Starting With The Land: Toward Indigenous Thought in Canadian Education

Abstract

Let us begin by acknowledging that this chapter has been written on the traditional lands of the Mississauga people of the great Anishinaabe Nation, those of the Huron, the Neutral, and the Petun, and the lands of the Hotinonshó:ni, of the Six Nations located in what some now call the province of Ontario in Canada. We locate all of what we do in relation to the lands and the Aboriginal peoples who have lived with those lands. We bring that belief to bear on the thoughts we lay out for the reader in this chapter. Persisting questions guide us: What happens when Indigenous³ ways of knowing and being in the world, exemplified in this recognition, come to bear on Eurocentric⁴ forms of education and schooling?

Standing on the earth with the smell of spring in the air, may we accept each other’s right to live, to define, to think, and to speak.

—Eber Hampton (Chickasaw)¹

The voices of these victims of empire, once predominantly silenced … have been not only resisting colonization in thought and actions but also attempting to restore Indigenous knowledge and heritage. By harmonizing Indigenous knowledge with Eurocentric knowledge, they are attempting to heal their people, restore their inherent dignity and apply fundamental human rights to their communities. They are ready to imagine and unfold postcolonial orders and society.

—Marie Battiste (Mi’kmaq)²