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Table of Contents
DISCUSSION GUIDE & QUESTIONS 5
Pre-viewing questions: 5
Post-viewing questions: 9
Additional works by
Dr. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson: 10
FACILITATED CONTEMPLATION &
LEARNING ACTIVITIES: 12
DISCUSSION Considering Voice in Storytelling 12
LEARNING ACTIVITY Blanket Exercise 15
LEARNING ACTIVITY Sharing Circle 16
LEARNING ACTIVITY Exploring our family stories 18
LEARNING ACTIVITY Personal Reflection 22
PERSONAL REFLECTION My commitment is... 24
ARTICLE & INTERVIEW REVIEW
Colonialism Today: Rooster Town 26
LEARNING ACTIVITY Considering Indigenous Kinship 30
FILM MAKERS’ & FILM CONTRIBUTORS’ BIOGRAPHIES 33
SUPPLEMENTAL LEARNING RESOURCES 36
My commitment is … 41
1
DISCUSSION GUIDE & QUESTIONS
These questions are designed to encourage the viewers’ deep thinking on both the
intentions of the film and the content. In an open viewing forum, these questions could
be directed at audience members for post-viewing analysis and in classroom settings
these questions are designed to facilitate both pre-viewing and post-viewing group
discussions and could also be used for reflection journal prompts.
To ensure that learners are adequately equipped to engage these questions, the
teacher/facilitator is invited to make relevant important terms and background
information available.
Pre-viewing questions:
● View the first 60 seconds of the film. Considering the images and sounds, what
do think the film will be about?
● What comes to mind when you think of “stories of decolonization”? Considering
the title of the film, “Stories of Decolonization: Land Dispossession and
Settlement”, what do you think the content of the film will be?
● What is your own family history with land dispossession and settlement?
2
Post-viewing questions:
Opening Scene
The opening scene of the film shows two people smudging.
● With the understanding that the purpose of the smudging ceremony is to cleanse
both bodies and spaces, what do you think the filmmakers’ intentions of starting
the film with this imagery are?
● What is the significance of the smudging being shown over images of land?
● How are the smudging ceremony and images of land, linked in the context of the
film title and content?
● What does beginning in this way tell us about the filmmakers’ perspectives and
intentions and why is it important to consider the film-makers’ perspectives and
intentions?
Leah Gazan
Quote analysis – What did Leah Gazan mean by:
A lot of people don’t know the truth. A lot of people don’t know the part; don’t
know the true story, the true Canadian story, the warts and all. A lot of people
know the mystical Canadian dream of multiculturalism, and inclusion. But
there’s a history of racism in this country that we need to acknowledge
● What is the mystical Canadian dream
, and how are multiculturalism and inclusion
building blocks for it?
● Does this quote give you any conflicting thoughts or feelings about how you were
taught about Canada’s history?
● Where do we learn or don’t we learn, the “true story”?
● Who determines the “true story” and why is this important?
● What elements of the film support Leah’s statement?
3
Dr. Niigaanwewidam Sinclair
Quote analysis – In the quote from Dr. Niigaanwewidam Sinclair:
People would talk about history but when they would talk about that history,
people often talked about them in hushed tones and they talked about them quietly
and they’d often say ‘well I’m going to tell you this but don’t go around talking
about it”
● What history do you think it is he is referring to and why do you think this history
was something that wasn’t spoken about openly?
● What are some of the consequences of not openly discussing varying
perspectives of history?
Murray Angus
Quote analysis
It’s the ground we stand on, figuratively and literally. In talking about land and
peoples’ attitudes of how do Canadians feel about living on somebody else’s
land? Well we don’t like to think about it.
– Murray Angus
● Have you ever consider what it means to live on somebody else’s land?
● Do you feel like you are living on somebody else’s land?
● What responsibilities come from living on somebody else’s land?
● What does Murray Angus mean when he states ‘we don’t like to think about it’?
● What are the consequences of not considering what it means to occupy another
people’s homeland?
David Bleakney
Quote analysis –
I went to the same grade school as my mom went to, so it’s an old one. It’s been
around for over 100 years, and she remembers when she was a girl living in the
4
village that there were Mi’kmaq living there and I was fascinated with this, really
the people who lived in the forest like they were living there in our village? Like
when you were a girl? Yea. So my next question of course was, what happened
to them? Where are they? Why did they go? And I didn’t really feel I got a
complete answer to that question.
