Indigenous Open Resources and Guides

The Foun­da­tions Guide is part of an open pro­fes­sion­al learn­ing series devel­oped for staff across post-sec­ondary insti­tu­tions in British Colum­bia. These guides are the result of the Indi­g­e­niza­tion Project, a col­lab­o­ra­tion between BCcam­pus and the Min­istry of Advanced Edu­ca­tion, Skills and Train­ing. The project was sup­port­ed by a steer­ing com­mit­tee of Indige­nous edu­ca­tion lead­ers from BC uni­ver­si­ties, col­leges, and insti­tutes, the First Nations Edu­ca­tion Steer­ing Com­mit­tee, the Indige­nous Adult and High­er Learn­ing Asso­ci­a­tion, and Métis Nation BC. The Foun­da­tions Guide explores Indige­nous-Cana­di­an rela­tion­ships from con­tact to the present. This guide looks at the diver­si­ty of Indige­nous Peo­ples and the his­tor­i­cal and con­tem­po­rary real­i­ties since con­tact. You can use the guide to: increase your aware­ness of Indige­nous Peo­ple, our his­to­ries, decol­o­niza­tion, and rec­on­cil­i­a­tion, enhance your knowl­edge of how Indige­nous his­to­ry and real­i­ties in Cana­da affect rela­tion­ships and how this may influ­ence how you work with Indige­nous peo­ple and col­leagues in post-sec­ondary edu­ca­tion.

The Guide for Teach­ers and Instruc­tors explores how to Indi­g­e­nize one’s prac­tice by build­ing new rela­tion­ships with Indige­nous ped­a­gogy and knowl­edge. Essen­tial­ly, this guide mir­rors the struc­ture of cur­ricu­lum design and ped­a­gog­i­cal process­es to sup­port learn­ing by focus­ing on three process­es – con­tent, con­text, and appli­ca­tion.  Con­tent acts as pri­or knowl­edge bridges and explores how we got here today. Con­text grounds you to rec­og­nize, respect and hon­our Indige­nous world­views and sug­gests ways to invite into your class­room and prac­tice. Appli­ca­tion encour­ages move­ment for­ward by pro­vid­ing tan­gi­ble ideas and next steps for Indi­g­e­niza­tion.  This guide can be used as part of a learn­ing com­mu­ni­ty or in a group learn­ing expe­ri­ence, adapt­ing and aug­ment­ing it to include Indi­g­e­niza­tion path­ways at your insti­tu­tion for Indige­nous stu­dents and com­mu­ni­ties.

The Cur­ricu­lum Devel­op­ers Guide explores Indige­nous-Cana­di­an rela­tion­ships from con­tact to the present. This guide looks at the diver­si­ty of Indige­nous Peo­ples and the his­tor­i­cal and con­tem­po­rary real­i­ties since con­tact. You can use the guide to: increase your aware­ness of Indige­nous Peo­ple, our his­to­ries, decol­o­niza­tion, and rec­on­cil­i­a­tion and enhance your knowl­edge of how Indige­nous his­to­ry and real­i­ties in Cana­da affect rela­tion­ships and how this may influ­ence how you work with Indige­nous peo­ple and col­leagues in post-sec­ondary edu­ca­tion This guide can be used as part of a learn­ing com­mu­ni­ty or in a group learn­ing expe­ri­ence, adapt­ing and aug­ment­ing it to include Indi­g­e­niza­tion path­ways at your insti­tu­tion for Indige­nous stu­dents and com­mu­ni­ties.

A Guide for Front-Line Staff, Stu­dent Ser­vices, and Advi­sors explores rela­tion­ships between the insti­tu­tion, stu­dents, and Indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties. These rela­tion­ships are inter­con­nect­ed and are guid­ed by shared val­ues of Indi­g­e­niza­tion to both improve the edu­ca­tion­al and employ­ment expe­ri­ences of all stu­dents, fac­ul­ty, and staff across the insti­tu­tion. It also explores how Elders, Indige­nous com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers, and com­mu­ni­ty edu­ca­tion part­ners are heard and includ­ed in the edu­ca­tion­al expe­ri­ence. This guide reflects a holis­tic way to serve Indige­nous stu­dents. This guide can be used as part of a learn­ing com­mu­ni­ty or in a group learn­ing expe­ri­ence, adapt­ing and aug­ment­ing it to include Indi­g­e­niza­tion path­ways at your insti­tu­tion for Indige­nous stu­dents and com­mu­ni­ties.

