Academia has been dominated by European/settler ways of knowing while denying the existence and validity of Indigenous epistemologies, science, and philosophies. Post-secondary structures were not built to be inclusive spaces, they were built without Indigenous voices or considerations and often housed individuals and departments who have…

In this theoretical article, I examine various conceptions of focused listening--including those held by specific First Nations communities--to determine how each conception might offer insights for listening while conducting cross-cultural music education research. First, I discuss the notion of "Big Ears," as it is understood by the…

This article examines the role that Indigenous language learning and use can play in the establishment of false or spurious claims to Indigeneity. These acts of "race shifting" are situated within the political discourse of "Truth and Reconciliation" and serve to enable settlers to situate themselves in positions where, both…

This paper focuses on the meaning of education for reconciliation in the context of Canadian settler-colonialism. It captures an attempt to delve into the meaning of reconciliation as an experiential process, through learning on the land with the Tahltan People. We focus on reconciliation not as a theory or political discourse, but rather as a…

Michael Pitblado and Agnieszka Chalas, history teacher and art teacher respectively, describe how and why they responded to a call by Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission to engage students with difficult aspects of Canada's past, including the forced cultural assimilation of Indigenous peoples through the Indian Residential School System.…

In this article, I provide a critical reading of the now-removed statue of Sir John A. Macdonald in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. I bring together my own experience visiting the statue with understandings from Indigenous scholarship and public pedagogy theorizing to think about commemorations as public pedagogies that are foremost…

Canada, like other nations with colonizing histories and ongoing colonial practices marginalizing Indigenous peoples, is searching for pathways leading to reconciliation. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission called on the social work profession to engage in the decolonization of social work structures and processes, including how it educates…

Indigenous communities and students have been marginalized by colonial practices, disproportionally referred to special education programs, and encounter systematic prejudice and discrimination in education systems that lack respect for their ways of knowing and being. To disrupt hierarchical practices and structures that enact a hidden curriculum…

The 2015 final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (2015a) states that educational institutions are part of the problem of systemic colonialism that persists across the country. Racism against Indigenous peoples is apparent across Canada, as in the United States, Australia, and elsewhere. In this context, we share our…

This article explores the impact of the so-called 'blanket exercise', an interactive learning activity that engages individuals in rediscovering Canadian history and society through an Indigenous lens, in collaboration with First Nations, Métis and Inuit elders and community members. This exploratory and qualitative research discusses how the…

Museums as colonial institutions are filled with the tensions and contradictions of competing discourses. This makes them complex sites of public pedagogy and informal adult education and learning. But they are also becoming important spaces of counter-narrative, self-representation, and resistance as Indigenous artists and curators intervene, and…

Social work is being challenged to situate its theories and practice within the lands it finds itself on in North America. This article considers the Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls for change from the perspective of how social workers are educated in relation to land, from Indigenous views on its colonial conversions to the…

Canadian institutions of higher education are grappling with decolonization, particularly with how to move beyond decolonial and settler colonial theory and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's Calls to Action to practical and specific strategies for meaningful change in the classroom. To that end, this paper offers a case study of…

Teaching a graduate course focused on critical understandings of interculturality offers an opportune space in which to explore decolonizing pedagogical practices. In this short paper, I examine my own attempts at decolonizing students' experiences of intercultural learning by incorporating non-Western knowledge systems to draw attention to…

In this paper, I discuss one photograph from a youth who participated in a 12-week arts based educational program I facilitated for Indigenous Young Adults at the Native Youth Drop-In centre in Toronto, Canada. By being able to communicate through their artwork, the youth shifted away from thinking of themselves as victims, and exuded a sense of…