Header image: One of 12 signs from the Native Hosts collection by Edgar Heap of Birds – Photo: Michael R. Barrick
Page name, from: Musqueam 101 https://www.musqueam.bc.ca/our-story/educational-resources/musqueam-101/
See also: Lynda Gray’s First Nations 101
UBC-Guidelines-Musqueam_July-2019
POINTS TO NOTE:
a. Acknowledging territory is a way of honoring and showing respect to the Musqueam, who have long inhabited this land. This does not need to be done at every meeting and gathering at UBC but should be done when it is meaningful or appropriate to do so.
c. The host or Emcee is the only person who needs to acknowledge Musqueam. It is not necessary for any other speaker to do so (although it is appropriate for another aboriginal speaker to do so, should they wish)
- This ⬆ is what comes to mind during land acknowledgements that sometimes seem forced/performative
- One kind of land acknowledgement is to drive the speed limit [50] when passing this ⬆ entrance to Musqueam Indian Reserve, which is only a very small part of their traditional territory.
- How many folks have blasted past this place on their way to/from UBC, after giving/hearing a spoken land acknowledgement at the beginning of a gathering? I like to slow down, drive the limit, and intentionally think about the the land I am on and the displacement of its Indigenous inhabitants. It “costs” me a few seconds, but really it connects me to the place as I think about how the UBC and the UEL (“one of the ‘jewels’ of Metro Vancouver“) came to be.
My personal land acknowledgement needs updating. I wrote it in March 2021 as part of the Respect, Sincerity & Responsibility: Land Acknowledgement @ UBC course.
- 𝗜’𝗺 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗨𝗕𝗖 𝗣𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗽𝘂𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱, 𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗽𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝘂𝘀𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲. I am an uninvited guest on this land. I am originally from the West of Ireland. My people’s history is one involving the occupation of our land and the loss of our native language and important parts of our culture. I have a responsibility to make myself aware of the story of this land and the peoples that have lived and learned on/from it for millennia. I invite you to share some of your learning with me so that we can better understand how to show our respect and honor our responsibilities to this land and to those who have long held it in responsible stewardship.
Since then, I’ve become a Canadian citizen so I’ll need to do some work to update this
(April 19, 2024) I learned about the UBC Former Youth in Care program last week and followed that link to the link below.
(March 29, 2019) ‘No act of reconciliation is too small,’ says B.C. advanced education minister https://www.clearwatertimes.com/news/no-act-of-reconciliation-is-too-small-says-b-c-advanced-education-minister-5712493
- … post-secondary tuition fees were waived as part of a provincial program launched in 2017. The program requires B.C.’s 25 public post-secondary schools to offer free schooling to students aged 19 to 26 who spent at least two years in care.
- Growing up in care makes it difficult, for many reasons, to access post-secondary education. These children move often and only one-third of them graduate high school with a Dogwood diploma by the time they turn 19.
- For Indigenous children, the situation is worse. Even if they aren’t in care, they’re less likely to graduate than non-aboriginal kids — 69.6 per cent compared with 86.5 per cent — and if they are in care, they’re less likely to access post-care income support as an adult.
- The majority of children in care in B.C. are Indigenous — 63.5 per cent — even though Indigenous people make up just four per cent of the provincial population.
“When you look at the impact of residential schools and the intergenerational impact when kids were taken out of their families, the communities are still recovering. …[E]ducation was unfortunately the method that was used to destroy the culture and break down those families, but it’s also going to be the way to lift them back up”
William Litchfield, associate vice-president, university relations, at VIU
- B.C.’s Minister of Advanced Education Melanie Mark is Indigenous and she grew up in government care, living in two foster homes and later in the care of a relative. She is B.C.’s first female First Nations MLA and cabinet minister.
- VIU — with nearly 100 students on tuition waivers — has more Indigenous students than any other university in B.C.
(Jun 26, 2023) B.C. university [KPU] waives tuition for students from local First Nations. Will other schools follow? https://www.timescolonist.com/bc-news/bc-university-waives-tuition-for-students-from-local-first-nations-will-other-schools-follow-7194240
(Mar 14, 2023) B.C. lifts age limit on free tuition for those who were once in care
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/free-tuition-age-limit-1.6778680
(Apr 14, 2024) ‘We were born knowing this is ours’: B.C. signs deal recognizing Haida Nation title over Haida Gwaii
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-haida-gwaii-title-agreement-1.7173601
- The province says the “Rising Tide” title agreement is a “first-of-its-kind” deal negotiated between the NDP government and the nation, shifting “ownership and jurisdiction of land from the Crown to the Haida Nation in Crown law.”
