Category — Module 2

After viewing the Lee Brown video, I was particularly interested in reading more about linkages between cultural identity and educational success. During my reading I came across a Public Health Agency of Canada Website entitled: Aboriginal Children: the healing power of cultural identity.

This site describes several aboriginal initiatives across Canada that are working to promote cultural identity in Aboriginal children, the devastating effects of past injustices such as residential schools, how communities are working together to help restore identity, and the importance of elders to the processes. The site concludes byoffering the following list of suggestions aimed to foster a child’s sense of identity:

• Learn as much as you can about the specific culture of the child – its traditions, strengths and challenges. Aboriginal cultures are diverse (there are approximately 50 different Aboriginal cultural groups in Canada) and there is also diversity within each community.
• Try to balance the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual dimensions of the child.
• Support the child to learn and maintain his traditional language.
• Provide regular opportunities for her to take part in traditional activities. Fish, gather berries, prepare and eat traditional foods together.
• Provide regular opportunities for him to take part in community events. Attend ceremonial and ritual events.
• Encourage meaningful interaction with Elders from her community. Children can learn respect and wisdom from Elders.
• Support him to learn traditional stories and legends.
• Provide her with books, videos, traditional games, dance and music that reinforce her traditional, family and daily life.
• Speak frankly to him about discrimination.
• Network with other Aboriginal parents, colleagues and Elders to share experiences and ideas.

http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/dca-dea/programs-mes/aboriginal-autochtones-eng.php

I enjoyed the video of Lee Brown and decided to understand a little more about what he does.  I didn’t realize that UBC had the Institute for Aboriginal Health with all of its programs.  It may be because I am not from BC, so sorry if almost everyone else was aware of it.

http://www.iah.ubc.ca/index.php

Ditto for the First Nations House of Learning at UBC.

http://www.longhouse.ubc.ca/

http://www.nativetelecom.org/

One of our readings in this module discussed the role that public telecom played in the effects of media over time.  This is the Native American Public Telecommunications site. The site has a lot of audio, video and resources and currently even has an open call for filmmakers for video projects with significant Native involvement.  You can listen to live radio, watch documentaries, view contemporary Native performers’ work or join one of the discussion forums. among other things.

http://www.wncp.ca/english/subjectarea/fnmi.aspx

As I was researching protocol and elders’ involvement in education, I came across this site that shares a common curriculum document for Aboriginal language and culture programs.  On page 4, there is a letter from the elders who were consulted in the project to the Associate Deputy Ministers involved in the project.  They were very appreciative of being asked for their input and by their words, seem proud of the final document.  They suggest a time for celebration and invite all to share in the joy.  The overall document discusses the framework that has been developed and shows the learning outcomes at each grade for the Laws of Sacred Life, Laws of Nature and Laws of Mutual Support.  I enjoyed reading through the document as it offers ways to infuse cultural education and knowledge into each grade.

The Media Awareness network is a non-profit organization established to help adults teach young people about “how the media work, how the media may affect their lifestyle choices and the extent to which they, as consumers and citizens, are being well informed.”

There is a large section on the way Aboriginal people have been portrayed in the media. Links include common portrayals of Aboriginal people, Aboriginal people in the news, native names and imagery in sports, the impact of stereotyping on young people, the development of Aboriginal broadcasting in Canada, Aboriginal voices in the arts and media, and the importance of media education.

The information on the page should be very useful for anyone doing research into stereotyping. The links are very well developed and insightful. Links to related articles are included. The only thing I would add would be a list of references.

For example, the “Common Portrayals of Aboriginal People” page includes a section on history,
misrepresentation (romanticism, “The Indian Princess,” the warrior, the noble savage), historical inaccuracies, stereotyping by omission, and simplistic characterizations. There are also links to a related article on the site, four hosted elsewhere, as well as a National Film Board series.
http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/issues/stereotyping/aboriginal_people/index.cfm

The Indigenous Elders and Youth Council (IEYC) is an organization that aims to protect and preserve Indigenous knowledge, language and culture. It looks like DVD clips and additional resources are planned for upload to the site shortly. In the meantime, it was interesting to read through the elder declarations (based on the outcomes of the 2004 International Indigenous Elders Summit), and goals of the group. While there is not a ton of information on the site, I thought it was worth sharing as it appears to be an interesting project that connects youth and elders with a set of common goals and objectives.

http://www.ieyc.ca/

The Elders’ Voices webpage is a product of The Heritage Community Foundation. While it focuses on aboriginal cultures and elders in Alberta, it contains a wealth of knowledge applicable to any province. The site is divided into 3 sections: The History, The Peoples, and The Voices. In the history section you will find information on the treaty areas of Alberta, the Metis, and Aboriginal Governance, among other topics. In the peoples section, there is an article containing some background and insights on Elders, called “Knowledge Keepers” (http://www.abheritage.ca/eldersvoices/peoples/knowledge_keepers.html). Finally, in the voices section there are a number links to media featuring audio and video of elders sharing their perspective on a variety of topics (http://www.abheritage.ca/eldersvoices/voices/voices_metis_crossing.html). This site is good if you are interested in looking at the roles and responsibilities of aboriginal elders.

http://www.abheritage.ca/eldersvoices/index.html

Although the execution is not completely perfect, this premise is very strong http://www.nuuchahnulth.org/language/language.html. The basic idea is to offer both a written and audio dictionary (more like a phrase book) related to the language. I have heard that this effort was driven almost entirely by the Nuu-Chah-Nulth themselves. I will be carefully watching to see if there are further updates or releases and likely following up to find out more about this project. It may be of particular use to those folks in the class working on language preservation projects. And incidentally, the band’s newspaper, the Ha-Shilth-Sa,  is a great little piece of community journalism at work. You can check that out here: http://www.nuuchahnulth.org/tribal-council/hashilth.html

Here is a link loosely related to the one of the threads in Discussion #4. The link shows communities in BC that DO NOT have access to broadband.

BC Broadband Services

I was discussing this with an IT Director earlier today and he relayed to me that he has been to three First Nations communities in the last six weeks that actually have broadband access, but didn’t even know it. Apparently companies like Telus can access federal funds to provide this infrastructure to reserves but have no obligation to help the bands get it up and running. You’d think there would be some motivation considering the outrageous monthly rates they charge.

Reginald Bibby from the University of Lethbridge (my old school) has released the findings of his research study concerning Aboriginal teenagers. Unfortunately, the entire study is not available online for free. However, I was able to find a summary of the findings written by the author at http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/fp/Young+aboriginals+true+colours+same+ours/3662136/story.html

There are some interesting things in it, especially in the light of the interview with Amy Parent that we studied.

The summary of the article states that young Native people are very similar to the general population. The article then goes on to state the differences, which include a much greater spirituality. The survey also states a similar finding about technology.

In the light of the Returning to Gitxaata video, it’s also important to note that the research has been released for sale privately, or in summarized form in newspapers. It was touching to see the response of the people when the UBC team returned with their research. Unfortunately, this did not happen in this case. While the nature of the research was different, surveying a demographic across different nations, it still would have been nice to see an attempt to bring the results to the people concerned.