– David Bleakney
● How are David’s questions related the Mi’kmaq people not being present tied to
the title of the film?
● How is the memory he shared tied to the story of land dispossession and
settlement?
● How is his memory tied to present day displacement of Indigenous peoples and
urbanization?
Aimée Craft
Quote analysis –
Thinking about that question, you know ‘what is colonialism?’, and I think a lot in
French, so the idea of les colons, it truly is tied to question of land, right?
Colonialism is appropriation of land and rebuilding of land often based on
doctrines of discovery or the idea that there is no prior occupation.
– Aimée Craft
● How does the belief that there is no prior occupation support colonialism and
land dispossession?
● Are the any examples of the ways in which you were taught about Canada, that
were based in land appropriation?
● Are there examples based in the belief that lands were not occupied by
Indigenous peoples or that it wasn’t significant that lands were already occupied?
● How did that impact your thoughts and feelings about Canada and Indigenous
peoples?
5
● Can you think of present day examples that unsettle the belief that lands were
unoccupied prior to colonization?
Dr. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
Quote analysis –
Without our permission and without our consent we have been systematically
removed and dispossessed of most of our territory. We have fought back as our
homeland has been stolen, clear cut, subdivided and sold to settlers from Europe
and later cottagers from Toronto. The last salmon navigated our waters about 100
years ago. We no longer have eels or salmon in our territory. We no longer have
old growth white pine forests. Our rice beds were nearly destroyed. All but one
tiny piece of prairie that exists on my reserve in Alderville has been destroyed.
90% of our sugar bushes are under private ownership. Our most sacred spaces
have been made into provincial parks for tourists, with concrete building on our
teaching rocks. Our burial grounds, our mounds have cottages build on top of
them. The veins of our mother have lift-locks blocking them and the shores of
nearly every to of our lakes and rivers have either cottages or a home making it
nearly impossible to launch a canoe. Our rice has nearly been destroyed by raised
water levels from the Trent Severn waterway, boat traffic and sewage from the
cottages. Our children have been taken away and sent to residential schools, day
schools and now an education system that refuses to acknowledge our culture, our
knowledge, our history and Indigenous experience.
– Dr. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
● Why is it important to recognize that colonization occurred and that
Canada continues to occupy these lands without the permissions or
consent of Indigenous peoples?
● Does this challenge or unsettle anything you’ve been taught about the
cede and surrender of lands?
● How does this quote from Dr. Simpson outline the contemporary
manifestations of colonization?
● Is it important to identify the ways in which colonization continues?
● How should this inform our relationship with the lands we occupy today?
6
● How are Indigenous understandings of kinship reflected in Dr. Simpson’s
words?
● Why is understanding Indigenous kinship ties to land, water, plants, and
animals important in the discussion of colonization?
● Dr. Simpson specifically addresses the ways in which education has been
and continues to be involved in the oppression of Indigenous peoples,
what are ways in which education can be involved in restoration of
Indigenous knowledge systems and land-bases?
Additional works by
Dr. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson:
Articles:
Coulthard, G., & Simpson, L. B. (2016). Grounded Normativity / Place-Based Solidarity.
American Quarterly,
68
(2), 249-255. doi:10.1353/aq.2016.0038
Deiter, C., Assinewe, V., Mulenkei, L., Schultess, B., Settee, P., & Simpson, L. (2002).
We are the land; let us heal ourselves. Biodiversity,
3
(3), 33-34.
doi:10.1080/14888386.2002.9712601
Simpson, L. (2008). Looking after Gdoo-naaganinaa: Precolonial Nishnaabeg
Diplomatic and Treaty Relationships. Wicazo Sa Review,
23
(2), 29-42.
doi:10.1353/wic.0.0001
Simpson, L. (2016). Land as Pedagogy: Nishnaabeg Intelligence and Rebellious
Transformation. Decolonization: Indigeneity, Education & Society
3.3 (2014): 1-25.
Decolonization.org
. Web. 5 Jan. 2016.
