditional and contemporary ways of knowing;

4. Curriculum based on traditional culture, embracing Native spirituality;

5. Strong Native participation (parents, eders, and community);

6. Knowledge and use of social and political mores of the community. (William, et al, 2014)

Writing for the Hechinger Report, Katrina Boone notes that “ culture-based education… positively affects Native students’ college aspirations, sense of belonging in school and connection to community. Culture-based education not only has the potential to support students’ academic success, but also to foster the development of traits that transcend academic contexts, like resilience and confidence” (Boone, 2019).

Moving beyond assimilation to authentic culture-based education would mean providing a place at the table to Indigenous groups, and offering them equal voice.  I’ll admit that I struggle with this concept, because we often emphasise how our schools and classrooms seek to treat all cultures and peoples and perspectives equally.  I’m not quite sure if the goal of culture-based education is to (1) include more Indigenous content in mainstream schools; or (2) have band-based schools that build their curriculum from an Indigenous perspective.  

Our local band is considering the creation of a new school on band land, and the current debate is whether it will be open to all students living in the catchment area, including non-Indigenous students.  On one hand I can see how exciting it would be for local Indigenous peoples to have a school founded on Indigenous culture and values devoted strictly to their children.  On the other hand, I see an opportunity to include students from ‘both’ cultures, and in so doing, build bridges.

References:

Boone, K. (2020, March 30). Opinion: Culture-based education - a path to healing for native youth? The Hechinger Report. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from https://hechingerreport.org/opinion-culture-based-education-a-path-to-healing-for-native-youth/ 

Dennert, W. G., Hilberg, S., & Rawlins, N. (n.d.). Indigenous culture-based education rubrics. www.educationnorthwest.org. Retrieved February 26, 2022, from https://educationnorthwest.org/sites/default/files/resources/indigenous-cbe-rubrics-2014.pdf 

Here is what I identified as effective structures and guidelines for implementing a successful culture-based education program, based on Lewthwaite’s analysis of the New Zealand and Aklavic experiences:

1989 New Zealand Education Act:

1. Indigenous language features prominently (either as principal, or secondary language);

2. Indigenous parents involved in management board;

3. Indigenous parents establish aims, purpose and objectives as they related to the character of the school;

Change factors  in schools that have had success in school development:

1. Self-determination or relative autonomy;

2. Validating and legitimating cultural aspirations and identity (ie, fostering recommitment of Maori parents);

3. Incorporating culturally preferred pedagogy;

4. Mediating socio-economic and home difficulties by making school a priority;

5. Incorporating cultural structures emphasising the collective (eg, extended family). (Lewthwaite, 2007, p.2)

Aklavic Experience:

• Provide a secure, nurturing environment that reflects the culture of the community;

• Involve staff, students, families and the community in making decisions about learning;

• Teaching is based on actualities rather than abstractions (eg, what students are familiar with);

• Is based on/connected with, and reflective of ‘characteristics of place’ and community; 

• Is inherently experiential;

• Based on lifelong learning concepts that honour the individual and relationships;

• Honour local cultural and cultural figures;

• Seek proactive, not reactive solutions;

Dan Osborn’s suggestions for Leadership and Policy Requirements

1. Strong leadership and vision.  Leadership must understand the significance of culture-based education, articulate vision, and be willing to make it a central priority.

2. Necessity of involving and collaborating with local Indigenous group to define cultural values (eg, Aklavic identified 7 goals central to the elders);

3. Ongoing involvement with elders and other stakeholders. Ie, community buy-in and support.  This will be more likely if they have been involved in the building process (see previous point).

4. “Two-way” learning experiences that combine mainstream schooling objectives with Indigenous language, culture, traditions and beliefs.

References:

 Lewthwaite, Brian. (2007). From school in community to a community-based school: The Influence of an Aboriginal principal on culture-based school development. Canadian Journal of Educational Administration and Policy, 64

Indigenous language immersion programs have been developed throughout the world, including the United States, New Zealand and Hawaii, in some cases up to the university level.  In Canada the process of Indigenous language immersion is only getting started.  

Compared to French Immersion, Indigenous language immersion is a much more difficult program to implement due to the vast number of Indigenous languages spoken.  French language immersion is based on instruction in a single language, and therefore the immersion program is essentially the same across Canada.  Almost 10.4 million Canadians can carry on a conversation in French (Government of Canada, 2019).

