Author Archives: se770214

MODULE 4 – ENTRY 5: Aboriginal Issues in Canada

This short video clip touches on some very informative statistics and data that show how the Indigenous children´s poverty compares to non-Indigenous children, how the income gap is 30% lower for Aboriginal people in Canada, how 1 in 4 children in poverty are of an Indigenous background, how 73% of the First Nations water systems are contaminated, and overall how the poor socio-economic status of the First Nations people affect their everyday life, with very little to no funding nor aid by the government. It includes various comparison charts to show the differences between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples of Canada.

Public Domain photo by DMCA

Reference:

Varga, Ethan. (January 21, 2015). Aboriginal Issues in Canada. Retrieved on July 10, 2021 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGqtcnqRRNY

MODULE 4 – ENTRY 4: What Matters in Indigenous Education: Implementing a Vision Committed to Holism, Diversity and Education

This site pertains to what the ongoing issues are for Indigenous students in ourschools. The overriding issues affecting Indigenous student achievement are a lack of awareness among teachers of the particular learning styles of Indigenous students, and a lack of understanding within schools and school boards of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit cultures, histories, and their perspective. In essence, how can we try to bridge that gap?

Public Domain photo by Shutterstock

Reference:

People for Education. (2021). What Matters in Indigenous Education: Implementing a Vision Committed to Holism, Diversity and Education. Retrieved on July 7, 2021 from https://peopleforeducation.ca/report/what-matters-in-indigenous-education/

MODULE 4 – ENTRY 3: PART III-GARDENS & EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

Public Domain photo by pixabay.com

POST SECONDARY INSTITUTIONS:

A few months ago, in May of this year, I had an opportunity to post my very first blog. It was about this tiny little innercity school that my mom worked as a teacher in, and it was where I spent most of my early childhood years. I was fortunate to have experienced and witnessed the beauty of land, nature, humanitarianism and kindness. I have grown to learn that gardens have brought us all together, to teach us how to learn from one another, share with one another and to take care of one another. Others are starting to notice this too… This is another educational institute, JIBC, which is finally recognizing the importance of acknowledging that we are living, learning and working on the lands that belong to the unceded traditional territories of the Qayqayt and Musqueam Peoples, where JIBC is located. This is also an educational institute that I learned at, and I am seeing the gradual changes around my community and the schools that I have attended. I can see how some of these institutions are finally recognizing the Indigenous peoples, whose land we all reside, work, and live on and how it has really affected me. I can see the gradual changes of acknowledgement, respect and care returning to the people, whose land was unwillingly taken over generations ago. I am also witnessing all of the heart-work and determination of the First Nations peoples attaining and rectifying the wrongs that others have oppressed upon them. This video talks about the Native plants by horticulturists both of Indigenous and non-Indigenous backgrounds, but this media footage, moreover, symbolizes the gradual changes for a better Canada.

ELEMENTARY/HIGHSCHOOLS:

Fresh Roots and Farm to School BC are organizations that helps schools attain grants, provides a framework on how to get a garden started at your school, provides useful resources, and networks that can all help an educator and a learner come together to grow, learn, share and create. Here, the Vancouver School Board recognizes how vital the role of school gardens can play in students’ social-emotional learning. Garden-based learning can enhance academic achievement through integration of hands-on experiences into diverse subjects such as math, science, art, nutrition and environmental education. This summer my family and I are volunteering some time for an amazing organization called “Fresh Roots” where they “cultivate educational farms and programs where students dig into meaningful connections with the land, food, and each other, inspiring communities to build just food systems.” My sister is supervising a project in Coquitlam right now, where my daughter will be volunteering with her, and my mom and I will be visiting soon to help lend a hand as well at the Coquitlam School District’s Aboriginal Education Department, where Fresh Roots is helping with the food system at Suwa’lkh School. I’ve added a couple of links below, if anyone is interested to set up a garden at their school.

