Facing colonial Canada through pedagogies of equity for First Nations: An advocacy education project

Abstract

Education systems in “Canada” are increasingly highlighting the structural and material inequities faced by First Nations’ peoples. However, most practices within formal education tend to focus on awareness campaigns and/or examining injustice as a historical event, as opposed to challenging the structural and systemic forces that continue to perpetuate injustice toward First Nations’ peoples. Drawing on a year-long educational project with students in grades 7-9 from various schools Canada-wide, this paper applies a case study approach to explore educating for advocacy through ethical relationality and solidarity with those experiencing injustice. The study highlights a transformation in how educators and students think about advocacy, while also drawing attention to the challenges to carrying out advocacy work within school systems with deep colonial roots.

Keywords:

• Advocacy education
• citizenship education
• First Nations
• decolonization
• equity
• ethical relationality
• solidarity

Notes

1 While the colonial nation-state is referred to as “Canada” throughout this paper, we open by placing the name in quotation marks to highlight the colonial nature of the state, as well as to denaturalize its name on lands that also have Indigenous names and are the lands of sovereign Indigenous nations.

2 This paper differentially applies the terms (a) First Nations, where state policies dictate the “Indian status” of individuals as part of recognized communities, and (b) Indigenous, a collective name which aligns with international language to more broadly encompass the peoples original to the land now known as Canada, along with their descendants (“Terminology Guide,” 2022).

3 Within the context of ongoing conversations surrounding Indigenous citizenship in relation settler colonial state citizenship (Blackburn, 2009; Bruyneel, 2004), we do not reference Canadian citizenship specifically but recognize that people living within state borders may possess diverse citizenships, including Indigenous citizenships unrecognized by the state. Citizenship engagement then is meant to influence the conditions and distribution of the benefits and burdens in society.