Annotated Bibliography

https://indigenousstorywork.com/

Archibald's website "Indigenous Storywork" provides vital information for educators on how to understand Indigenous storywork, and includes information on protocols for working with Indigenous stories in classrooms.

    This book aimed at BC Teachers is written by Jo Chrona, an Indigenous educator from the Kitsumkalum (Tsimshian) and Gitsegula (Gitxsan) First Nations on the West Coast of BC.  The book deeply explores the First Peoples Principals of Learning (FPPL) developed by the BC First Nations Education Steering Committee(FNESC) and provides a clear explanation of the vital importance of anti-racist education in promoting Reconciliation with Indigenous peoples.  Chrona presents a model representing the progression of “Becoming Anti-Racist in Canada”(p.60) which begins in fear, separation and denial and moves through a learning zone towards an area of growth, advocacy and action. She sees the development of anti-racism as a journey of transformation.

This is an essential resource for local and regional educators providing deep analysis and insight which may be helpful for educators across Canada.  Chrona clearly explains Indigenous informed and well researched best practices for BC educators relating to Indigenous education and anti-racist education, focusing on the importance of taking time and self-reflection as we work towards Indigenization of the BC Education system. Rather than seeing allyship as a singular concrete identity, a realization that anti-racism is a journey of learning and transformation towards Reconciliation is explored as a more helpful model.

The First People’s Principals of Learning (FPPL) were developed by the FPCC who brought together Indigenous teachers, elders, and community leaders from around the province to create a resource to support the BC English First People’s 12 course.   While they identify that First Peoples from diverse Nations hold many different educational ideas, practices and protocols, there are some commonalities which they have summarized in the nine FPPL.  It is important to note that these are not a full representation of any particular Nation’s pedagogy.

 This is a vital document for educator-allies to contemplate, discuss and revisit on an ongoing basis.  It can help ground educators in an understanding of diverse First People’s cultural views and prepare educators as they begin to develop relationships with particular First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples.  The FPPL is available as a wall mounted poster which you can hang in your classroom as well.

Higginbottom, G. (2023) Steps Toward 

     Healing a Colonial System While   

     Improving  Equitable Experiences for 

     Indigenous Learners K-12 in a BC Rural 

     School District. The Organizational 

     Improvement Plan at Western University, 

     373. Retrieved from  

     https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/oip/373 

    Higginbottom's PhD dissertation focuses on her efforts working towards decolonization through the lens of her Secwep'mc stories and ways of knowing and being as District Principal of Aboriginal Education. She offers the exemplar of her own efforts working with other administrators at the district level through an approach of  decolonial transformational leadership.  

     Her ideas of creating "mini lessons" to share at meetings with colleagues is an idea which may be transferable to teachers wishing to use some of these activities with our own colleagues at staff meetings or Professional Development days.   Her extensive appendix outlines these activities and offers an excellent resource of ideas and activities for teachers beginning to decolonize our own mindsets and work towards becoming anti-racist, while acknowledging the dissonance of working within a colonial system.

     Thoughts on Indigenization (2017) is a video created by Dr. Christopher Horsethief, Ktunaxa scholar and leader, in which he summarizes his thoughts on best practices in Indigenization especially in the context of the Ktunaxa Nation and it’s educational partners.  In summarizing his video, Horsethief ends with the reflection that we live in a world which is increasingly inter-connected, emphasizing that society as a whole is better when we work as a team, rather than individuals, that we are greater than the sum of our individual parts.  For Horsethief, “Indigenization is about conversations” (2017); it is including Indigenous voices which have historically been excluded due to colonization, and building better institutions and communities which will benefit from combining ancient Indigenous knowledges and pedagogies with settler technologies and epistemologies.

     This video speaks directly to educators wishing to work with the Ktunaxa Nation supporting Indigenization of education.  Horsethief speaks in a clear, straightforward way about maximizing the effectiveness of the resources that the Ktunaxa have.  He emphasizes the importance of Ktunaxa People finding their voices and using modern tools such as to represent their interests, express their voices and build vital relationships.  Horsethief shares a rubric he created for educational institutions to use to assess their efforts towards Indigenization and Reconciliation. He also has some advice for individuals about what we can do in our own social networks to help reach other people and help them learn more about Truth & Reconciliation.