(April 7, 2024) I joined the board of the BC Freedom of Information Association last December. It’s a great organisation; if you haven’t already, please check them out.
I’m just out of our annual Board retreat where, among many other things, I learned of the Tsawwassen First Nation Freedom of Information and Privacy Act (2009/2017) which aims to
to provide Tsawwassen Members and other “qualifying persons” with access to information in the custody and control of a Tsawwassen Institution (defined as Tsawwassen Government, and any body, board or commission it may establish); and to mandate the protection of personal information that is collected by a Tsawwassen Institution.
FINAL_Summary_Freedom_of_Information_and_Protection_of_Privacy_Act_2013.10.21.pdf (tsawwassenfirstnation.com)
I’m connecting the above to my interest in privacy and identity, as well as my ongoing learning within education; In this case, I think specifically of the First Peoples Principles of Learning and how these might inform practices of data collection, retention, storage, destruction, and use: the issue of the Nation’s consent being key.
Vanner, C. et al (2024). Teaching about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ People: Implications for Canadian Educators. Canadian Journal of Education. https://doi.org/10.53967/cje-rce.5883
RQ: How can teachers enhance the critical consciousness of Canadian young people about MMIWG2S?
- showcasing the experiences of eight teachers already teaching about MMIWG2S, the recommendations of 11 adolescent Indigenous girl activists [Treaty 6 Métis], and the guidance provided in the Their Voices Will Guide Us teaching and learning guide, published alongside the National Inquiry’s final report
Indigenous women and girls are 12 times more likely to go missing or be murdered than other women in Canada.
- Following the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)’s report on residential schools in Canada, education about residential schools expanded substantially to hold a central position in many provincial curricula
- The National Inquiry’s report has not garnered the same attention in education.
- Participant self-identified as “Muslim” for ethnicity cf. White, Métis, European & North African
- The National Inquiry classifies this violence as genocide [KF cf. “acts of genocide“] because of its linkages to centuries of colonial policies that targeted Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people, culminating in their dehumanization and dramatically higher exposure to violence
- Clark (2016) calls for violence to be understood within a complex web of social forces, emphasizing the resistance and resilience of Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQQIA+ people so that their stories are not only of victimhood [more on this]
- calls for “desire-centred research,” which centres on “the hope, the visions, the wisdom of lived lives and communities. Desire is involved with the not yet and, at times, the not anymore”
- Battiste’s (2013) concept of decolonizing education
- School systems have to disrupt settler innocence narratives by showing Canada as “a settler colonial state where Indigenous peoples continue to face systemic discrimination”
- the importance of educators’ critical self-reflection on their positionality and implication in the issues they are teaching about before they can support their students to do the same.
Tuck and Yang’s (2012) critique of settler educators who falsely claim to be decolonizing education classifies this practice as a settler move to innocence, defined as “strategies or positionings that attempt to relieve the settler of feelings of guilt or responsibility without giving up land or power or privilege”
I would absolutely expect non-Indigenous educators to acknowledge their privilege, to learn about colonial history, to not have White guilt about it, to work through that because it’s not about you. It’s about how can we give an explanation so young people can feel that their lives are empowered and they can be proud that they are Indigenous youth.
Marie, the only Indigenous (Michif) teacher participant
(Mar 28, 2024) Ontario moves to allow use of Indigenous languages in legislature https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/28/ontario-indigenous-languages-legislature-canada
- moved to amend a standing order that previously required lawmakers to use either English or French. Following a vote, that order now allows for an “Indigenous language spoken in Canada” to be used when addressing the speaker or chamber.
- Sol Mamakwa, a member of the New Democratic party who represents the Kiiwetinoong electoral district, recalled being punished for speaking Ojibwe (Anishinaabemowin) in his youth.
- (Sep 14, 2022) Indigenous MPP Sol Mamakwa declines to participate in oath to King Charles III https://toronto.citynews.ca/2022/09/14/indigenous-mpp-sol-mamakwa-king-charles-oath/
(Mar 21, 2024) Two men swapped at birth – one Indigenous, one white – finally get apology
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/21/richard-beauvais-eddy-ambrose-switched-birth-responsibility-apology
- Richard Beauvais, 68, believed he was Indigenous. Eddy Ambrose, who shares the same birthday, always understood that he was of Ukrainian descent
- The painful saga, which embodies the damaging effects of Canada’s colonial policies, also highlights the fragile nature of identity and the complex meaning of family.
- The case marks the third known such mistake in the province of Manitoba.
