ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we theorize the ethical work of stories as foundational to the teacher’s call to act in a time of reconciliation. We define such pedagogical action as a continual – and endless – call to learn from what is difficult to know about history beyond the protection of childhood innocence and the celebrated promise of teachable moments. Drawing from Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, we offer an account of our learning from Nicola I. Campbell and Kim LaFave's picture books, Shi-shi-etko and Shin-chi’s Canoe. By focusing on the juxtaposition of image and text, we emphasize the ways these books unsettle the fantasy of childhood innocence purposely denied to Indigenous children and how they represent acts of cultural survivance amid legacies of colonial violence. In this time of reconciliation, our chapter cautions against the proclivity of education to reassert a position of mastery, and instead asks what stories can teach us about the teacher’s lack as a position from which to begin the work of reconciliation.
