Truth and Reconciliation Through Education

How educators can respond to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action

Educators have a special role in furthering truth and reconciliation practices in education, but many struggle to understand exactly what that means and how to accomplish it. Reconciliation through education is grounded in the amplification of Indigenous voices as the spark of authentic reconciliatory practices, as well as the understanding that everyone can gain insights through reconciliation practices and relationships.

Springing from a master’s certificate program at the University of Calgary called Indigenous Education: A Call to Action, this book explores stories from alumni, program designers, and instructors who have taken a deliberate and active role in responding to the TRC’s Calls to Action through education. Section I contains useful chapters on program design and concepts, while section II presents a collection of inspirational and thought-provoking personal stories and reflections from Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators.

This is a resource written by educators for educators wishing to embark on their own journeys of truth and reconciliation in their personal and professional lives. Join the reconciliatory education community in courageously teaching, learning, and acting, just as the educators in this collected volume are doing.

Table of Contents

Preface
Acknowledgements
Introduction
SECTION I: IMAGINING AND SEEDING POSSIBILITIES: MODELS FOR RECONCILIATORY EDUCATION
Reflective Question
1. Growing Good Medicine: A Model of Indigenous Program Design
2. Reconciliatory Education: An Extended Infinity Model
3. Decolonizing and Transformative Learning in the Call to Action Program
4. The Relational Model for Teaching and Learning
5. Coming Full Circle
SECTION II: STORIES OF DECOLONIZING PRACTICES
Reflective Questions
PART I: STORIES OF INDIGENOUS RECLAMATION, REVITALIZATION, AND RECONNECTION
6. Lost and Then Found: A Northerner Finding Home and Community in the South
7. Planting a Story of Hope, Healing, and Transformation
8. My Life Journey Through the Four Directions
9. Setting Hope Free: Cree Leadership in Reconciliation
10. Finding Strength in Community and Culture: Applying Traditional Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit Principles and Practices to Address Contemporary Challenges
PART 2: STORIES OF RECONCILIATORY EDUCATION IN K TO 12
11. Braiding Strands of Identity, Traditional Ways, and Storytelling
12. Shaken and Stirred to the Core: Listening as a Central Act of Learning
13. Decolonizing Educator Practice in Offshore Schools
14. Navigating Barriers to Reconciliation Through Education: A Non-Indigenous Educator’s Journey of Learning
15. Heart to Heart: Indigenous Truths Taking Flight Through the Agency of Calgary Middle School Students
PART 3: STORIES OF LEARNING WITH COMMUNITY
16. From Decolonizing to Indigenizing: Learning Together How to Start from Where You Are
17. Building Bridges into Good Relations: An Early Learning Experience
18. Storied Science: Elevating Indigenous Knowledges Through Placemaking in Colonial Spaces
19. Home Is Where the Land Is: Mount Athabasca and the Mountain Métis
PART 4: STORIES OF ETHICAL ALLYSHIP
20. Growing in Relation: Reconciling Our Learning Spirits Together
21. Dismantling the Colonial Lens: Emotional Commitment as a Path to Reconciliation
22. Leaning into the Discomfort of Transformative Empathy: One Settler Educator’s Journey of Unlearning
23. Exploring Motivations for Settler Engagement
Epilogue