7
Books:
As We Have Always Done (2017)
Dancing on our Turtle’s Back (2011)
Islands of Decolonial Love (2013)
The Accident of Being Lost (2017)
The Gift is in the Making (2013)
Videos:
Leaks
https://vimeo.com/79076989
Jiibay or aandizoke
https://vimeo.com/166309937
Website:
https://www.leannesimpson.ca
8
FACILITATED CONTEMPLATION &
LEARNING ACTIVITIES:
OVERVIEW
DISCUSSION
Considering Voice in Storytelling
Time
Description
Understanding that narratives are influenced by
who
is, or is not telling the story is a critical part to
understanding and analyzing historic and
contemporary relationships and experiences of
Indigenous peoples in relation to settler colonialism.
This activity invites learners to think critically about
voice in storytelling, and supports them to
challenge settler colonial narratives of colonialism.
• 60 minutes
Participants
• High school students
• Post-secondary students
• Adult community members
Media
• Access to internet
• Video Playback
Resource List
Quotation: Leah Gazan
●From film 01:02
(included on next page)
Video Playback: Chimamanda Adichie
●From The Danger of a Single Story Ted Talk
(available online: https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story)
Quotation: Chimamanda Adichie
●From The Danger of a Single Story Ted Talk
(included on next page)
9
RESOURCES
Quotation: Leah Gazan
From film 01:02
A lot of people don’t know the truth. A lot of people don’t know the part; don’t know the
true story, the true Canadian story, the warts and all. A lot of people know the mystical
Canadian dream of multiculturalism, and inclusion. But there’s a history of racism in this
country that we need to acknowledge.?
Video Playback: Chimamanda Adichie
From The Danger of a Single Story Ted Talk
https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story
Quotation: Chimamanda Adichie
From The Danger of a Single Story Ted Talk
It is impossible to talk about the single story without talking about power. There is a
word, an Igbo word, that I think about whenever I think about the power structures of the
world, and it is “nkali.” It’s a noun that loosely translates to “to be greater than another.”
Like our economic and political worlds, stories too are defined by the principle of nkali:
How they are told, who tells them, when they’re told, how many stories are told, are
really dependent on power.
Power is the ability not just to tell the story of another person, but to make it the
definitive story of that person. The Palestinian poet Mourid Barghouti writes that if you
want to dispossess a people, the simplest way to do it is to tell their story and to start
with, “secondly.” Start the story with the arrows of the Native Americans, and not with
the arrival of the British, and you have an entirely different story. Start the story with the
failure of the African state, and not with the colonial creation of the African state, and
you have an entirely different story.
10
ACTIVITY
Directions:
● Make Leah Gazan’s quote accessible to learners
● View Chimamanda Adichie TEDTalk “The Danger of a Single Story”
, and ask
learners to pay specific attention to Adichie’s comments on the importance of
acknowledging voice
in storytelling. Why is it important to consider who
is telling
the story?
● Review Leah Gazan’s quote and ask learners to discuss/reflect on how Adiche’s
comments on voice in storytelling help us to more deeply understand Gazan’s
comments on the “true history of Canada”, and the “mystical Canadian dream”.
● In a group discussion, discussion partners or reflection journal prompts, ask
learners to specifically analyze the following quotes from Adiche’s TEDtalk in
relation to Gazan’s quote.
Questions:
The single story has the power to define and malign Indigenous peoples, and has been
used as a tool to do so in Canada. For this reason, it’s important to support the telling of
Indigenous peoples’ narratives. While thinking about Leah Gazan’s quote and
Chimamanda Adiche’s TEDtalk, consider the following questions:
● What is the mystical Canadian dream, and how are multiculturalism and inclusion
building blocks for it?
● Does this quote give you any conflicting thoughts or feelings about how you were
taught about Canada’s history?
● Where do we learn or don’t we learn, the “true story” of Canada?
● Who determines the “true story” and why is this important to specifically consider
Indigenous peoples’ experiences and perspectives in the construction of the
story?
11
OVERVIEW
LEARNING ACTIVITY
Blanket Exercise
Time
Description
This Blanket Activity is designed by KAIROS, and
invites learners to interactively consider the historic
and present-day relationships between Indigenous
peoples and settlers. More information on KAIROS
and the Blanket Exercise are available in the
supplementary resources section.