References:

Fresh Roots. (n.d.). Good Food For All. Retrieved July 1, 2021, from https://freshroots.ca/about/our-vision/

Justice Institute of British Columbia (JIBC). (July 10, 2020). Introduction To JIBC’S Indigenous Garden. Retrieved July10, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t4dVAaN47o

Public Health Asssociation of BC (2007). Farm to School BC-Growing Outside: School Gardens. Retrieved July 16, 2021, from https://farmtoschoolbc.ca/school-gardens/

MODULE 4 – ENTRY 2: PART II-GARDENS & EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

I feel this a full circle moment, in that the school I have attended for most of my adult life, the University of British Columbia, has undergone many vital changes over the last few decades. I came across another related website, that again ties in with my final assignment and my own personal experiences, which has brought back many memories of my educational journey, from 2006-2007, when I was learning to become an educator. I had an opportunity to visit a place where teaching, learning, and research, was interconnected with Indigenous knowledge and sustainable food growing. There was an idea that was planted on campus, which focused on Indigenous food sovereignty, food security, and traditional plant knowledge. Here, the students, like myself, could gain a wealth of knowledge and have access to both traditional and non-traditional plants/food uses of the Indigenous peoples.

Public Domain photo by PXhere

This garden today has become a guide on the principle that ‘food is medicine’ and follows the research ethic framework of the “4R’s: respect, relevance, reciprocity, and responsibility” and a holistic understanding of health and healing. It has become grounds for an international, community-based research and land-based teachings, where the garden engages with numerous regional Aboriginal schools, communities, and organizations. This life motto has always resonated deeply with me, and I had no idea how much of it has had a positive influence in my life, not only as an educator, but as a learner.

Reference:

Indigeneous Research Partnerships. (2014). Highlights from the Indigenous Health Research & Education Garden: 2014. Retrieved July10, 2021, http://lfs-indigenous.sites.olt.ubc.ca/files/2015/03/2014-Highlights-from-the-Indigenous-Health-Research-and-Education-Garden.pdf

MODULE 4 – ENTRY 1: PART I-GARDENS & EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS

The UBC’s Point Grey Campus is located on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Musqueam People. The Xʷc̓ic̓əsəm Garden (Indigenous Health Research and Education Garden) has been at the UBC farm since 2007. Ironically, I remember vividly that I was a returning student at UBC, undertaking my Bachelors in Education in 2006/2007, and my cohort and I had a wonderful opportunity to partake in a fieldtrip to an Indigenous garden. It was in its beginning stages of being planned and created by wonderful humanitarians, students, and teachers of Indigenous backgrounds just before the main campus, near a secondary school is what I can recall. I remember walking down a street and there was an opening of land. This is where our fieldtrip began.

Public Domain photo by Wallpaper Flare

I remember a feeling of nostalgia and hope coming over me when I saw what was being done. I remember having goosebumps on my arms, because it reminded me of what my mother did at her school…she began growing a garden for the children at her school in 1976 and when I was born, she would take me with her to her school and I would watch her garden, while I played with the other students. In 2014 the Xʷc̓ic̓əsəm Garden received a traditional name from Musqueam Indian Band. Xʷc̓ic̓əsəm is pronounced phonetically as “Hw ‘ts i ‘ts u sum-”. The hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ word means “The place where we grow” and it provides a reassertion of xʷməθkʷəy̓əm Musqueam land-based protocols and principles informing land-based practices. It reminded me of the place I grew, along with the other Indigenous students at ¿Uuqinak´uuh aka Grandview Terrace Daycare Centre. This is a 3 part blog, in relation to my final assignment, which focuses on experiential learning.

Reference:

Indigenous Research Partnerships (2007). Xʷc̓ic̓əsəm Garden. Retrieved July 10, 2021, https://lfs-iherg.sites.olt.ubc.ca/the-garden/

MODULE 3 – ENTRY 5: Transitioning in Western Canada

Free to Share photo by Creative Commons / People Matters Media

The transition into formal early learning settings, such as preschool and child care, represents a significant milestone for children and families.This particular paper that I found online, explores the perspectives of 25 Indigenous parents and family members and two caregivers who share and reflect on their transition of the Indigenous children from their home to an early childhood development program in a large urban centre in western Canada. The findings suggest that the transition experiences begin well before Indigenous children and families even join a program. There are multiple factors that facilitate their participation, such as costs, transportation and location. How these parents negotiate their transition is inevitably impacted by their historical experiences with schooling and the place of culture and language in supporting their children and families. As educators, and facilitators of supportive learning programs, we must all come to an understanding that the social, cultural and historical realities that shape the transition experience for Indigenous children and families, must be done with awareness, acknowledgment, empathy and respect.