  Dr. Christopher Horsethief, a Ktunaxa scholar, military veteran, leader and Professor, has an extensive body of video teachings, as well as writings relating to complexity theory, leadership, information sharing and problem-solving networks. This video is a conference presentation made by Horsethief to other First Nations leaders about the experiences of the Ktunaxa Nation as they develop their own tools for working collaboratively with governments and settler organization to create new “third spaces”, epistemic hybrids co-created through conversations grounded in ancient Ktunaxa problem solving strategies such as a circle group having one heart. Throughout the video Horsethief shares personal stories from his own life and his Ktunaxa relatives, relating their experiences with colonialism, epistemic violence and intergenerational trauma, as well as their resilience, innovation and problem solving.  Horsethief skillfully weaves storytelling and academic understandings leading the audience to new understandings of ourselves as he guides us to a deeper understanding of the Ktunaxa statement on Truth & Reconciliation. 

     This presentation is a valuable resource for settler educators/allies seeking to understand better ways of engaging in community with Ktunaxa Nation.  Horsethief’s deep understanding of culture and discourse provides vital advice and guidance for those seeking to work with the Ktunaxa Nation as allies and partners in Truth and Reconciliation.  He expertly alternates between Ktunaxa understandings and academic discourse, creating a new way of seeing and opening our minds to new ways of being in relationship with First Nations and ourselves.  An important point of consideration in Horsethief’s envisioning of a better collective future for all, is the imperative of Indigenous autonomy and self-determination. Allies must follow the guidance of Indigenous leaders.  By listening to his work, settler educators can get a deeper understanding of what it means to become a Ktunaxa ally, ensuring Indigenous voices are heard in education, and building good relationships over time with Ktunaxa people and the land.

     NOT EXTINCT: Keeping the Sinixt Way (2021), is a collection of Sinixt stories, artwork, and reflections, written by Autonomous Sinixt Elder Marilyn James and her daughter Taress Alexis in collaboration with their settler allies, “the Blood of Life Collective.”   This book chronicles a good relationship between settler-allies and Sinixt people as they collaborated over the past 30 years to support the revitalization of local Sinixt culture, the protection of sacred sites, archeological research discovering the oldest pit house in North America, and the repatriation of Sinixt ancestors.

     James and Alexis use traditional and contemporary stories alongside personal reflections and artwork from themselves and their settler allies to explore the deeper meanings and layers of Sinixt knowledges.  Throughout this book they explain through storytelling and personal reflections how it is possible for settlers to work together with them to begin to understand Sinixt culture and world views.   Through this process of building relationships, learning together through self-reflection, and working together under Sinixt People’s guidance as caretakers of this place, fulfilling our responsibilities to the land and each other, we can come into new relationship. 

Joseph, Chief R. (2022) Namwayut - We Are All One: A Pathway to Reconciliation. Page Two. 

Namwayut - We are all One (2022) is a recently published memoir by Chief Robert Joseph, who offers this word in the Kwak’wala language to us all as a way to understand that we are all interconnected, and only by coming to understand this we can come to true Reconciliation. Joseph is “Hereditary Chief of the Gwawaenuk people, Ambassador for Reconciliation Canada, Chair of the Native American Leadership Alliance for Peace and Reconciliation, and the 2016 winner of the Indspire Lifetime Achievement Award.” (Joseph, n.d.) His story is vulnerable, heart wrenching and hopeful, providing inspiration to all of us for a path towards a better world. 

Drags Grizzly Is a memoir by former Nasookin (Chief) Chris Luke of the Ktunaxa Yakan Nukiy Band, which offers insight into his experiences of racism, resilience, and the near loss of his community due to the inter-generational trauma of residential schools and colonialism.

