Strength and Resilience
You are invited to choose your path to the berry patch by identifying and sourcing the resources and pathways that will help your specific community ecosystem flourish, for safer campuses for everyone.
In this video, Jewell asks you to recognize the strength and resilience of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit students. As non-Indigenous people learn more about the impact of colonization and residential schools, they may focus on the trauma. But there is also strength and resilience in First Nations, Métis, and Inuit cultures, and this strength needs to be recognized and celebrated.
Reflection Questions
- Do you see the resilience of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit students, including survivors of sexualized violence, recognized at your institution?
- Reflect on your own knowledge and learning about First Nations, Métis, and Inuit.
- Have you been focused on the (very deep) trauma to the exclusion of their resilience and thriving?
- How can you balance your journey so it better reflects the strength and beauty of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit students?
- How can you highlight the successes of not just the Indigenous learners at your institution, but also the successes of the First Nations on whose land the institution has been built?
- Are the history, joy, persistence, and dignity of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit communities reflected in the lived environment of your institution? How can you contribute to a culture where this happens in a deep and long-term way?
- How can you work with local communities and your institution’s administrators to create spaces that better reflect the history, traditions, and culture of the First Nations on whose land the institution has been built?
