Walking Alongside: Responsibilities and Redress in Quebec Education
The Walking Alongside project was initiated by members of the Faculty of Education at McGill University, and emerged from Education’s Skàtne Entewathahìta - We Will Walk Together event.
Skàtne Entewathahìta - We Will Walk Together is an annual day of education and learning on Orange Shirt Day. It was held for the first time on September 30, 2020. The Walking Alongside project builds on this initiative to develop curriculum and support teacher education in the province. The project is
funded by the Quebec Ministry of Education.
Goals
- Gather, curate, create, and share resources that will help teachers and students learn the truths about Indigenous peoples' lives, worldviews, and experiences and develop an informed response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action;
- Provide links to reference lists, curriculum guides, and guidance for building respectful community connections through a dedicated website;
- Offer in and pre-service teacher professional development workshops and arts-based activities that allow them to reflect on reconciliatory practices and guide them in their development of curriculum that 'walks alongside' Indigenous worldviews in the classroom.
Contributors: Mindy Carter, Maija-Liisa Harju, Michelle Smith, Traci Klein, Melissa-Ann Ledo, Jade LaFontaine, Claudia Mitchell, Leann Brown, Dayna McLeod, Sheryl Smith-Gilman, Sandra Deer, Lisa Starr, Dennis Wendt, Geraldine Standup, Geraldine King, Jennifer Hayden (St.Edmund's School, LBPSB), Mathieu Canavan (LBPSB), Penny Berg-Patton (Kateri School, Kahnawake), Tom Dearhouse, Lisa Byer, Nina Segalowitz, Rob Lutes
- Website conception and design: Michelle Smith, Jade LaFontaine, Melissa-Ann Ledo, Maija-Liisa Harju, Mindy Carter
- Resource gathering: Maija-Liisa Harju, Traci Klein, Melissa-Ann Ledo, Michelle Smith
- WA Curriculum and Teacher Guides production and design: Maija-Liisa Harju
- Video production: Blackbox Productions
- Video participants: Gilbert Whiteduck, Geraldine Standup, Jennifer Hayden, Sam Nepton, Sherry Bie, Dayna McLeod
For more information contact: walkingalongside.education [at] mcgill.ca
Who supported this project?
Dr. Mindy R. Carter is an Associate Professor in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education (DISE). She conducts research in curriculum studies, drama and theatre education primarily with in- service and pre-service teachers with a focus on questions of social justice, art processes, and the relations of schooling.
Dr. Maija-Liisa Harju is the Project Manager/Research Associate for Walking Alongside: Responsibilities and Redress in Quebec Teacher Education. She is also a lecturer, researcher, and educational consultant who specializes in young people's texts, literacies, culture, and education.
Dr. Sheryl Smith-Gilman is the Associate Dean of Academics and a Faculty Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at McGill University. Her work focuses on teacher education, the Reggio Emilia approach, cultural identity in early childhood, and pedagogies relevant to Indigenous early childhood education.
Michelle Smith is a Métis filmmaker, media artist and educator from St. James, Manitoba. She is a Vanier scholar and PhD candidate in education at McGill University, doing community-based research on the topic of Indigenous educational sovereignty.
Melissa-Ann Pereira Ledo (She/Her/They) is a PhD Student in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University. She is of Azorean settler background, and is a queer mother, artist, educator, and researcher. She is 2SLGBTQ+ advocate, and her work focuses on the importance of representation and Queer Teaching Artists.
Dayna McLeod is a media artist and current Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture research-creation postdoctoral fellow at McGill University.
Jennifer Hayden is a music teacher at St Edmund Elementary School in Beaconsfield. Jennifer focuses on teaching social justice through music, most recently working with students to create a song, and a musical about reconciliation.
Penny Berg-Patton is a music teacher at Kateri School in Kahnawake where she has taught for 25 years. Penny lives on the south shore with her husband and daughter, close to her son, other daughter, and three beautiful grandchildren.
Tom Ratehrokwats Dearhouse is Kanien’kehaka and Anishinaabe, and works in Kahnawake as a traditional support counselor, merging social work and traditional teachings to bring about healing and reconciliation.
Gilbert W. Whiteduck is (Anishinabe) Algonquin from the Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg First Nation community. He was elected Chief of the community and served from June 2008 to April 2015. Mr. Whiteduck holds a B.S.W (Honours), a B. Ed.,, an M.Ed.,, and an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Ottawa for his work in First Nations education, which he has been engaged in for over 33 years.
Geraldine Standup is a Mohawk mother and grandmother from Kahnawake. She has been a respected teacher and healer for 40 years. Geraldine has served her community, the Anishnabe people of Toronto, communities in Hamilton, Brantford and London, Ontario, and also worked with the Maliseet people of Fredericton, New Brunswick.
he n skʷest Jade LaFontaine tuł Spuzzum ʔe ƛ̓ʔak wn, he nskixzeʔ Catherine LaFontaine, he nsqaczeʔ Chief James Hobart. Jade LaFontaine is a PhD student at University of British Columbia with a focus on the reclamation and vitality of ancestral languages, as well as her cultural practices and knowledges.
Geraldine King (she/her/elle/kwe) is Anishinaabe and a member-citizen of Kiashke Zaaging Anishinaabek (Gull Bay First Nation), located in the Robinson Superior Treaty area of Northwestern Ontario. She is Assistant Professor in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education and Senior Advisor, Indigenous Curriculum and Pedagogy (Office of Indigenous Initiatives) at McGill University.