(Mar 17, 2024) Toronto researchers help uncover Ontario First Nations’ donations to Irish Famine relief fund https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-first-nations-irish-famine-donations-1.7143918
- In the summer of 1847, Toronto gave refuge to 38,000 Irish famine victims — at a time when Toronto’s population was only 20,000.
- The part of this history that is virtually unknown is the contribution to the relief fund from Indigenous communities in Canada.
“At least 15 bands answered the call and requested that donations be deducted from their government annuities, added to the fund, and then sent to ‘our suffering fellow subjects and Christian brethren in Ireland and Scotland,” according to Mark McGowan’s research. McGowan is a professor of history at the University of Toronto and has spent time going through the archival documents.
- McGowan says the documents show Mohawks, Haudenosaunee of the Six Nations, Chippewa, Delaware, Wyandotte, and Mississauga peoples had donated £115, an amount equivalent to $12,426 today.
- With further donations from the Saugeen, Ojibwa of Lake Huron, and Moravian Ojibwa, the total Indigenous gift to the relief fund was £165, or $17,978 in today’s Canadian currency. Some of these contributions came from Indigenous communities in Quebec.
(Mar 12, 2024) Indigenous language program sees bright future in permanent home
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/squamish-nation-language-kitsilano-schoolhouse-1.7142031
- Immersive program for babies and toddlers an example of reconciliation, parent says
- The Henry Hudson building in Vancouver’s Kitsilano neighbourhood was set to be demolished by the Vancouver School Board to make way for a new elementary school, until the Squamish Nation saved it in the eleventh hour.
- After a journey across the Burrard Inlet on a barge in August, the schoolhouse was renovated, with education for little ones in mind
(December 8, 2023) Louis Riel Act receives Royal Assent, becomes law
https://www.mmf.mb.ca/news/louis-riel-act-receives-royal-assent-becomes-law
- Louis Riel finally recognized as the first Premier of Manitoba.
➡ see Stones/Balancing: Jock Langlois (Red River Metis)
https://indigenizinglearning.educ.ubc.ca/stones-balancing/
(September 30, 2022) Musqueam gifts new name to City of Vancouver to replace Trutch Street https://www.musqueam.bc.ca/renaming-ceremony-vancouver-trutch-street/
- Nicholle and I were on this Musqueam Indian Reserve on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation for this renaming ceremony.
- AFAIK, the signposts for Trutch street have still not been changed (Mar 2024)
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(Mar 17, 2017) Should non-Indigenous Canadians learn Indigenous languages? (CBC)
- It’s complicated, but one thing is for sure: don’t be this guy:
- (Jan 30, 2024) Powell River City Councillor (Jim Palm) Mocks Tla’amin Language with Made-Up Place Name
https://www.tlaaminnation.com/powell-river-city-councillor-mocks-tlaamin-language-with-made-up-place-name/
- (Jan 30, 2024) Powell River City Councillor (Jim Palm) Mocks Tla’amin Language with Made-Up Place Name
See: UBC First Nations and Endangered Languages Program https://fnel.arts.ubc.ca
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(Dec 16, 2016) ‘Who is Jimmy Gwich?’: the story behind my radio sign-off [Duncan McCue]
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/checkup/blog/who-is-jimmy-gwich-the-story-behind-my-radio-sign-off-1.3901020
- In Anishinaabemowin, “miigwech” means “thank you.”
- Adding “chi” makes it literally “big thank you.
Canada’s Indigenous roots are also reflected in hundreds of place names, such as Kamloops (from the Shuswap “Tk’emlups,” meaning “where the rivers meet”), Manitoba (from the Cree “manito-wapâw” meaning “the strait of the spirit”), or Canada itself (from the word meaning “village” or “settlement” in St. Lawrence Iroquoian tongue).
https://www.cbc.ca/radio/checkup/blog/who-is-jimmy-gwich-the-story-behind-my-radio-sign-off-1.3901020
[34] years since Elijah Harper said ‘no’ to the Meech Lake Accord
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/25-years-since-elijah-harper-said-no-to-the-meech-lake-accord-1.3110439
- Learned about this from Brian Ennis at BCIT (Mar 2024)
Indigenous Storywork
HANDS BACK … HANDS FORWARD https://indigenousstorywork.com/elders-teachings/
- …teaching of the late Dr. Vincent Stogan, Tsimilano, our dear Elder from Musqueam. Tsimilano taught us that Hands back… Hands forward guides us to reach back and learn from those that have gone before us, and then reach forward to pass on the teachings to those that are coming after us.
➡ Alex: this is the Irish storyteller I mentioned: Eddie Lenihan. I saw him in action once, sitting by the fire in an old pub, the lights dimmed, the crowd hushed. It was magical.