• 60-90 minutes
Participants
• High school students
(youth script)
• Post-secondary students
(adult script)
Things to Keep in Mind
It’s highly suggested that those leading the Blanket Exercise activity be
knowledgeable on the history and legacy of colonization, and are actively pursuing
decolonization in their personal and professional journeys. Additionally, it’s important
to respect and incorporate local place-based cultural protocols and histories and
involve local Knowledge Keepers in any ceremonial aspects., while engaging learning
in this important activity.
12
OVERVIEW
LEARNING ACTIVITY
Sharing Circle
Time
Description
Sharing circles are meant to be safe and culturally
responsive spaces in which people can share their
thoughts and feelings. This model of learning
exists in many cultures and support oral traditions,
and building common understanding between
individuals. A sharing circle activity can be used to
invite learners to reflect upon and debrief the
Blanket Activity, and/or as a post-viewing reflection
activity.
• Dependant on participants
Participants
• All ages
• All learning levels
Things to Keep in Mind
An important consideration for using a sharing circle as a teaching tool, is to respect
the protocols of the territory you’re on. In many territories, sharing circles are
considered ceremonies and should thus be facilitated by an Indigenous Knowledge
Keeper. Inviting an Elder or knowledge keeper to assist with learning place-based
protocols and conducting ceremonial is important. The directions provided are
adapted from the KAIROS, “To open hearts to understand and connect with one
another” Sharing Circle lesson plan.
13
ACTIVITY
Directions:
● Invite learners to sit in a circle stating that all members to the circle are treated
with dignity and understanding
● Follow the traditions of the territory as directed by an Elder or knowledge
keeper
● Use a sacred medicine/object/talking stick used for turn-taking
● Invite learners speak from the heart and reflect on their learning experience.
● Encourage all members to the circle to listen attentively while others are sharing.
14
OVERVIEW
LEARNING ACTIVITY
Exploring our family stories
Time
Description
This activity is designed to help participants understand their
place in the colonial narrative. The facilitator will ask
participants to engage in understanding their own identity
through the lens of decolonization, sharing family stories
that ask participants to understand deeper their own family
history of settlement and their relationship with the land on
which they live.
Understanding selves as beneficiaries (whether intentional
or not) of the active displacement of Indigenous peoples and
appropriation of resources and governance and jurisdiction
over the land.
• 45-60 minutes
Participants
•High school students
•Post secondary
students
•Adult community
members
Materials Needed
•Flip chart paper
•Markers
Resource List
Map: Turtle Island that overlays current cities with traditional territories
● Available online:
Manitoba:
http://www.trcm.ca/treaties/treaties-in-manitoba/view-pdf-interactive-map-of-numbered-treaties-
trcm-july-20-entry/
Turtle Island:
http://room31turtleisland.weebly.com/
Handout: Quotations and Questions to Consider
● Included on next page
Video Playback: Irene Jensen’s film “Stolen Lane”
● From Irene Jensen’s Blog (
http://irenejansen.ca/
)
(available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CxvKq5JurE&feature=youtu.be)
15
Things to Keep in Mind
This activity is largely focused on the family narratives of settler identifying
participants. Adaptation to include a mixed audience of Indigenous and mixed
heritage Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples needs attention.
16
RESOURCES
Handout: Quotations
If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time.
But if you have come because your liberation is bound up
with mine, then let us work together
-Aboriginal Elder Lilla Watson
In order to know where we are going we need to know
where we are.
To know where we are we need to know who we are,
and to know who we are we need to know where we come
from.
-Anishinaabe Elder Art Solomon
Handout: Questions to consider
1. Where were your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents born?
2. Where did your family come from before settling in Canada?
3. When did your maternal and paternal families settle in Canada?
4. What regions did they move to?
5. Did they move more after the initial settlement?Where did your ancestors come
from before arriving in this land called Canada?
a. What were/are the forces at play that caused them to migrate?
b. Who are the Indigenous peoples of the land that you are living on today?
c. What were/are the forces that caused these people to be displaced?
d. How do these two histories connect?
6. How did you end up living where you do?
7. Map the journey of settlement as far back as you know
8. Why did your family choose to leave their country of origin?
9. Why did your family choose to come to Canada?
10.Did they move to areas for work, opportunities, education?
11.What kinds of stories do your parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents tell
about the time of migration and settlement? What was it like for them living in
those territories?
