Three Tools of Decolonisation: Dialogue with a Ktunaxa Chief on Indigenous Self Determination

ABSTRACT

Indigenous communities not only face a traumatic history of violence and genocide but ongoing colonisation and recolonisation. The Ktunaxa people are actively addressing the decolonisation of their communities. This paper offers a dialogue between a Ktunaxa chief and a settler educator. The dialogue invites non-Indigenous readers to set aside academic conventions and bring something of themselves to the journey of decolonisation. The aim is to share the messy, intercultural and highly relational context that blurs clear boundaries and identities. This paper is grounded in the interrogation and awareness of one’s own position. While Louie, an elected chief, and Chung, a settler educator address community care, harmful notions of equality and safe consultation, their dialogue reveal a space for complex but respectful intercultural thought. The intercultural performance presented here sets aside easy conclusions and embraces the complex, awkward and joyous spaces of discovery.

KEYWORDS:

• Decolonisation
• self-determination
• indigenous
• reconciliation
• ktunaxa
• ethnography
• intercultural
• platinum rule
• cultural safety

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

M. Jason Louie

M. Jason Louie, a fluent Ktunaxa speaker, is in his second term as the elected chief of the Yaqan Nukiy band, one of the four-member bands of Ktunaxa people located in southeastern British Columbia, Canada. Jason is a graduate of Okanagan College, a Canadian Forces veteran, a cultural educator, and noted leader of cultural and economic development.

Sae-Hoon Stan Chung

Sae-Hoon Stan Chung is a Korean-Canadian writer, scholar and consultant. Stan holds a PhD in Performance Studies. He is a Senior Advisor with the Ktunaxa Nation Council. He is a past VP Academic Research, Dean, and is currently associate faculty at Royal Roads University.