From the Dean’s Desk
Last February, the Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), Justice Murray Sinclair, spoke to a
packed house at the University of Regina. He reminded those in attendance that because seven generations of
students attended residential schools, it would take seven generations to restore balance to the deeply damaged
relationships between Indigenous peoples and settler Canadians. Further, he spoke passionately about the
importance and necessity of education for reconciliation. The work of reconciliation requires that all of
us engage with Canada’s long and well-documented history of racism and colonialism; that we learn
about Canada’s failures to uphold the spirit and intent of treaties; that we learn about the Indian Act,
Residential Schools, and the 60s Scoop; that we take seriously the ongoing disappearance and
murders of Indigenous girls and women in this country; that we understand the significance of
the current crisis of Indigenous children and youth in care; and that we engage in this learning
with humility and a willingness to confront our own ignorance and complicity in the ongoing
effects of colonialism. You will read about some of our efforts, as a Faculty of Education,
to live out the TRC Calls to Action in this issue of Education News.
While we have accomplished much in the past year, the ongoing effects of
colonialism should not be under estimated. The significance of the challenges
in front of us became even more salient to me this past summer following
the murder of 22-year-old Colten Boushie, a member of Red Pheasant
First Nation. Colten was sitting in the back seat of a car that had pulled into
a farmyard near Biggar, SK., when he was shot and killed by Gerald Stanley.
In the social media storm that followed this event, the depth of racism toward
Indigenous peoples in Canada was revealed. Online comments were filled with
vitriol and hate. Stanley was applauded for his actions, and one commenter went
so far as to suggest that his only mistake was in leaving witnesses behind. Because
Colten Boushie was Indigenous, his murder was justified over and over again in online
spaces. These are the attitudes and beliefs that prevent reconciliation from being possible.
They have long existed behind closed doors, shared at dinner tables in the company of friends
or with family members. Social media has created opportunities to more publicly express these
beliefs. In the wake of Colten’s murder, Indigenous lawyer Eleanore Sunchild spoke to CBC’s Connie
Walker on The Current. She shared, “We’re all touched by racism in this province. It happens on a daily
basis.” She expressed the importance of educating all Canadians about the historic and contemporary
treatment of Indigenous peoples by a government that consistently, over the past 150 years, has failed to
honour the spirit and intent of the treaties. Sunchild offered “the first step is to teach meaningful education
about the true colonial past....it’ s only through education that we will challenge these myths of colonization that
so many people believe true and that underlie the racism towards Indigenous peoples in this country and in this
province.” Education, schools, and teachers are critical if we are ever to create a society absent of racist and colonial
attitudes. We must collectively reshape the narrative of Canada mindful of the colonial assumptions that have and
continue to frame our historical consciousness as Canadians. I ask each of you to consider how you will take up and live
out truth and reconciliation. #ReconciliAction
If you are reading the online version of Education News, please note that there are links throughout the issue that lead to more information or more photos online.
Education News | Page 3