Reference:

Hare, J., & Anderson, J. (2010). Transitions to early childhood education and care for Indigenous children and families in Canada: Historical and Social Realities. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 35(2), 19–27.[Site]. Retrieved June 22, 2021 from https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/10.1177/183693911003500204

MODULE 3 – ENTRY 4: Failing Canada’s First Nations Children

Public Domain photo by Balises

Shannen´s dream was to have new schools built for all the Indigenous youth, so that they wouldn’t have to leave their homes, families and communities to get an education. Shannen was a proactive and intelligent Indigenous student, who utilized the various media platforms to speak up about the inequities the Indigenous kids are still dealing with everyday back in 2016 and still holds true today. She was the spokesperson for the young Indigenous students, and shared their stories to muliple politicians, pleaing for a change, for new schools to be built, and to be heard. Sadly, Shannen died at the very young age of 15 in a car accident. But her fight for equality and education for all Indigenous youths, lives on. This short video clip shows how Indigenous kids from isolated communities in Canada are forced to move away from their families – just to go to school and what the results are from being forced away from home to get an education. This reminded me of some of the stories my mother shared with me when I was a child. I remember her telling me how some of her students live away from their parents so that they can go to school in the city, and I remember how I felt confused, sad and scared for them. Being a child myself, at the time, to have the thought of not being near my parents made my heart beat fast, and that feeling of fear and loss of what those children were experiencing, I have never forgotten.

Reference:

Crime Beat TV. (Mar 5, 2016). FULL STORY: Failing Canada’s First Nations Children Retrieved on June 22, 2021 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhEh-D7IRQc

MODULE 3 – ENTRY 3: How Indigenous Inequities Affect Childhood Development

“Indigenous peoples experience a disproportionate burden of ill health associated with the

socioeconomic context of their lives. Investing in quality early childhood development and care (ECDC)

programs for Indigenous children is critical to redressing these health imbalances (BCACCS, 2014).” – (Halseth & Greenwood, 2019, p.5)

Public Domain photo by Balises

I feel the issue of health is the number concern, that needs to be dealt with first and foremost. This online publication from the National Collaborating Centre for Aboriginal Health in Prince George, BC, which is situated on the traditional territory of the Lheidli T’enneh, part of the Dakelh (Carrier) First Nations, touches on how the young Indigenous children still experience many health disparities like lack of nutritional foods, medicines, dental and health services. All of which can mostly be attributed to the socio-economic, environmental, political and historical conditions in which they live. High quality, holistic and culturally relevant care programs can provide a promising avenue for addressing these health disparities by optimizing Indigenous children’s physical, emotional, psychological, cognitive and spiritual development. This would ultimately, give them the best start in life and it can address health disparity issues consistently over the long-term. The problem that lies here is that there are a lack of these services for the Indigenous children living in the small communities that do not have the resources nor the capacity to initiate or maintain these programs. So how can we help eradicate these Indigenous inequities, is what this particular published journal inquires about.

Reference:

Halseth, R. & Greenwood, M. (2019). Indigenous early childhood development in Canada: Current state of knowledge and future directions. [Site]. 1-68. Retrieved June 19, 2021 from https://www.nccih.ca/docs/health/RPT-ECD-PHAC-Greenwood-Halseth-EN.pdf

MODULE 3 – ENTRY 2: HAVING MENTORS IN YOUR LIFE, CAN MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE

I just wanted to show with this blog, a change for the better through education, culture and technology, and having mentors like Nelson Bird and Cree Agecoutay, who also had mentors like their mom, grandmother and teachers, all help pave the way for the next generations to come.

This site, celebrates Creeson Agecoutay, a news anchor on CTV, who was raised by a single mother on Cowessess First Nations. Creeson Agecoutay has attained his goal of working in journalism at CTV. This particular individual exemplifies how positive role models and providing a strong educational foundation can lead you to any goal and path you want to take. “Education was a big thing in our home. That was the rule. If you’re in Mom or Grandma’s house, you have to go to school every day. So after we got home from school, our time together would be at the dinner table while CTV News was on.” This quote by Creeson ties in culture, family, generations, education, tradition, and technology and reminded me so much of how my mom spoke to her students when she was teaching.

