June 2023

Our first zoom meeting with the From the Heart Inquiry circle was much better attended than I expected since it took place during such a busy week. There were nine of us, all logging in from the Kootenays this time, but with others who had expressed interest from further afield who will hopefully be able to join us next time.

This is the first of monthly follow-up posts that will allow us to have an archive of our process and catch others up if they want to join later. Here is a 12-minute video summary I made after the meeting, which felt like a better answer than recording it. The image above was the plan I had, that we didn’t end up completing (this is often the case for me, I’m an over-planner). We got as far in the spiral as acknowledging the truth and beginning to think about areas of focus. I am not sure if we will pick up the same spiral at the end of July, or if new priorities will come to the forefront. Below are the discussion questions that we took turns responding to, in case anyone who attended wants to revisit them, or others want to join or follow along.

~ What is your name and an aspect of your identity that feels important to share today? We intend to get to know one another more deeply over time.

~ What initial how/what/who inquiry question can you form to introduce us to your interests in decolonization? Miniipoka (Peter Weasel Moccasin) shares that an overemphasis on “why” questions is one problem with European thought.

~ What are activities you undertake to promote balance between internal/self and active/outward states in your life? We are looking to enact balance in our lives every day or week as an expression of the balance we hope to contribute to in the world.

~ Considering the necessity to include a focus on difficult truths as we build better worlds, what is an issue or colonial impact you feel you can contribute to? The truths I offered as I presented this question included a focus on genocide, which is well served by this new NWAC resource called “Teach the Genocide.”

Through my capstone project for the Poo’miikapii: Niitsitapii Approaches to Wellness program, I worked with a few amazing teachers at Calgary Girls Charter School in the mode of artistic inquiry. We made a culture and worldview inquiry resource that will likely be shared on this site eventually. I have also worked in artistic inquiry for the last four years through the recurring youth and community project I support, called From the Heart. I realized that I wanted to take up this method in my own learning, not just hold space for others. The above invitation was shared with various individuals I know who are also focused on decolonization. Below is the starting point I offered to see if anyone would come forward to join in this collective pursuit.

This invitation is being sent to a varied group who I have had conversations with over the last couple months about the possibility of embarking upon deeper learning relative to place, land, culture and personal history. I am thinking of it as an open-ended forum for individual and collective strength-building that will help us navigate decolonization and address complexity as thinkers, leaders or decision-makers. 

For the moment, this is what I am picturing: over the coming year, I will offer monthly reflection prompts, an online space for resources and connection, and one monthly zoom. All of this will be optional, and which will hopefully integrate with in-person or side-channel partner collaborations to deepen the witnessing that is possible.

It’s about discovering and speaking the stories that bring forward our “precolonized consciousness” from our “jagged worldviews” as articulated by Dr. Leroy Little Bear in his well-known chapter in the book Reclaiming Indigenous Voice and Vision (Ed. M. Battiste, 2000). It is also an extension of collaborative work with Christy Anderson since 2021 building the lifelong learning model most of you will have seen – which can be viewed and downloaded from this link. 

In Blackfoot territory, this process could look like developing your own winter count, which I am happy to support from my own experiences last fall. As other examples, one member of the group will likely compile and catalogue recordings of her grandmother’s storytelling, and I am planning to begin working in the medium of embroidery, as my ancestors from Jämtland might have. Several people in the group are deeply invested in Indigenous language learning, so I wonder if that will be their focus. The concrete approach is up to each of you, whatever connections you want to work through, and the medium that resonates for making your exploration tangible in some way if you are called to.

Almost two years has passed since my last post, time that has held constant and crucial learning for me, as someone who is committed to decolonization as a primary purpose in my life and work. I am grateful to now have had the opportunity to also learn through Poo’miikapii: Niitsitapii Approaches to Wellness at the University of Calgary Werklund School of Education, building upon my first year in the Indigenous Education: A Call to Action program. I am forever grateful to respected Elder Ninna Piiksii (Mike Bruised Head), Ahstanskiaki (Sandra Manyfeathers) and their communities, for the teachings, wisdom and support they have offered since last summer. I hope to sustain the relationships with them, classmates and community in Blackfoot territory, in reciprocity for the transformative learning I experienced.

I have now started the culminating third year for the completion of a Masters of Education building upon these focus areas, and looking toward the hopeful prospect of future studies, along with continued learning and teaching in many directions. This website has been a holding space with very little traffic, but I am about to start using it in earnest to bring a coherent online presence to my many roles and responsibilities. The structure and content will undergo transformation that reflects my own. Whenever we grow, we must also find space and time for synthesis. This is the phase I am entering.

For info about the photo below, here is my social media post from April, as I returned home and stopped to greet and thank Omahkai’stoo. See this link for context and stories from Ninna Piiksii.

Tired but hopefully wiser – nine months, a million miles, listening, reading, dreaming and a couple hundred pages of writing, so much love. Now finished my incredible learning sabbatical visiting the beautiful Niitsitapii lands and people. I’m so grateful to the professors, Ninna Piiksii and Sandra Manyfeathers, the amazing classmates and community, and to Marco and Alexia for their support and patience.

I have greeted and thanked Omahkai’stoo so many times as I passed. It won’t be quite so often now, but always joyful.

“Niitaissatsii’p Miistakiists Niitaksimkatoop Nahkai’sts (when I look at the mountains, I think about going home)” posted years ago by Cuts Wood School is true today, and has been all year. But now I also know more. Yes, I feel at home in the mountains, but now I know that the mountains have names, medicines, cultural and vision quests sites to be returned to the Niitsitapii people. Their home. Land back. Life back. Niitsii (truth). Poo’miikapii (unity, harmony and balance). Thank you for your stories and teachings. I will think of you and visit often, and happily connect and collaborate in between!