ABSTRACT
In response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action and capacity-building in First Nations, Métis, and Inuit education, a university teacher education program embarked on a three-year exploratory research project with provincial funding to explore “applying foundational knowledge about First Nations, Métis and Inuit [where a] teacher develops and applies foundational knowledge about First Nations, Métis and Inuit for the benefit of all students.” This chapter brings forward insights into healing and reconciliation that emerged from the research process. Twenty-five co-researchers engaged in honouring Indigenous knowledge and perspectives in the undergraduate and graduate programmes, where one Indigenous faculty member and one Indigenous pre-service teacher (co-authors of this manuscript) proved to be inspirationally resilient by taking on the role of teachers in the education of the heart as well as the mind. These women shed tears of pain and anguish in the project Teaching Lodge as they shared personal stories of wounds caused by the systemic oppression from the university associated with negative stereotypes and social attitudes that fuel racist and gendered violence. The women’s journeys of reflection, storying, deep knowing, and ongoing visioning for healing and educational praxis within Indigenous women’s ceremonial and narrative ways are illustrated through an Indigenous story method. This chapter informs anti-oppressive and Indigenous education transformative work. Meaningful educational and societal change is an ongoing individual and collective process. Educators are invited to courageously pause to hear the voices of two Indigenous educators as they illuminate the past and lived experiences of colonial harm in a post-secondary context. Such engagement may engender empathetic understanding in Indigenous and non-Indigenous colleagues, parents, and community members who may be resistant to the reconciliation agenda.
KEY WORDS: Indigenization; Indigenous teacher education; Indigenous story method; Indigenous critical theory; Indigenous healing; Indigenous counternarratives
