Disrupting Colonial Narratives of Place: The q̓íc̓əy̓ Slough Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow Project

Cher Hill; Rick Bailey; Carman McKay

doi:10.53967/cje-rce.6889

Authors

Cher Hill Simon Fraser University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6364-0078
Rick Bailey q̓íc̓əy̓ First Nation
Carman McKay máthxwi First Nation

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.53967/cje-rce.6889

Keywords:

land-centred learning, anti-colonial learning, post-human pedagogy, Indigenist pedagogy, relational renewal

Abstract

What happens when traces of the past are invited to "haunt" the present, disrupting the colonial narratives inherent in local spaces, and creating openings for new stories and new relationships? Guided by Indigenous and post-human worldviews, this action-research project facilitated community learning about the q̓íc̓əy̓ (Katzie) Slough, while collectively imagining new futures for this waterway. Elementary students learned from Elders and environmentalists at the Slough, while simultaneously caring for the land. They then made art with the land, which, along with Elder stories, guided the creation of a school mural. The teachings of the mural and the children’s art continue to reverberate as their stories are shared with post-secondary students and teachers. This research informs how we might engage learners with the complexities and complicities of settler colonialism and provides an example of a local land-centred curriculum that informs how we might all live well together, contributing to real world change.

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Author Biographies

Cher Hill, Simon Fraser University

I, Cher Hill, am a settler scholar with Finnish, Swedish and British ancestry. I have lived on unsurrendered Indigenous territories all my life as an uninvited guest. For the past seven years I have been on a journey to learn about local traditional knowledge, as well as to educate myself more broadly about Indigenous worldviews. I am profoundly grateful to my teachers and mentors, including Murray and Jo. I am deeply committed Indigenous sovereignty over their lands and waterways and a passionate supporter of community-based learning.

Rick Bailey, q̓íc̓əy̓ First Nation

My name is Rick Bailey I am an Elder and a long serving member of Chief and Council with q̓íc̓əy̓ First Nations. I have been hunting and fishing nearly all my life, learning these skills from my father, grandfather and Elders. Wherever I go, I tell people about the salmon. They need all the help they can get right now. Each year, less and less salmon come back to our watershed due to development, pollution, overfishing, global warming, and fish farms. My people come from the sockeye salmon. We need to care for the waterways so that my family will come home in numbers like they once did.

Carman McKay, máthxwi First Nation

Contemporary Salish Artist, Cultural Educator, and Life Skills Facilitator. My father’s ancestors, the "river," people have benefitted from this livable region for at least 9000 years. My history speaks of geological events, which have shaped how we lived and adapted to this vast B.C. Coast with direct links to the Cascade Mountain Range. My teachers from all over North America facilitated a cultural experiential learning environment in its traditional and contemporary space. I excel as a self-determined artist with passions for sharing indigenous life skills, understandings and perspectives through education to all learners. All My Relations.

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Disrupting Colonial Narratives of Place: The q̓íc̓əy̓ Slough Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow Project

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Author Biographies

Cher Hill, Simon Fraser University

Rick Bailey, q̓íc̓əy̓ First Nation

Carman McKay, máthxwi First Nation

References

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