Building Critical Literacy in Aboriginal Education

Tools and resources to build your own critical literacy in current Canadian Aboriginal issues. Educate yourself and others respectfully and with compassion.

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These Photos Show Native American Fashion Without Appropriation — And They're Stunning

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Life Is So Great! 12 Uplifting Hip Hop Videos by Native Americans

A dozen tracks by Native American artists that remind us all to keep our heads up, to keep moving forward, and to be grateful for life.

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Mother fights N.W.T. gov't to use traditional Chipewyan baby name

Shene Catholique Valpy has spent over a year fighting for the traditional spelling of her daughter Sahaiʔa’s name, but the N.W.T. government says all legal names must be written in the letters of the Roman alphabet.

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love a new chapter in life love for the sake of keeping our hearts open as we collectively embrace life each day as a gift

Michelle Silliboy

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Alert Bay residential school survivors gather for demolition ceremony

Former students of St. Michael’s in Alert Bay, B.C., gather to witness the symbolic demolition of the decrepit building, sharing songs, embraces and tears – and hurling rocks at it – as part of their ‘healing journey’

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Salish Seas, 2011) - First Nations & Indigenous Books - Strong Nations

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A social media contest and opportunity for youth to share their healthy eating practices and traditional food preparation/consumption.

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Hosted by the Vancouver Island & Coastal Communities Indigenous Food Network

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Explore BC and learn the province’s history through its Aboriginal heritage. Browse through things to do, trip ideas, and articles on the blog.

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"There is another world, but it is in this one."

W.B. Yeats

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"Indigenous women’s lives are shaped through systemic racism, sexism and poverty. Colonialism has portrayed us as people against whom violence is normalized – expected, even. And in order for the onslaught of violence against us to end, these root conditions must be addressed.

Sex work abolitionists often see poverty or homelessness as factors that “push” women into prostitution, where prostitution is seen as a form of human trafficking. Their solution to these issues, however, is not to increase social supports to help end poverty or to increase access to affordable and safe housing to help end homelessness. No, the alleged solution is to push women in prostitution further to the periphery by isolating and alienating them from safety through the criminalization of their lives.

And anti-sex work advocates often equate these root factors with indigenous women’s inherent victimization. Native women are not afforded the same level of agency as everyone else; they are merely passive bodies waiting to be violated. This only furthers the marginalization of indigenous women and normalizes the violence in indigenous sex workers’ lives."

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SCHOOLING THE WORLD

Schooling the World: The White Man's Last Burden

Trigger Warning: graphic images of colonialism and conquest via education, including Residential School and international missions.  

2 minute clip: http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/this-painting-captures-a-disturbing-truth-about-the-history-of-our-education-system/

Entire film: http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/schooling_the_world_2010/ 

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Artist to Harper: I Will Tweet One Portrait of a Missing/Murdered Woman Each Day

An illustrator will send Canada's Prime Minister a daily portrait of a missing or murdered Indigenous woman. This could go on for over three years.

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“If communities can’t trust police to behave properly how can indigenous women and girls feel that these are people they can go to for protection?”

http://westcoastnativenews.com/aboriginal-leaders-demand-independent-probe-after-mountie-took-jailed-woman-home/

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I had the great honour of meeting Phyllis and hearing her story in person last year.  This little movement that started in Williams Lake with the "first day of school" memory of one little girl is taking off across the country as the "Orange Shirt Day - Every Child Matters" campaign.