While looking for Canadian Indigenous films to augment Nanook of the North, I found myself visiting the National Film Board of Canada.  The NFB site has a section dedicated to the Aboriginal Perspective in film from 1940-2004.  The thirty –two Aboriginal documentaries are organized thematically: arts, cinema and representation, colonialism and racism, history and origins, Indigenous knowledge, sovereignty and resistance, and youth.

Within this collection there are films made by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.  Stereotypes are rampant, however the collection provides a starting point for critically analyzing Indigenous stereotypes in Canadian Film.  The 1943 Eskimo Arts and Crafts film perpetuates many stereotypes of the Inuit.  Upon seeing Robert Flaherty’s name as a consultant on the film, I began to further understand his role in creating the media’s Aboriginal persona of the time.  This documentary, along with many others, would be appropriate Canadian content for teachers wishing to compare and contrast historical media stereotypes of Indigenous people.  It would be interesting to analyze Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal films, thereby encouraging critical thinking about Indigenous stereotypes and media literacy in our students.

A  documentary film created by a Canadian Cree filmmaker to highlight and then debunk the stereotypes of Indigenous people in film.  The Reel Injun website has reviews and clips, as well as a link to their Youtube channel with clips from films that perpetuate Indigenous stereotyping.  This film and the website helped me understand and deconstruct indigenous stereotypes in film.  A review of particular interest is Xavier Kataquapit’s, an Indigenous comedian, who wrote a blog post and orally recorded it for the website.  “In one hour, ‘Reel Injun’ gave me a healthy and informative perspective on the history of how my people are perceived in this world.”  His perspective helped me further understand storytelling and the importance of this film to Indigenous people, as well as the general public.

Viewing this film in the Social Studies or English classroom, along with a historical documentary such as Nanook of the North or an NFB film, would enable students to actively visualize indigenous stereotypes and critically assess their impact.

Stereotyping of Indigenous people has been an issue since first contact with European explores, and it is a problem still today.  The Urban Aboriginal People’s Study strove to examine “values, experiences and aspirations” of Aboriginal people living primarily off reserve.  This research project provides perspectives of Aboriginal people living in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Regina, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay, Toronto, Montreal, Halifax and Ottawa. 2,614 Aboriginal people are surveyed in this report.  This study should be reviewed critically.  It was not conducted by an Indigenous Group; however Aboriginal people were interviewers, guides, experts, and data analyzers.

I believe this is an excellent resource to help teachers understand their Aboriginal students, as well as a source for students to assess their own and their city’s stereotypes of Indigenous people.

The blatant stereotyping and exaggerations of Nanook of the North reminded me of the importance of deconstructing stereotypes in film, thus I gravitated towards finding appropriate Indigenous film resources for the classroom.   8^th Fire is a CBC documentary film series about the relationship between Aboriginal people and other Canadians.  The website has a plethora of resources on Aboriginal perspective, history and stereotypes.  Although only a couple of clips from 8^th Fire can be viewed on line, there are multiple other videos in which Aboriginal people are interviewed.  These short videos provide perspective on Aboriginal tradition, culture, politics, stereotypes and rights.  The videos have the potential for sharing Aboriginal culture and issues with non-Aboriginal students, but also with Aboriginal students.  As with any media, teachers would have to encourage critical viewing and media literacy when viewing the videos.

Another interesting aspect of the site is the Aboriginal Filmmaker section.  Because I am researching how to support Aboriginal students in their studies, I found the personal stories about the filmmakers quite engaging.  The written word combined with the digital stories about their experiences, family and traditions provided another layer of depth to this site.  I would be interested to see how Aboriginal students receive these stories, if they connect with the filmmakers, and if students would be motivated to create their own videos.

I stumbled across this website when I was researching the commodification of totem poles   On further exploration, I realized this UBC website is an excellent resource for finding information on Indigenous stereotypes and Indigenous people.  Particularly, the article Aboriginal Identity and the Classroom discusses the historical and current issues indigenous people have faced in the Canadian education system.  The article also highlights stereotypes Aboriginal students face and the importance Aboriginal identity plays in education.  The writer presents a historical context for teachers wishing to understand Aboriginal educational experiences and their students’ perspective.  This article is part of the larger What I Learned in Class Today: Aboriginal Issues in the Classroom Project. which highlights political, cultural and identity issues faced by Aboriginal students in the classroom.

Weblog #2: Entry #1

A quick viewing of the T’Sou-ke Nation’s website hilights a strong relationship between it and the group SolarBC. It seems that the T’Sou-ke Nation, through its Smart Energy Group was “created with the purpose of educating the T’Sou-ke community about the importance of low impact sustainable energy, through the use of culture, traditional values and historical means of communication.” My take of the information presented is that the T’Sou-ke Nation is taking a clear leadership role in welcoming environmentally friendly, smart energy solutions by blending Western and traditional Coast Salish beliefs and sciences. Of continuing interest to me is the amount of publicity that the project is garnering, see the Solar Forum & Gathering page. It is clear that this unique venture is redefining the T’Sou-ke Nation and as a result the interdependent communities that surround it.

