Contemporary Indigenous Studies 12

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Big Ideas

Grandes idées

The identities, worldviews, and languages of indigenous peoples are renewed, sustained, and transformed through their connection to the land.

Indigenous peoples are reclaiming mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being despite the continuing effects of colonialism.

Indigenous peoples continue to advocate and assert rights to self-determination.

Reconciliation requires all colonial societies to work together to foster healing and address injustices.

Curricular Competencies

Students are expected to be able to do the following:

Use Social Studies inquiry processes and skills to ask questions; listen to the oral tradition of Elders and other local knowledge holders; gather, interpret, and analyze ideas; and communicate findings and decisions

Key skills:
- Draw conclusions about a problem, an issue, or a topic.
- Assess and defend a variety of positions on a problem, an issue, or a topic.
- Demonstrate leadership by planning, implementing, and assessing strategies to address a problem or an issue.
- Identify and clarify a problem or issue.
- Evaluate and organize collected data (e.g., in outlines, summaries, notes, timelines, charts).
- Interpret information and data from a variety of maps, graphs, and tables.
- Interpret and present data in a variety of forms (e.g., oral, written, and graphic).
- Accurately cite sources.
- Construct graphs, tables, and maps to communicate ideas and information, demonstrating appropriate use of grids, scales, legends, and contours.

Use indigenous principles of learning (holistic, experiential, reflective, and relational) to better understand connectedness and the reciprocal relationship of First Peoples to the land

Assess and compare the significance of the interconnections between people, places, events, and developments at a particular time and place, and determine what they reveal about issues in the past and present (significance)

Using appropriate protocols

protocols

Local First Peoples may have established protocols which are required for seeking permission for and guiding the use of First Peoples oral traditions and knowledge.

, ask questions and corroborate inferences of Elders and other local knowledge keepers through oral traditions, indigenous knowledge, memory, history, and story (evidence)

Compare and contrast continuities and changes for different groups in different time periods and places

Key questions:
- What factors lead to changes or continuities affecting groups of people differently?
- How do gradual processes and more sudden rates of change affect people living through them? Which method of change has more of an effect on society?
- How are periods of change or continuity perceived by the people living through them? How does this compare to how they are perceived after the fact?
Sample activity:
- Compare how different groups benefited or suffered as a result of a particular change.

(continuity and change)

Assess how underlying conditions and the actions of individuals or groups affect events, decisions, and developments, and analyze multiple consequences

Key questions:
- What is the role of chance in particular events, decisions, and developments?
- Are there events with positive long-term consequences but negative short-term consequences, or vice versa?
Sample activities:
- Assess whether the results of a particular action were intended or unintended consequences.
- Evaluate the most important causes or consequences of various events, decisions, and developments.

(cause and consequence)

Explain different perspectives on past or present people, places, issues, and events by considering prevailing norms, values, worldviews, and beliefs

Key questions:
- What sources of information can people today use to try to understand what people in different times and places believed?
- How much can we generalize about values and beliefs in a given society or time period?
- Is it fair to judge people of the past using modern values?
Sample activity:
- Explain how the beliefs of people on different sides of the same issue influence their opinions.

(perspective)

Make reasoned ethical claims about actions in the past and present after considering the context and values of the times

Key questions:
- What is the difference between implicit and explicit values?
- Why should we consider the historical, political, and social context when making ethical judgments?
- Should people of today have any responsibility for actions taken in the past?
- Can people of the past be celebrated for great achievements if they have also done things considered unethical today?
Sample activities:
- Assess the responsibility of historical figures for an important event. Assess how much responsibility should be assigned to different people, and evaluate whether their actions were justified given the historical context.
- Examine various media sources on a topic and assess how much of the language contains implicit and explicit moral judgments.

(ethical judgment)

Content

Students are expected to know the following:

varied identities and worldviews of indigenous peoples, and the importance of the interconnection of family, relationships, language, culture, and the land

Sample topics:
- Members of different cultures have different worldviews as a result of their beliefs, values, practices, and experiences.
- connections to the land as expressed in language, culture, values, and practices
- relationships among family, Elders, and community
- Being a member of a community helps shape a person’s identity.
- Roles, responsibilities, and experiences as a member of one or more cultural groups shape a person’s identity.
- concepts of respect, reciprocity, relevance, responsibility, and resilience

factors that sustain and challenge the identities and worldviews of indigenous peoples

Sample topics:
- factors that sustain the identities and worldviews of indigenous peoples:
  - connections to family and community, the land, the spirits, and the ancestors
  - Elders’ presence, guidance, and wisdom
  - speaking the indigenous language of one’s own people
  - ceremonial practices
  - oral traditions
- factors that challenge the identities and worldviews of indigenous peoples:
  - disconnection from traditional territories and cultural teachings
  - evolution of a sense of indigeneity
  - impact of residential schools and modern education
  - stereotypes and institutionalized racism
  - media portrayals and representations of indigenous peoples
  - legislation (e.g., Indian Act, Bill C-31, enfranchisement)
  - migration to urban areas

resilience and survival of indigenous peoples in the face of colonialism

Sample topics:
- resurgence of traditional forms of art, literature, dance, and music
- emergence of contemporary indigenous arts
- indigenous websites and social media
- indigenous literature
- increased presence in academia, and decolonization of places of study and learning
- language revitalization
- practice of traditional systems, including protocols and ceremonies

community development, partnerships, and control of economic opportunities

Sample topics:
- economic strategies and approaches:
  - joint ventures
  - co-management partnerships
  - community development corporations, co-operatives, public-private partnerships
- consultation versus collaboration to foster economic development
- use of natural resources (e.g., oil, natural gas, diamonds, forestry, minerals, fisheries)
- conflicting views of stewardship, ownership, and use of lands and resources

responses to inequities in the relationships of indigenous peoples with governments in Canada and around the world

Sample topics:
- United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (Framework for Reconciliation)
- national organizations
- local and regional indigenous organizations
- modern treaties and self-government
- Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples
- Indian Residential Settlement Agreement
- Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
- disputes over land rights and use (e.g., Oka, Ipperwash, Gustafsen Lake)
- Metis status and rights (e.g., Daniels case)
- advocacy and activism

restoring balance through truth, healing, and reconciliation in Canada and around the world

Sample topics:
- Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples
- Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada and Calls to Action
- community healing initiatives
- cultural resilience (e.g., language, art, music, and dance as healing)
- culturally relevant systems (e.g., restorative justice model)

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