17
ACTIVITY
Directions
Introduction
Introduce the activity and present the quotes from Elders Lilla Watson and Art Solomon
(available on handout). Query about the relevance of history to who we are today.
How has our family history influenced our understanding of the world around us?
●Guiding question: How do we start to rethink and express our relationship with
place and Indigenous peoples of the land?
Video
● Watch the video: Stolen Land created by Irene Jansen
Discussion
Facilitate a conversation about genealogy and family research:
A. Do you remember building a family tree?
There is so much information that can be found out through the telling and
re-telling of the stories and the histories of our families and family members. We
all have heard the re-telling of a funny instance of a relative at one point in time
that has likely become a family legend.
B. Provide the participants the Questions to Consider Handout and the Map and
ask them to focus on 3 of the questions, jotting down bullet points for each and
noting on the map the geographical spaces that are in their responses.
C. Ask the participants to pair up with another person and share what they have
identified. Reflect: Looking at the map provided, what were the original Nations of
each of those areas of land.
Check in & closing dialogue
● What can we do with this information moving forward?
18
OVERVIEW
LEARNING ACTIVITY
Personal Reflection
Time
Description
This activity invites learners to spend time doing
personal reflection on their learning experience.
Quotes can be provided to the learners as
reflection prompts, or learners can self-guide their
written reflections.
• Dependent on participants
Participants
• All ages
• All learning levels
Materials Needed
• Loose paper
• Writing tools
• Optional film contributor
quotes
Film Contributor Quotes (Optional)
(1) Quotation: Leah Gazan
●From film 01:02
(included)
(2) Video Playback: Chimamanda Adichie
●From The Danger of a Single Story Ted Talk
(available online: https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story)
(3) Quotation: Chimamanda Adichie
●From The Danger of a Single Story Ted Talk
(included)
19
ACTIVITY
Directions:
● Invite learners to reflect on their learning experience
● Learners can self-guide their written reflections or use film contributor quotes
listed in discussion activity “Considering Voice in Storytelling
20
OVERVIEW
PERSONAL REFLECTION
My commitment is...
Time
Description
This activity invites learners to spend time doing
personal reflection on their learning experience and
specifically to consider what they will do with their
new understandings. Learning facilitator can
provide reflection prompts, or invite learners to
self-guide their reflection.
.
• Dependent on participants
Participants
• All ages
• All learning levels
Materials Needed
• Loose paper
• Writing tools
• Optional film contributor
quotes
Film Contributor Quotes (Optional)
(1) Quotation: Leah Gazan
●From film 01:02
(included)
(2) Video Playback: Chimamanda Adichie
●From The Danger of a Single Story Ted Talk
(available online: https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story)
(3) Quotation: Chimamanda Adichie
●From The Danger of a Single Story Ted Talk
(included)
21
ACTIVITY
Directions:
Invite learners to self-guide their reflections, or provide reflection prompts. Some
suggestions listed below:
● Reflect upon your learning from watching the film and participating in the learning
activities, with the knowledge that you have now, what is your commitment to
challenging settler colonialism?
● Reflect upon your learning from watching the film and participating in the learning
activities, with the knowledge that you have now, what is your commitment to
challenging the erasure of Indigenous peoples from story and land?
● Reflect upon your learning from watching the film and participating in the learning
activities, with the knowledge that you have now, what is your commitment to
challenging settler colonialism?
● Reflect upon your learning from watch the film and participating in activities, with
the knowledge that you have now, what is your commitment educating your
friends, family and colleague?
● Reflect upon your learning from watch the film and participating in activities, with
the knowledge that you have now, what is your commitment to changing your
own relationship with Indigenous peoples and the territories you engage with?
22
OVERVIEW
ARTICLE & INTERVIEW REVIEW
Colonialism Today: Rooster Town
Time
Description
In 2017 Indigenous land defenders and allies
reclaimed the urban space which was historically
the Métis community of Rooster Town. After the
startling deforestation of the land, a blockade was
created to protect the space from further assault.
In this lesson, learners are invited to consider how
the legacy of colonization and displacement of
Indigenous peoples is an ongoing process that
continues today.