For my weblog this module I started looking at different aspects of Indigenous identity in relation to ecological issues.

The Six Faces of Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Challenges and Opportunities for Canadian Co-Management Arrangements

This website is about natural resource co-management. It discusses First Nation involvement in making decisisons and incorporating the values and worldviews of First Nation’s groups. Also discussed is the idea that there are 6 faces of TEK that need to be considered when negotiating co-management arrangements.

First Nations Land Rights and Environmentalism in British Columbia

This is a very different sort of website than the others I came across. The website opens with “We were never conquered and we have never surrendered the right to govern or be stewards of our traditional territories.” The website also states “Disclaimer: strategies of dispossession of First Nations have included representing them in degrading ways. This website promotes a re-iconization of some of these illustrations by placing them in a new context to serve indigenous peoples.” The author of the website is a German woman, Dr. Karen Wonders and the site is very political in nature and continues on with the very clear standpoint taken on the first page. There are links to the websites of different First Nations groups as well as all kinds of lectures, symposiums, exhibitions, articles and media that relate to these topics.

LASA 2003 Meeting Article

The focus in this article from the Latin American Studies Association is on Indigenous people in Columbia. The author looks at how “representations of indigenous peoples have changed from ‘the savage colonial subject’ to ‘the political-ecological agent.'” This is a point that I think is important with respect to our discussions this module and also when I am doing my research and writing my paper. Even positive steretypes must be examined. In addition, the political aspect of environmental issues and resource management is an important consideration. The main website of LASA provides links to a variety of articles, some of which involve Indigenous issues.

First Nations Environmental Network

Incorporating traditional values, this network of individuals and groups encourages and supports others who are trying to protect traiditonally important areas. There is an area where members can post news updates and links and a link to the forum Turning Point,which offers up a place for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal individuals to egnage in discourse. Even though the site does not appear to have been active since 2009/2010, the way the site, and particularly the forum, is set up and the guiding principles are interesting and useful when considering how Indigenous communities could network and share their experiences.

Assembly of First Nations: Environmental Stewardship

This is a fantastic resource with respect to First Nations’ environmental conerns and current stewardship examples. The areas of Earth, Air, Water and Fire each have a variety of link to videos, factsheets, First Nations funding, articles and other resources to do with environmental stewardship within an Aboriginal context.

The overarching theme of my weblog additions, as well as my research proposal for the final paper is Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK), and how this type of knowledge can be used in today’s contemporary classrooms (specifically in science classes). This research focus would be on the methods of collecting research for use in science classrooms that has an indigenous perspective. In many science classrooms, teachers mainly stick to the traditional scientific method that they were taught in school. I would like to challenge other teachers to seek out resources that include the indigenous perspective specifically when it comes to the study of ecology in science classrooms.

Traditional Ecological Knowledge is part of an indigenous tribal decision making process. The use of educational technology and Geographic Information System (GIS) technology is important for students in that the student can use this technology as a guide and to help them store data and information while they are learning. TEK and GIS can be used in resource management decisions.

In conclusion, the study of ecology is like a journey through some of the most interesting and amazing creations that are on this Earth. It is the study of how systems of biology are all connected and rely on one another. TEK is a way of adding an indigenous perspective in the science classroom by examining ecology through a different lens than what modern science has to offer.

Some texts and sources of information that would be of importance to this research include:

The Aboriginal Mapping unit  http://www.nativemaps.org/taxonomy/term/55

The Arctic Studies Centre http://www.mnh.si.edu/arctic/html/tek.html

Tukilil: A Window to the Great North http://www.tukilik.org/

Parlee, B. L., K. Geertsema, and A. Willier. 2012. Social-ecological thresholds in a changing boreal landscape: insights from                 Cree knowledge of the Lesser Slave Lake region of Alberta, Canada. Ecology and Society 17(2): 20.
http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-04410-170220

For module one, I focused on Lee Brown’s discussions about the Indigenous healing process and how emotional awareness should be included in ever school lesson along with cognitive development. These are the links I found to be of importance to me as I completed module one:

http://tribes.com/about/

I came across this website as I was researching the Tribes Community Course for teachers. It is a course that touches on aspects of Indigenous theories of knowledge and suggests that oral communication or oral story telling plays an important role in the classroom. In this course, teachers are also taught that dividing the class of students up in small groups called Tribes will help to make the classroom environment more conducive to learning. The website contains videos of how the Tribes classroom would look like if the theory is applied in the classroom effectively. There are also samples of lesson plans that would accompany any tribes program which are useful for helping to add an Indigenous perspective in the classroom.

