Governor General of Canada witness to strong ties between academy and Nipissing First Nation

Autumn Varley.
Autumn Varley.
President Mike Degagné holds an umbrella over Governor General David Johnston walking into Nipissing University.
President Dr. Mike DeGagné holds an umbrella over Governor General David Johnston walking into Nipissing University.

By Kelly Anne Smith

NORTH BAY  – David Johnston, Canada’s Governor General and Commander-In-Chief was an engaged audience member after giving opening remarks at Nipissing University’s Ka Na Ta Conversations 2016.

Tanya Lukin-Linklater, the Director of The Office of Aboriginal Initiatives introduced the topic, Aboriginal Education and the Way Forward. Lukin-Linklater said that with reconciliation, we must remember the legacy of Residential Schools and that there has been a distrust of education by survivors.

One of the panelists was Autumn Varley. She calls Southern Georgian Bay home, while her family is from Kitigan Zibi Anishinaabeg. Varley is a Masters of Arts in History student at Nipissing University and very active in the university’s Office of Aboriginal Initiatives.

Varley spoke of Nipissing University being more open and accepting to culturally relevant education than other universities.

Varley’s eyes were opened to new ways of Indigenous assertiveness in education at the university. “When visiting The Office of Aboriginal Initiatives it was excellent to see other Indigenous students at the Academy and see how they learned. That has been a big part of the process for my journey.

To be able to write, research, and tell story the way that I do with Indigenous methodology at this institution, is incredible.

One of the big things for me was that we as students are encouraged to establish relationships with Elders in the community.”

Varley commended her professor and fellow panelist Dr. Katrina Srigley for being a big part of her learning. “She taught me how we visited story and how we learn. When you rethink the way you hear knowledge and rethink the way you hear story, that makes a difference and it starts to change attitudes towards learning.”

Varley spoke of a conversation she had with a friend about the 94 recommendations that The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has put forward. “We talked about ways in which we could bring Indigenous traditions and values into the Academy. We host a pow wow, we have a Native Studies Department, but if we don’t change the core institutional values about the value of knowledge and whose knowledge is privileged, then we are not actually changing anything.”

Srigley calls for a culturally relevant curriculum. She said that reconciliation is at the heart of education. “It is about all of us.” The professor urged everyone to read the Treaties, greet people in their language, and acknowledge whose territory we walk upon.

“There is nothing that I shared today that hasn’t been shared a million times in a million different ways by Anishinaabe, Inuit, Haudensaunee, Métis, Mi’k Maq, intellectuals, artists, teachers, and educators. A failure to listen and learn has had dark consequences for Indigenous children and their parents.

It also has meant daily struggles.”

Dr. Srigley questioned when action would take place to correct the historically unequal access to education by Indigenous children. “How much more talking can we do before Aboriginal Peoples become frustrated? When they walk into the doors of our institutions, they have to justify why they learn in the way that they do. It’s time to unlearn to learn.”

Varley highlighted core institutional values in her talk. “These are ways in which we need to incorporate and change these values that are institutional. You can start with them personally and move them out institutionally.”

“I’m really privileged and lucky to work here at Nipissing University and to work in Indigenous methodology. But there is a lot of justification we still have to do within the system. We are becoming a more educated society on Indigenous methodologies and on Indigenous knowledge.

I think North Bay is an amazing community. Part of that fact is because we’re so close to Nipissing First Nation geographically. But there could be problems with communities not as connected or not as close to First Nations communities. There can be less of an understanding.”

Another panelist, an Inuk from Nunatsiavut, Labrador, Clint Davis, talked of Aboriginal success in business. Davis said that successful land claims have brought prosperity, adding hundreds of millions of dollars to Canada’s GDP. Davis does see a physical barrier to education for potential students who live in remote communities because they are often unaware of the opportunities that await them.

The Governor General presented Dr. Glenn Sharpe, from Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte with a special award at the end of Ka Na Ta Conversations 2016. The Associate Professor at the Schulich School of Education accepted the Govenor General’s Caring Canadian Award.