connection to the land – ETEC 521: Indigeneity, Technology and Education (Sep 2012)

Another perspective on First Nations connection to the land”Chief Rose Laboucan to Enbridge Joint Review Panel

I’m not sure if anyone will ever really understand our connection to the land. The land is us; we are the land. We could once take all our food supplies from the land. The healthy food I’m talking about, the meat, the fish, the vegetables, the fruit.

I believe today many of our communities are in crisis. In 1970 when I worked for Health Canada, we had one diabetic in our community; one. Now we have close to 100, and they range from five years old on up.

Many of our people cannot afford to buy their groceries in a grocery store, the real food I’m talking about, on the outside aisle. That’s where the real food is. You walk into any store and you’ll picture that, the vegetables, the meat, produce, everything is on the outside aisles. The processed foods are in the middle aisles. That’s where my people shop.

So the once enhanced lifestyle that they had for health reasons were taken from the land. And I really believe that is very sad when we, as First Nation people, we’re taught to hunt, to fish, to trap and to gather.

JOINT REVIEW PANEL FOR THE ENBRIDGE NORTHERN GATEWAY PROJECT , Hearing Order OH-4-2011 , Edmonton, Alberta , January 31, 2012 , International Reporting Inc.

Available online at oral presentation by Chief Rose Laboucan

Web log #3

1st Post

While doing research for my final paper I spoke with Outward Bound Program director, Julian Norris who, in collaboration with a high school teacher Jeff Horvath from Canmore Collegiate Highschool, has created a specialized program for Indigenous youth from the Nakoda tribe that has run now for 3 consecutive years and is designed in part to help increase the graduation rates among the Nakoda students at the school. The outdoor program has a philosophy that incorporates indigenous leaders and elders but also roots itself in a Framework created by the Search Institute, a youth development initiative. This comprehensive website, though commercially driven, describes their philosophy within a developmental framework based on building positive relationships and caring communities.

2nd Post

This is a website for a wilderness school run out of Hesquiaht, which is about an hour and a half boat ride from Tofino, BC. The program called Hooksum Outdoor School is run by a couple, Karen and Steve Charlson of the Hesquiaht First Nation. They offer programs for schoolchildren and adults with a philosophy based on a strong connection to the land. In an email with the co founder Karen Charlson she explained the following: “our primary aim has always been to encourage/facilitate a person’s connection to the natural world. It is a connection that is the foundation of our daily lives and one that is prominent in daily living. Through activities and learning at Hooksum, we hope to share that sense of connection with others.” The site includes description of their programs, their philosophies and writings by schoolchildren and other relevant material.

3rd Post

I live in North Vancouver so the Squamish and the Tsleil-Waututh Nation are the groups who have lived here before my family came. Many of the Indigenous students I have taught have come from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. Their website is a community portal which is used for all major aspect pertaining to their community including a description of their Band School and its philosophy.

4th post

My feeling is that we need to know what is going on in our own educational community. The UBC Aboriginal Portal includes support for students, instructors course navigation but for our purposes it includes teacher, community and faculty research which offers unique perspectives on aboriginal education. There is also a First Nations House of Learning (FNHL) tab which is a great support site for Indigenous Education. The FNH publishes a monthly newsletter “The Talking Stick” which provides documentation of events with relevant resources included.

5th Post

I have included this site in my research weblog, the report from The National Panel on First Nations Elementary and Secondary Education which has spent 19 months traveling the country at the request of the Federal Government and the AFN to assess the needs of First Nations Education on reserves. The panel has recommended that the Federal governments create a First Nations Education Act by 2014 which has created a great deal of controversy as First Nations are not interested in legislation. Beyond the controversy, the website includes the panel’s mandate, information on the authors, news links, a wide variety of First Nations leaders who were consulted, and of course the report itself.