The Tribes philosophy is all about:

• Feeling included and appreciated
• Showing respect for all people
• Having students be engaged and involved in their own learning
• Having a positive attitude towards learning and an outcome of success for all students

http://www.naho.ca/blog/2012/03/27/education-first-nations-youth-identify-struggles-hope-for-the-future/

I was shocked to hear the statistics of the dropout rates of students in Saskatchewan. They can reach as high at 95%, and this would result in a whole generation of students missing out on a formal education. This blog and news article speak about First Nations and Mètis youth as many of these youths from across Saskatchewan came to Saskatoon for the three-day FSIN Youth Assembly. In Lee Brown’s discuss, he ended on a positive note, stating that “we have much to offer”. These types of assemblies for youth are a way to engage youths in a positive dialogue about the issues that matter the most to them. It is also a way of providing hope for youths who may be struggling by not just creating a long list of problems but also discussing solutions to these problems that are possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OIo3Hpma-o   Wehearyourvoice.mov

This inspiration video and song/composition was put on YouTube by Leland & Lorie Bell to support the awareness of Attawapiskat. I have a personal connection toAttawapiskat, as a friend from teacher’s college is now teaching there. He has been updating a blog and posting pictures of his classroom activities, as well as community activities. There has been a lot of news coverage around Attwapiskat of late, as MP Charlie Angus has been heavily involved in efforts to seek aid for the peoples of Attawapiskat so that they can obtain adequate shelter and homes. Many people across Canada, and abroad have been showing their support for the people who live in Attawapiskat. This relates to Lee Brown’s commentary in that the integration of healing as well as emotional awareness should be present in those schools in Attawapiskat. The 400 years of anger and fear felt because of colonization, as well as the reintroduction of those thoughts and feelings as a result of the Government of Canada’s efforts in making apologetic notions through a ceremony for reconciliation, are the same types of emotions felt by children going to school in Attawapiskat as well. Their schools have been relocated due to pollution and unsafe living conditions. Their new school is a system of portables, which can be broken into easily. The community has been engaged in efforts to raise funds for new schools, and one student took it upon herself to raise global awareness for her passion towards obtaining a new school in Attawapiskat as well.

http://news.ontario.ca/mci/en/2012/09/six-aboriginal-youth-take-home-bartleman-awards.html?utm_source=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=p

Again, relating to the idea that Indigenous peoples in Canada have much to offer not just their own communities, but the country as well as on a global scale, this article was put forth by the Government of Ontario to recognize the efforts of six aboriginal youth who have won Bartleman Awards. These awards recognize the creating writing talents of these people, and show that the tradition of storytelling is alive and well in communities in Canada and that we are grateful for the talents of these passionate and creative youths.

http://www.crystalinks.com/medicinewheel.html

This link is important in that it gives a depiction of an indigenous medicine wheel. Personally, when I first saw this medicine wheel I did not understand it. Upon reading the article I was enlightened by the knowledge that this medicine wheel contains. I began to realize that healing centres are an important aspect to indigenous cultures in that they are a healthy alternative to more modern forms of medicine. For example, a healing centre in British Columbia helped to heal 9000 people over a period of about 30-35 years. It is a holistic way of thinking about medicine, in that addictions are related to emotions that have not been expressed and communicating with the person seeking healing is very important to the process of healing.

Hello,

Here’s a site I came across during a ‘yahoo’ search….

http://www.forum2008.cmec.ca/en/presentations-aboriginal-literacy.html

This site provides access to past (2008) webinars and webcasts geared towards improving First Nations Literacy for students and adults alike within Canada.

Some overviews of the webcasts include the following….

“This presentation looks at the story of how people interested in improving literacy levels came together from Beardy’s and Okemasis First Nation to turn talk into action and respond to the literacy needs of their community. Sandi and Marlene walk participants through the development of a literacy plan for their community, and talk about some results of that plan.”

“This panel presentation brings together representatives from northern Saskatchewan communities and the Saskatchewan ministry of education’s Early Learning and Child Care Branch who are involved in early-literacy programming initiatives. Hannah and Bernice are literacy-committee members of the Pinehouse community. Rebecca is Kids First Program Manager for ELCC in LaRonge. Kathy is responsible for the pre-kindergarten programs.”

“In this presentation, Elmer, a journalist with the Regina Leader Post, reflects on the negative image he believes Aboriginal people have received in the mainstream media, where he did not see himself reflected. This session reviews how Elmer worked with Glenda McNab of the Gordon First Nation on a newspaper that told positive stories of Aboriginal people, with the Regina Leader Post printing and distributing the paper.”

What drew my attention to this website was the first account presentations that deal with specific regions of Canada. Even though I plan to focus my final paper on Library Services for First Nations youth, Literacy is a definite issue that can be supported under the umbrella of Library Services.

Thanks.

-Regen