    In “Unsettling Allyship, Unlearning and Learning Towards Decolonizing Solidarity” (2020), “decolonizing solidarity” is a term used by Kluttz and colleagues, who explain that this “requires potential allies to recognize that they do not want to live in a world where oppression continues: a world that is structurally unconducive to an equal and just society is of mutual concern for everyone”(Kluttz et al., 2020, p54).  The authors came to realize through self-reflection and interviewing settler-allies and Indigenous people that the idea of “ally” is another colonial identity which implies that Indigenous people are “other” and suggests that this relationship may be temporary, when interests are no longer allied.  As these authors reflect on their experiences as Indigenous allies, they describe how settler’s social action in collaboration with Indigenous people begins a process of transformative learning.  Though this process of “learning and unlearning”, those who considered themselves allies were transformed into better relationship, working together for their mutual benefit and awakening, and in the process creating new understandings. The authors describe this process as messy, unsettling, and ultimately empowering for all involved.

     For settler educators, this article by Klutz et al. (2020) provides an excellent example of the type of self-reflection and transformation which we are called towards on this journey of Truth and Reconciliation. The author’s caution against common colonial-ally mindsets such as the “white saviour complex”, Klutzz et al. summarize the essence of moving from being allies to decolonizing solidarity, using a quote from Lila Watson (Australian) Indigenous Murri Gangulu, artist, activist and academic: “ If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together”(2020, p.49).

True Reconciliation book cover [image] https://images.penguinrandomhouse.com/cover/9780771004384

Raybould-Wilson, J. (2022) True Reconciliation - How to Be a Force for Change McClelland & Stewart. 

True Reconciliation – How to Be a Force for Change (2022), written by former Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould, is a call to action for all Canadians to join together to create a common vision for a better Canada through what she terms “True Reconciliation”.  Wilson-Raybould structures the book in three sections, which outline her recommendations for individuals and organizations wanting to know what we can do to support the Truth & Reconciliation process: Learn, Understand, and Act. The book is a message of hope and guidance aimed to inspire Canadians to envision a Canada where Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians co-create a more just, resilient, thriving and peaceful (Raybould-Wilson, 2022, p20) land in alignment with diverse Indigenous world views. 

Wilson-Raybould, J. (2022, Nov.9) Jody Wilson-Raybould on how we can be a "force for change" CHCH News Youtube. https://youtu.be/V_8iNHEf1vQ?si=rU95lpaFbX3APXP3

  This local academic work written by Theresa Southam, a Department Head at Selkirk College in Castlegar, BC, examines several BC examples of the important role academics can play as allies and accomplices in decolonized solidarity with Indigenous peoples.  The paper examines a website of teachings called “As I Remember It: Teachings (Ɂəms tɑɁɑw) from the Life of a Sliammon Elder” (2019), created by Elder Elsie Paul in collaboration with Indigenous and non-Indigenous supporters, along with the children’s novel Fatty Legs – a True Story (2010) which resulted from a collaboration between Indigenous Elder Margaret-Olemann Pokiak Fenton and her non-Indigenous daughter-in-law Christy Jordan-Fenton.  Through her exploration of these good, collaborative relationships between settlers and Indigenous people, Southam helps us understand a conception of “ally” as “accomplice”.   She offers examples of how academics have become effective allies/accomplices for First Nations peoples, supporting and encouraging their voices and stories.  

    Southam's portfolio offers examples and stories which can help settler educators begin to envision the kinds of roles that might be helpful, and how we can approach allyship in a deeper and less divisive way.  As the term “allies” still implies as sense of “us vs them” or Indigenous as “other”, she helps us envisage how we can aspire to become accomplices, in solidarity together with a common goal of de-colonization, which is a process of developing relationships and taking “risks in the service of justice”(Southam, 2021, p155).  Overall, Southam calls us all to be antiracists and shows us powerful exemplars of how this is already happening all around us.

Stovel, L. (2019) Swift River: Stories of the First People and First Travelers in the Columbia River around Revelstoke. Oregon Grape Press.

     Swift River:Stories of the first peoples and first Travelers in the Columbia River around Revelstoke is a comprehensive history of the Sinixt peoples and their first encounters with settlers in the Columbia River system near Revelstoke. Patty Bailey and Shelly Boyd are contributing Sinixt authors on this book. This book is essential reading for educators working in Sinixt territory to help understand the complex and often brutal colonization experiences of the early settlement period in this area. As well it chronicles the ongoing resistance by the Sinixt people and their efforts to regain legal status in their traditional territory. The book is well documented with many primary references.