An Indigenous Walk: Where Do I Belong?

Urban Communities Cohort Indigenous Walk (PED 3150); October 29, 2019

© 2015 Jaime Koebel

"Where Do I Belong?" Canadian Curriculum as Passport Home

Cynthia Chambers (2006)

Chambers weaves personal anecdotes about how Canadian borders have affected her throughout her lifetime throughout her article, introducing the idea of borders as more than imaginary lines, and as part of essential Canadian identity. The borders that Chambers talks about, and in fact the borders that make up much of a Canadian identity, are more than imaginary lines that separate one part of land from another part of land. These borders are ones that separate people from people, and not just physically. Borders can create an “othering” and an “us vs them” mentality that demands either cooperation or separation, two defining characteristics of Canada. 

These ideas of cooperation or separation is one that can be reflected on in the context of Canadian curriculum. In the classroom, we must be aware of where the curriculum comes from, who writes it, and how it affects the students. A multi-faceted perspective that acknowledges the issues should be taken. This is especially true in the sense that, while the ideology of multiculturalism that Canada is so proud of exists in the curriculum, that part of the curriculum was created for white settler and racialized settler Canadians, rather than the Indigenous students, who also should be able to feel a sense of home-belonging here in Canada. Chambers’ article reminds us of the importance of the sense of identity that can be forged through curriculum, a universal experience that most Canadian students are exposed to, no matter their background.

© 2015 Jaime Koebel.

Where do you belong?

Having come into the Urban Communities Cohort with a background in Anthropology and History and an open mind, this Indigenous walk through Ottawa was an incredible experience that was extremely educational, a unique way to experience Ottawa as a future educator. More than unique though, this was an important way to confront Ottawa and its historical value as an informed educator that goes beyond just acknowledging that we are on unceded Anishinaabe territory and dives into decolonizing education as a safe space for all students, Indigenous and settler Canadians alike.

On the land of the Anishinabe Peoples called Turtle Island, the tours will guide participants on various walks through Ottawa’s public spaces.

As a white settler Canadian myself, I grew up and benefitted from the school system, for my culture was always represented and it wasn't difficult to find my history in the textbook. This is a privilege that I see now in retrospect and after a post-secondary degree, rather than one I was aware that I had at the time, which is a shortcoming of the Canadian curriculum itself; one that needs to be addressed both in the classroom and at a higher societal level. The privilege of being white and learning from a white curriculum meant that my sense of identity could begin to be forged in the classroom and wouldn't be pushed aside.

Identity-making, especially as students, is often focused on "'what we are not' and notions of how others see us as conceptions of who 'we' are" (Reay, 2010). This can then be tricky to navigate as Canadian educators, as so much of our students' identity comes from other people telling them what they are or are not, especially when considering our Indigenous students who have to sit through a biased curriculum wrongly teaching them their history. As a future teacher, who's academic interests lie in both History and Anthropology, I hope to make my classroom one where students can be themselves, and learn about themselves without an external social pressure to fit inside a box that's much too small for them.

References

Chambers C. (2006). “Where do I belong?” Canadian Curriculum as Passport Home. In Journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Curriculum Studies. Volume 2

Reay, D. (2010). Identity making in schools and classrooms. In M. Wetherell & C. T. Mohanty The SAGE handbook of identities (pp. 277-294). London: SAGE Publications Ltd doi: 10.4135/9781446200889.n16

http://indigenouswalks.com/