Every Monday, The duty drags you along on the crossroads of university life. A proposal that is both scholarly and intimate, to be picked up like a postcard during the beautiful season. This week, foray into school d’été Witamawi, the result of a collaboration between UQAM and Kiuna, the only post-secondary educational institution by and for First Nations.
For many years, calls for action have been made to improve the place of First Nations within the Quebec school system. Article 15 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted in 2007 and recently ratified by Canada, clearly states that Indigenous peoples have “the right to information faithfully reflect the dignity and diversity of their cultures, traditions, history and aspirations. »
Closer to home, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (calls to action 62 and 63) and the Commission of Inquiry into Relations between Indigenous Peoples and Certain Public Services (calls to action 21 and 22), not to mention to name only these, are eloquent concerning the shifts to be undertaken in order to reform the Aboriginal perspectives in the field of education. Added to this is the fact that more and more students destined for the teaching profession (as well as experienced teachers) are grieving the lack of preparation surrounding the various Aboriginal issues in initial university training. It should be remembered that at UQAM, in their four-year university education, education students have no compulsory courses surrounding First Nations issues.
These calls are far from being the first in this direction. First Nations have declared their desire to control the education of their children since colonial policies usurped this role from them. In 1972, the National Indian Brotherhood (which has since 1982 become the Assembly of First Nations) published a document that has become an essential milestone in the field of education for the Aboriginal peoples of Canada: “Indian control of Indian education “. This declaration of principle constitutes a plea for decolonization by taking back control of education by the First Nations in Canada. The far-sighted document already proposed training non-Aboriginal teachers in the different Aboriginal perspectives: […] teachers and specialist counselors should have the opportunity to improve themselves through specialized summer courses dealing with the problems of acculturation and anthropology, as well as courses in history, language and Indian culture”. The idea was launched, but 50 years later, it is clear that few systemic actions have been undertaken in this area.
After a few years of enriching collaboration, people from UQAM and Kiuna, the only post-secondary educational institution by and for the First Nations, decided to act against the wait-and-see attitude and to think about a collaborative university course to better equip future teachers about First Nations issues in the classroom. Quickly, the formula of a summer school imposed itself… as well as the idea of holding it in Odanak, an Abenaki community. Rooting in the Ndakina, unceded Abenaki territory where Kiuna is located, seemed important to us on the symbolic level, but also in terms of the learning that the students could derive from it. It was also decided that the speakers would come mostly from First Nations. Added to this small team is the Abenaki Museum as an essential institutional partner in the project.
It is important that we know what is happening today. […]this demonstrates the importance of talking about current issues […] and see it with the students.
Thus was born the Witamawi Summer School (“tell me something so that I learn” or “teach me” in w8banaki), a three-credit university activity in which future teachers of the preschool to high school meet and participate in workshops dealing with linguistic, territorial, identity and decolonization issues by a dozen speakers from different First Nations in Quebec. The first edition was held in Odanak from August 8 to 12, 2022, and 45 students took the course “Indigenous perspectives in teaching”, the Uqamian name for the educational activity.
Witamawi is an opportunity not only to better equip future teachers, but also, for Kiuna, to be part of a paradigm shift surrounding the treatment of First Nations issues and perspectives in the world of education. Moreover, three days of the summer school were held in Kiuna, which has graduated no less than 125 First Nations and Inuit students since 2011, as well as some non-natives. For the other two days, the workshops took place at the Musée des Abénakis and its surroundings, a center for the dissemination of Abenaki knowledge and traditions. At the end of five days of intense learning and great emotions, the students left with a look that was both broad and nuanced, but not exhaustive, of First Nations issues. For example, a presentation on the Indian Act allowed students to concretely grasp the current repercussions of this legislation, which is still in effect for First Nations.
A summer school to enrich and reflect
Among the projects to be completed as part of the “Aboriginal Perspectives in Teaching” activity, students had to submit a reflection in the form of a podcast before setting foot in Odanak. The pedagogical intention was to offer them an opportunity to present their epistemological position in the face of First Nations issues and, by the same token, better target the knowledge to be developed during the immersive stay.
It is clear that these reflective podcasts on the state of their knowledge are a summary of the failure of our education system to integrate the perspectives of the First Nations. The vast majority of summer school students, although with a real desire to change the state of things, deplore the fact that they are ill-prepared to teach the realities of First Peoples to their future students. : “it was only during my 4e French course at CEGEP that I had the chance to read [le roman] Taqawan […], I had a shock. It is important that we know what is happening today. […]this demonstrates the importance of talking about current issues […] and see that with the students. Another student destined for primary and preschool education humbly evokes the fear of not being up to the task: ” […] many issues hold me back in my creativity, in particular the fear of making a mistake and my discomfort with a lack of knowledge on this subject”. Others, in a resolutely more optimistic posture, are already building educational projects from an Aboriginal perspective in their teaching practice. A student argues in his podcast that, while addressing the boiling point of water in science, it would be possible to discuss the virtues of medicinal plants among certain First Nations. In the same vein, another student explains that in plastic arts, both at the elementary and secondary levels, it would be possible to draw inspiration from two artistic styles of the First Nations, namely those of the Woodland and the northwest coast.
The days following Witamawi, the students continued their reflection in a second podcast and demonstrated how the summer school was able to enrich their knowledge of the First Nations and allow their integration into the school context.
The Witamawi Summer School does not claim to regulate everything in the time of a university course, far from it. This is a challenge to be met over several generations. Nonetheless, this partnership demonstrates that the paths to a better understanding of our First Nations neighbors are many and often lie close to home. With Witamawi, we decided it would be one teacher at a time.
Kchi wliwni to the community of Odanak for welcoming us to its territory.