Preface Stories

Conformity

When I was really young, my first education was of the language, the circle, and the Little Birds [a learning society]. That’s how I viewed the world. So, in the nest, when they make the smudge, they say we transform all of you into Little Birds. And when you all become Little Birds with your friends, we all accept each other, and we all work together, and we become relatives. So, in that context, I was transformed through the concept of sanctified kindness and building relatives. That was my buy-in to a system. I want to be a part of a system that nurtures my skills for learning and that will help me to transfer my knowledge. I want to be a part of that because the system is inviting you through the concept of building relatives and sanctified kindness, so it’s easy. And that’s how I transformed into the nest and all the other circles after that.

So, when I translate that, I would say there was a time when I was delivered to the residential school. And when I got to the residential school, I really didn’t have a clue about any kind of education laws. I didn’t understand what a classroom was. I didn’t understand sitting in rows. I didn’t understand what a blackboard was. I didn’t understand what a bell was to get the class going. I never understood any of that. So, when I came to the school, my first scare was seeing the kids running around having fun in the schoolyard. And I enjoyed that with the kids, but then somebody was ringing the bell at the door of the school, and the kids all started running. And I thought, “Whoa! Something is happening.” And when you flee like that and run, then you’d better be scared for your life. So I ran back to my grandmother.

So then, when I was in the classroom, I was asked for my name. So I gave them my Indian name, Áwákaasiina [Deer Chief], and I was punished for it. I was beaten up for it. I was smacked by the teacher, and I thought she hit me because I wasn’t talking loud enough. So I yelled. Then I got smacked again. And this time I was lying on the floor in front of all my community kids. It was a shock. It was—how would I say—confusing. It was an embarrassment. It was all those feelings. So, at that point, I realized my cousin was standing with me, and he told me in Blackfoot “kinchihka’sim.” And then, when I heard that, I knew what I did wrong, because he told me I couldn’t speak Blackfoot. So I locked up all that Blackfoot knowledge (my relatives and teachers and circles) in my head and did not talk about it. The reason I did that was that I was going through a transformation of another form. It was a transformation through conformity. I realized that, if I didn’t conform, then this [punishment] is what’s going to happen, so I had to conform. That was the written education policy from the Indian (Act/Agent) to the residential school that we had to follow. And that was transformation by conformity.

So I experienced two types of transformation [as a child]: transformation through building relatives and transformation through conforming. So, when I talk to organizations about a transformational framework, I always go back to my easiest/kindest option, and that is building relatives so that we can work together to survive rather than building something you have to conform to because then you’re going to get into scaring people. That’s what I always look at. It’s building relatives to transform versus transformation by conformity. You’re putting options out there. You don’t want to be looking at [enforced] system change because people are going to ask “Why do I have to?” There’s going to be resistance. So why not use the option of building relatives as a buy-in to a system of survival together in achieving a goal? So, when I understood that we were going to work with the whole institution, the University of Calgary, I thought, “Whoa, we need to work with the framework of building relatives.”

Reg Crowshoe

Choice

I’ve been a member of the Indigenous Strategy Steering Committee for the past few months. Although I joined later in the process, I’ve witnessed an incredible amount of passion, innovation, and dedication in the efforts of both the Working Group and the Steering Committee.

As just one of two university graduates (my sister being the other one) in a large Métis family, I personally recognize the need for strategies that enable Indigenous achievement in higher education as students, teachers, and researchers. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report and associated Calls to Action give us a choice. We, as Canadians, now have to choose to do something to improve the relationship with Indigenous peoples, or we choose not to improve the relationship; ignorance is no longer an excuse for inaction.

To me, the culturally appropriate and innovative approach to the development of the Indigenous Strategy that Dru, Shawna, Jackie, and Jacqueline with Reg Crowshoe and the other Elders have employed is unique to the University of Calgary and speaks volumes to the commitment the institution has to working toward an improved relationship. The dual paths of the cultural model and the standard strategic document help to connect ways of knowing and behaving. Between those two paths is the space where dialogue and relationships are built and strengthened. The strategy development has lived up to its guiding principle of “Together in a Good Way: Journey of Transformation and Renewal,” and I firmly believe this principle should carry on through implementation and integration with the current Eyes High and future university strategies. I believe the Indigenous Strategy will mark an important milestone in the U of C story.

Kris Frederickson—member,
University of Calgary Board of Governors, 2017¹