In order for immersion to succeed, there must be support from:

• Federal, provincial and municipal governments - including solidifying (and adhering to) formal policy and making funding commitments;

• Local Indigenous leaders.  Local bands will need to work together to combine input, resources, and language speakers in the planning process.

• Local elders and knowledge-keepers who still speak the language;

• Non-indigenous allies who are willing to fight for the cause;

• Local Indigenous band members to support language use at home (only 8% of UCCMM members speak their language in the home (Morcom & Roy, 2019, p. 553);

• A long term vision for application - eg, a scaffolded approach to introducing and building the language-immersion program over a period of years.

Challenges faced by communities include:

• Lack of funding to develop immersive language programs;

• The number of dialects and linguistic variations that exist due to the vastness of the country.  This means that not all language programs are transferable. (ct. French, Spanish, Japanese and Punjabi language immersion);

• The lack of native language speakers capable of running the immersion programs, due to the obliteration of many Indigenous languages through (eg) the Indian Residential schools.

 The following are successful Indigenous language immersion programs:

• Ripple Rock Elementary in Campbell River - https://www.sd72.bc.ca/page/263/kwakwala-likwala-bilingual-k-3

• Ka Haka 'Ula O Ke'elikolani College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawaii -  https://www.olelo.hawaii.edu/

• Hawaiian Language schools - https://www.ahapunanaleo.org/

• Kura kaupapa Māori schools in New Zealand - https://www.kurakaikohe.school.nz/

References:

Battiste, Marie. (2013). Decolonizing Education: Nourishing the Learning Spirit. Saskatoon. Purich Publishing. Chapter 4.  Available in the course readings module.

Gouvernement du Canada. (2019, September 13). Government of Canada. Canada.ca. Retrieved February 27, 2022, from https://www.canada.ca/en/canadian-heritage/services/official-languages-bilingualism/publications/facts-canadian-francophonie.html 

Morcom, L. A., &  Roy, S. (2019). Is early immersion effective for Aboriginal language acquisition? A case study from an Anishinaabemowin kindergarten. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 22(5), 551-563.

I have never attended or worked with an Indigenous post-secondary institution, so perusing the websites helped me see the options that exist in Canada and elsewhere.

According to Taiaiake Alfred, Native programs are typically criticized because they are weak academically, and because students and faculty don’t compete with one another in terms of production (Alfred, 2012).  The different standards of Indigenous and non-Indigenous faculty (more time in the community, less time in the research lab) adds to further looking down on Native programming.  Alfred believes that Indigenous educators at the university level are doing good work, although it is not necessarily acknowledged as such.  He calls on Indigenous students to be the best on both sides of the matter.

I found the following information about University accreditation:

• “Accreditation is the recognition from an accrediting agency that an institution maintains a certain level of educational standards. The U.S. Department of Education maintains a database of accrediting agencies it recognizes.”

• “Accreditation involves a lengthy, rigorous, ongoing self-evaluation and peer-evaluation process undertaken in collaboration with an independent third party (in this case NWCCU) to assess an institution on a range of internationally-recognized standards of excellence and quality” (Thompson Rivers University.

University accreditation would provide a further level of credibility to Indigenous Universities.  They would be seen as legitimate tertiary education institutions, aside from also being experts in the area of Indigenous knowledge.  This would allow Indigenous and non-Indigenous students to experience fully accredited courses and degrees with the added benefit of an Indigenous atmosphere and cultural connection.

Lastly, the journey through post-secondary education is often heavily influenced by the question: will this course get me to my next step?  Is it (universally) recognized?  Full accreditation would assure that more students would be able to consider Indigenous post-secondary as a viable option.  

References:

Tehran Toronto. (2012, April 10). Taiaiake Alfred: Indigenizing the Academy [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FL8wKpdUvA&t=1s

The Basics of School Accreditation. studyinthestates.dhs.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2022, from https://studyinthestates.dhs.gov/the-basics-of-school-accreditation 

Thompson Rivers University, www.tru.ca. (n.d.). Accreditation. Accreditation, Thompson Rivers University. Retrieved February 27, 2022, from https://www.tru.ca/about/accreditation.html#:~:text=Accreditation%20involves%20a%20lengthy%2C%20rigorous,standards%20of%20excellence%20and%20quality. 

Here is my final project.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10ozLJI8GWjR1ZwZQNkl_JaRXcvZQtQdP/view?usp=sharing