Nelson Bird, left, and Creeson Agecoutay are shown on the Indigenous Circle set.
PHOTO BY PHOTO COURTESY NELSON BIRD

Ironically, I researched a little further to see that Creeson began his television journey on another show called “Indigenous Circle,” which gives a weekly in-depth look at news and issues facing the First Nation and Metis population of Saskatchewan, and it is hosted by award winning journalist Nelson Bird, who happens to be one of Creesons lifelong mentors. He was born on the Peepeekisis First Nation and graduated from the University of Regina / First Nations University with a degree in Journalism and Indigenous Studies. He started in 1995 as a video journalist, became a producer, and then anchor person. His job allows him to tell the stories of Aboriginal people from across Canada and beyond. Another part of his work, which he loves, is to train young aboriginal people and encourage them to be the best they can. He conducts motivational speeches at schools and universities.

Nelson Bird’s Mission Statement:

Our mission is to foster, in a holistic way, greater understanding between Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal people as to traditional values,

current issues and future directions of First Nations and Metis communities.

Reference:

Bell Media. (2021). Indigenous Circle on CTV News Regina. [Site]. Retrieved June 16, 2021, from https://regina.ctvnews.ca/more/indigenous-circle

Vanstone, R. (August 6, 2020). Creeson Agecoutay savours his ‘dream job’ with CTV. [Site]. Retrieved June 16, 2021, from https://leaderpost.com/news/local-news/creeson-agecoutay-savours-his-dream-job-with-ctv

MODULE 3 – ENTRY 1: The Indigenization of an Elementary School through Horticulture

This link, https://www.vsb.bc.ca/schools/grandview/Teaching-and-Learning/Programs/Pages/Community-Garden.aspx, shows a continuation of my final assignment. It is related to some of my previous blogs in Module 1. I am focusing on how the Indigenization of educational institutions are beginning to exist and make positive differences. The ?Uuqinak’uuh/Grandview Community Garden project was created to improve the quality of life for the children in our neighbourhood. “It functions as a living laboratory and a model of an urban ecological school yard. This is a multi-generational place for children and people of all ages in the community to learn to live more sustainably in the urban environment.” Ultimately, their mission is to continue to create a healthier, positive neighbourhood environment to improve the community as a whole, which in turn will significantly influence the educational, socio-economical, emotional, psychological and economical well-being of the Indigenous peoples.

This link, https://thinkeatgreen.ca/2012/06/27/grandviewuuqinakuuh-elementary-sets-a-high-benchmark/, shows how to nurture the next generation of young gardeners, while sharing stories of historical nature in regards to land, people and community. It ironically, is where I grew up and how I see the massive amounts of beautiful transformations of the land and the people that live, grow, learn and teach there.

This link, https://www.cityfarmer.org/grandview.html , shows how the local Grandview Community Schoolyard project has converted an underused school field to improve the quality of life for children and other community members in an inner city neighbourhood. It literally is a living laboratory of an urban ecological school yard. This has become a multi-generational place for children and people of all ages in the community to learn to live more sustainably in the urban environment. Ultimately, the mission here was to create a more healthy, positive neighbourhood environment and improve the livability of the community as a whole.

Public Domain photo by Royalty-Free Photo

References:

Abangsund. (June 27, 2012). Grandview/¿uuqinak’uuh Elementary sets a high benchmark. [Site]. Retrieved June 17, 2021, https://thinkeatgreen.ca/2012/06/27/grandviewuuqinakuuh-elementary-sets-a-high-benchmark/

Grandview/?Uuqinak’uuh Elementary School, VSB. (March 5, 2019). Teaching and Learning-Community Garden. [Site]. Retrieved June 17, 2021, https://www.vsb.bc.ca/schools/grandview/Teaching-and Learning/Programs/Pages/Community-Garden.aspx

Penner, Tracy and City Farmer, Canada’s Office of Urban Agriculture. (January 25, 2000). Grandview U’uqinak’uuh Community School Yard. [Site]. Retrieved June 17, 2021, http://www.cityfarmer.org/grandview.html