A Guide for Researchers looks at sys­temic change of research by explor­ing research prac­tice and process with Indige­nous Peo­ples and knowl­edge. This change rests with researchers and teach­ers of research meth­ods in post-sec­ondary edu­ca­tion. The Kwaḱwala term hiłḱala means one who is allowed or has per­mis­sion. The term reflects a researcher’s respon­si­bil­i­ty and ongo­ing role in Indige­nous research. While it takes a per­son a life­time to devel­op into this role, it is not done alone: there are helpers, guides, and teach­ers along the way. This guide is a helper for Indige­nous and non-Indige­nous researchers and those respon­si­ble for post-sec­ondary research. You can use the guide in var­i­ous ways: To pro­vide a ground­ing in Indi­g­e­niza­tion, decol­o­niza­tion, and rec­on­cil­i­a­tion approach­es; To prac­tice how to place your­self as an ally or sup­port­er of Indige­nous revi­tal­iza­tion through research prac­tice; To work with oth­ers to dis­cuss how to Indi­g­e­nize research par­a­digms to sup­port rec­on­cil­i­a­tion path­ways in your post-sec­ondary insti­tu­tion and com­mu­ni­ty.

The inspi­ra­tion for the Lead­ers and Admin­is­tra­tors Guide is the lead­er­ship demon­strat­ed at Camo­sun Col­lege in advanc­ing Indi­g­e­niza­tion. For 12 years, the col­lege, locat­ed on the tra­di­tion­al ter­ri­to­ries of the Lkwun­gen and W̱SÁNEĆ peo­ples, has worked col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly to make space for Indige­nous ways of know­ing and being with­in the insti­tu­tion, paving the way for pos­i­tive change.

The guide con­tains a num­ber of sec­tions that include reflec­tions and oth­er activ­i­ties that can be done either indi­vid­u­al­ly or col­lec­tive­ly. The best way to use the guide is to spend approx­i­mate­ly 20 hours (4 hours per sec­tion) engag­ing with the mate­r­i­al and resources, which will sup­port your under­stand­ing of Indi­g­e­niza­tion. You will spend time read­ing and reflect­ing, and you are encour­aged to jour­nal or record your insights, learn­ings, and reflec­tions. As a leader and learn­er, you will need to be patient, open, and ready to receive the gifts of Indi­g­e­niza­tion.

Since Indige­nous peo­ples have devel­oped time-proven approach­es to sus­tain­ing both com­mu­ni­ty and envi­ron­ment, Elders and young peo­ple are con­cerned that this rich lega­cy of Indige­nous Sci­ence with its wealth of envi­ron­men­tal knowl­edge and the wis­dom of pre­vi­ous gen­er­a­tions could dis­ap­pear if it is not respect­ed, stud­ied and under­stood by today’s chil­dren and youth. A per­spec­tive where rela­tion­ships between home place and all oth­er beings that inhab­it the earth is vital­ly impor­tant to all residents—both inher­i­tors of ancient Indige­nous Knowl­edge and wis­dom, and new­com­ers who can expe­ri­ence the engage­ment, joy and promise of sci­ence instilled with a sense of place. This book takes a step for­ward toward pre­serv­ing and active­ly using the knowl­edge, sto­ries, and lessons for today and future gen­er­a­tions, and with it a world­view that informs every­day atti­tudes toward the earth.

Know­ing Home: Braid­ing Indige­nous Sci­ence with West­ern Sci­ence is far more than a set of research papers or cur­ricu­lum stud­ies. The project out­puts include both, but they are incor­po­rat­ed into a the­o­ret­i­cal struc­ture that can pro­vide the method­olog­i­cal basis for future efforts that attempt to devel­op cul­tur­al­ly respon­sive Indige­nous Sci­ence cur­ric­u­la in home places. It is not just one or two angels to orga­nize, but mul­ti­ple inter­wo­ven approach­es and cas­es that give this project its excep­tion­al impor­tance. Thus, the project out­puts have been orga­nized into two books.

Book 1 pro­vides an overview of why tra­di­tion­al knowl­edge and wis­dom should be includ­ed in the sci­ence cur­ricu­lum, a win­dow into the sci­ence and tech­nolo­gies of the Indige­nous peo­ples who live in North­west­ern North Amer­i­ca, Indige­nous world­view, cul­tur­al­ly respon­sive teach­ing strate­gies and cur­ricu­lum mod­els, and eval­u­a­tive tech­niques. It is intend­ed that the rich exam­ples and cas­es, com­bined with the resources list­ed in the appen­dices, will enable teach­ers and stu­dents to explore Indige­nous Sci­ence exam­ples in the class­room; and in addi­tion, sup­port the devel­op­ment of cul­tur­al­ly appro­pri­ate cur­ricu­lum projects.

This book explores busi­ness ethics and busi­ness law through the lens of Indige­nous-set­tler rela­tions in Cana­da (with a focus on British Colum­bia in par­tic­u­lar). It aims to fill a gap in busi­ness cur­ricu­lum and sup­port instruc­tors who want to bring Indige­nous con­tent into their class­es. The book starts by explor­ing rel­e­vant his­to­ry, focus­ing on treaties, leg­is­la­tion, and fed­er­al gov­ern­ment pol­i­cy. It then looks at busi­ness ethics and what it means for busi­ness­es to work eth­i­cal­ly with Indige­nous com­mu­ni­ties. And final­ly, the book dis­cuss­es busi­ness law and the require­ments and respon­si­bil­i­ties for busi­ness­es doing work on Indige­nous lands.