• 90 minutes
Participants
• High school students
• Post-secondary students
Media
• Access to internet
• Access to audio playback
Resource List
Article:
“The Outsiders”
●By Randy Turner,
published in Winnipeg Free Press
(available online: https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/The-outsiders-366764871.html)
Audio Playback: “Direct Action Against Development in Winnipeg”
●Interview from Talking Radical Radio
(available online: http://talkingradical.ca/2017/11/28/trr-rooster_town_blockade/ )
Sharing Circle
● Available in this curriculum
23
ACTIVITY
Part 1 Directions:
● In a sharing circle, ask learners to briefly describe a meaningful place in their
lives. Prompt: Think of a place that you feel a strong connection to. This can
be a place that you spent a lot of time in, or just visited with briefly. It can be a
place that you haven’t been to in a long time, or somewhere you go often. How
would you describe this place to someone who will never get to visit it? What
makes this place special to you?
● As you close the sharing circle, invite learners to write down how they would feel
if they and the people they love could never have access to that place again.
● Read the article “The Outsiders” written by Randy Turner.
● As a group, discuss the displacement of the Métis people.
Part 1 Questions:
●Were you familiar with the history of Rooster Town? If not, how do you feel
about never having learned about this community and the displacement of Métis
people?
●How do you think this displacement impacted the people of Rooster Town? How
does it continue to impact their descendants?
●What do you think the responsibility of the city and citizens of Winnipeg are to the
descendants of the people of Rooster Town? How do we correct these
injustices?
●Reflect on your contributions to the sharing circle about a space that is
meaningful to you, do your thoughts and feelings help to give you some
understanding of the impacts of disconnection to place?
24
Part 2 Directions:
● After the learners have a chance to express themselves and have made
connections between their own relationships to space and the displacement of
the Métis community of Rooster town, inform them that you will now consider
how displacement continues in present day
● As a group listen to the Talking Radical interview, “Direct Action Against
Development in Winnipeg”
● Discuss how colonization and displacement continue today
Part 2 Questions:
●From learning about the historic and present day displacement and land assault
of Rooster Town, what do we understand about the continuation of colonization?
●Why is important to support Indigenous peoples reclamation and protection of
land?
●In learning about Rooster Town, what do we understand about how the
continuation of colonization is protected?
●What is the role of allies in Indigenous reclamation of space and land defense?
●Does learning about Rooster Town change how you feel about the space you
occupy? How?
●Reflect on the thoughts you wrote down after our sharing circle? From you own
feelings about how you would contend with not being able to access the space
that you have a close relationship with, does this support you to better
understand Indigenous peoples relationship to land? Does this support you to
better understand Indigenous land defense movements?
25
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
An Indigenous Blockade in Winnipeg Is Halting Deforestation Efforts
https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/evdj3z/an-indigenous-blockade-in-winnipeg-is-ha
lting-deforestation-efforts
Coverage of Winnipeg’s Rooster Town Blockade Reveals Media’s Anti-Indigenous
Biases
https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/coverage-of-winnipegs-rooster-town-blo
ckade-and-medias-anti-indigenous-bias
Métis-Anishinaabe land defender establishes Rooster Town blockade in Winnipeg to
protect wetlands
https://canadians.org/blog/métis-anishinaabe-land-defender-establishes-rooster-tow
n-blockade-winnipeg-protect-wetlands
Rooster Town: The Winnipeg Community that Nobody Remembers
http://uniter.ca/view/rooster-town-the-winnipeg-community-that-nobody-remembers
26
OVERVIEW
LEARNING ACTIVITY
Considering Indigenous Kinship
Time
Description
Indigenous kinship systems are historically and
contemporary models of family and community
structures that are based in intersecting
relationships between humans and the natural
world. These non-hierarchical relationships are
built on mutual respect and reciprocity. This
activity is meant to provide deeper understandings
of Indigenous kinship through the analysis of Dr.
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s contribution to
the film, and her artistic work, “How to Steal a
Canoe”.
