Entry #9

Hey everyone! It's Alanna again and I’m back to talk about the research I’ve been doing in relation to Indigenous students in public schools. With my first blog I talked about how Indigenous Knowledge might be understood (Batiste, 2002) and how we as teachers should want to learn and grow in order to make change happen. Today I want to do something a little different. I want to focus on a friend of mine who I met at Mount Allison University during my undergrad degree. Emma Hassencahl-Perley is a multidisciplinary artist who completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts at Mount Allison. After graduating, Emma went on to work in Student Life as the Indigenous Affairs Coordinator and became an active leader in the Indigenous Support Group on campus. All of the insight and information in this blog has been provided by Emma as we've been collaborating back and forth all week.  

The reason why I am profiling Emma is because her identity as a Wolastoqiyik woman (commonly known as Maliseet) influences her art. She is currently exploring how legislative identity such as the Indian Act shapes the identity of Indigenous people. She has completed two projects called “White Flag” and “Ahtolimiye” which means “She Keeps Praying” that personify the impact of the Indian Act on Indigenous identities. Both projects have fragments of the Indian Act which were shredded and placed on a Canadian flag and a Jingle Dress.

Photo credit to Logan Perley, Jingle Dress "Ahtolimiye"

I asked Emma about some of the challenges she has faced as a Wolastoqiyik student going into university and how the education system could change to make Indigenous students feel more welcome in classrooms. Emma described how she went through culture-shock as she realized that her peers knew little about Indigenous history and who her people were despite New Brunswick being unceded territory. For those who may not know "unceded territory or land" refers to Aboriginal land titles that have not been surrendered or acquired by the Crown (Indigenous Corporate Training, 2014). Emma felt like she didn’t have a sense of community, she felt “othered” when at school and dealt with racism, ignorance and misconceptions from classmates. Emma is not the only person to experience this, as many Indigenous students form elementary to post-secondary experience racism and feel like they are not understood by educators (Canadian Council on Learning, 2007, pg. 10). Obviously there isn’t a band aid solution, as Emma explained to me, but she believes that curriculum needs to change in order to support Indigenous students. It starts by telling the truth about history, for example acknowledging that colonialism still happens today, evident by the Water Crisis’s on many reservations. Emma believes the education system needs to listen to Indigenous students so their needs can be heard. Each generation of Indigenous students are going to need different things from their respective institution and as educators the least we can do is listen to what they have to say. 

While Emma was working as the Indigenous Affairs Coordinator at Mount Allison the Indigenous Support Group wanted to integrate Mi’kmaq language classes, to fly the Mi’kmaq flag on campus, add signage and host a Powwow. Students and allies began advocating for a Mi’kmaq flag in 2013, and the flag was flown for three days the following year. However, the Indigenous Support Group and allies wanted the flag to be flown for longer but resistance from administration made the flag hard to attain. This spurred the group to fundraise the money for a Mi’kmaq flag and flagpole on their own in order to make change happen. In the past year Mount Allison has begun to comply with the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and has since worked with the Indigenous Support Group to purchase the Mi’kmaq flag and flagpole using funds the group had raised and funds from the administration (Mount Allison University, 2018).

Photo credit to Mount Allison University, raising Mi'kmaq flag

The permanent installation of the Mi’kmaq flag was the opening event to the first Powwow ever held at Mount Allison. The raising of the Mi’kmaq flag and the Powwow was a defining moment for Emma as she felt like Indigenous students would finally see themselves represented on campus. She describes how the flag celebrates the identities and histories of Indigenous students, but also acknowledges the people that occupied and took care of the land before us. For Emma, the permanent installation of the flag should represent a commitment to concrete change at the University and within the community. She was encouraged to see so many community members, faculty and non-Indigenous students come out to the Powwow to learn, love and celebrate together.

Photo credit to Mount Allison University, circle at the Powwow 

If you only take one thing away from this post, I hope it is that as educators we need to listen to Indigenous students, teachers, researchers and communities as they know exactly what their children need to thrive in the education system. When we hear students or parents raise concerns, we need to actively listen and do everything in our power to make the changes happen. As educators we hold a lot of influence and we need to seek out Indigenous voices and knowledge to make the right impact. 

P.S. I acknowledge the effort of Mount Allison to comply with the Calls to Action but in no way are they perfect. Mount Allison and many other universities have a long way to go if they are to overcome their colonial nature. 

Reference: 

Battiste, M. (2002). Indigenous Knowledge and Pedagogy in First Nations Education: Literature Review with Recommendations (pp. 1-69). Ottawa, Canada: National Working Group on Education.

Canadian Council on Learning (2007). Redefining How Success is Measured in First Nations, Inuit and Metis Learning. Report on Learning in Canada, (pp.1-44) Ottawa, ON: Canadian Council of Learning. 

Indigenous Corporate Training (2015, August 10). Why you should avoid using “Crown Lands” in First Nation consultation. Retrieved from: https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/why-you-should-avoid-using-crown-lands-in-first-nation-consultation 

Mount Allison University (2018, March 19th). Mount Allison University to host first Powwow, March 22. Retrieved from: https://www.mta.ca/Community/News/2018/March_2018/ Mount_Allison_University_to_host_first_Powwow,_March_22/