04. Truth and Reconciliation with Dr. Yvonne Poitras Pratt

Elizabeth Tingle and Dana Fulwiler Volk chat with Dr. Yvonne Poitras Pratt, a Métis Scholar and Director of Indigenous Education at the University of Calgary. She discusses the key role education and learning play in the Calls to Action of Truth and Reconciliation, and shares numerous resources and actions people can take to become meaningfully engaged in this essential work. Listen to her gratitude story about her Grade 4 teacher who made a lasting difference in her life. 

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Show Notes

• National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation: explore the TRC reports and 94 Calls to Action, and find open-access K-12 Reconciliation Through Education resources.
  
• Indigenous Education – A Call to Action: the graduate program Dr. Poitras-Pratt created at the Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary.
  
• Indigenous Canada: a free online course delivered via Coursera by the University of Alberta, open to anyone: “from an Indigenous perspective, this course explores key issues facing Indigenous peoples today from a historical and critical perspective highlighting national and local Indigenous-settler relations.”
  
• The Red Dress Project
  
• Orange Shirt Day: website by the Orange Shirt Society includes educational books and free classroom resources for K-12.
  
• Phyllis Webstad explains the story of her experience at Residential School and the origins of Orange Shirt Day in Canada.
  
• Latest from Rosanna Deerchild, award-winning Cree author and broadcaster. 
  
• Kinshift.ca: through experiential, arts-based workshops/programs, this Indigenous-led initiative supports settlers who are committed to building respectful relationships with Indigenous peoples and places. 
  
• Native-land.ca: a working global map of Indigenous territories, treaties, and languages: “we strive to map Indigenous lands in a way that changes, challenges, and improves the way people see the history of their countries and peoples.”
  
• Indian Residential School Survivors Society; 24/7 crisis support for survivors and families: 1-800-721-0066
  
• Legacy of Hope Foundation

PAPERS REFERENCED: 

• Poitras Pratt, Y., & Danyluk, P. (2019). Exploring reconciliatory pedagogy and its possibilities through educator-led praxis.The Canadian Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning 10(3). 
  
• Louie, D., Poitras Pratt, Y., Hanson, A., & Ottmann, J. (2017). Applying Indigenizing principles of decolonizing methodologies in university classrooms. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 47(3), 16-33.