• 30 minutes
Participants
• High school students
• Post-secondary students
Media
• Access to internet
• Video playback
Resource List
Quotation: Dr. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
●From film 03:08
(included on next page)
Video Playback: How to Steal A Canoe
●By Dr Leanne Betasamosake Simpson Leanne Simpson
(available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp5oGZ1r60g )
Definition: Wahkotowin
●Included on next page
27
RESOURCES
Quotation: Dr. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
●From film 03:08
Without our permission and without our consent we have been systematically
removed and dispossessed of most of our territory. We have fought back as our
homeland has been stolen, clear cut, subdivided and sold to settlers from Europe
and later cottagers from Toronto. The last salmon navigated our waters about 100
years ago. We no longer have eels or salmon in our territory. We no longer have
old growth white pine forests. Our rice beds were nearly destroyed. All but one
tiny piece of prairie that exists on my reserve in Alderville, has been destroyed.
90% of our sugar bushes are under private ownership. Our most sacred spaces
have been made into provincial parks for tourists, with concrete building on our
teaching rocks. Our burial grounds, our mounds have cottages build on top of
them. The veins of our mother have lift-locks blocking them and the shores of
nearly every to of our lakes and rivers has either cottages or a home making it
nearly impossible to launch a canoe. Our rice has nearly been destroyed by raised
water levels from the Trent Severn waterway, boat traffic and sewage from the
cottages. Our children have been taken away and sent to residential schools, day
schools and now an education system that refuses to acknowledge our culture, our
knowledge, our history and Indigenous experience.
Definition: Wahkotowin
Wahkotowin
is a Nehiyawewin (Plains Cree) word that refers to kinship and the
making of relatives. This value, keeps communities together by reinforcing the
belief that all people are connected, and have the responsibility of taking care of
one another
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ACTIVITY
Directions:
● Make Dr. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s quote available for learners
● Make definition of wahkotowin available for learners
● Ask learners to consider and note what is revealed about Indigenous
understandings to land, water, plants and animals in Dr. Simpson’s words and
how her contribution with the film is connection to the definition of wahkotowin.
● As a group discuss the differences between settlers’ and Indigenous peoples’
understandings of relationships with and responsibilities to land and brainstorm
the ways in which those differences are expressed, specifically within processes
of colonization.
● As a group view the YouTube link “How to Steal a Canoe.”
● In a group discussion, or through written reflection invite learners to reflect on a
physical place they feel connected to and how it would feel if they were forced
away from this place, or no longer had access to it. Additionally ask learners to
consider the questions below:
Questions:
● How does understanding land as a relative, challenge colonization?
● How does understanding that Indigenous peoples exist in kinship relationships
with land and water, challenge or change your views on the history of
colonization in Canada, and the experiences of Indigenous peoples?
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FILM MAKERS’ & FILM CONTRIBUTORS’
BIOGRAPHIES
Film Curriculum developer
Tasha Spillett draws her strength and softness from both her Nehiyaw & Trinidadian
bloodlines. She is an educator, poet and emerging scholar, but is most heart-tied to
contributing to community lead work that centers land and water defence, and the
protection of Indigenous women and girls.
Film Makers
Teddy Zegeye-Gebrehiwot is an Ethiopian-Greek-Canadian, a Winnipegger, a
filmmaker, a father, a husband, an activist, a socialist, a settler. He recognizes that he
receive privileges from colonialism (regardless of whether he wants them or not) and
that these privileges are the product of an unjust, harmful system. Thus, he believes it
is urgently necessary to dismantle colonialism and capitalism, and to struggle to bring
the better world that we all deserve. He thinks that settlers are not doing their fair share
of working to change this system, and he can see part of the reason for this as an
education gap, but also thinks that inaction is structurally encouraged by colonialism
and capitalism. He hopes these films can contribute to folks' broader education and
help spark action on both individual and collective levels.
Elizabeth (Liz) Carlson’s Swedish, Saami, German, Scots-Irish, and English ancestors
settled on lands of the Anishinaabe and Omaha Nations that were unethically obtained
by the US government. As a white settler (zhaagnaash, gchi-mookman-kwe) on
Anishinaabe lands occupied by the city of Sudbury, Liz is learning to live in Indigenous
sovereignty as a treaty relative of the Robinson-Huron Treaty while working as an
Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Laurentian University. Liz’s doctoral
research, Living in Indigenous sovereignty: Relational accountability and the stories of
30
white settler anti-colonial and decolonial activists*, as well as the work of Indigenous
scholars and activists, has led her to pursue research related to the ways settlers can
support land return and Indigenous land reclamation.
*https://mspace.lib.umanitoba.ca/bitstream/handle/1993/32028/carlson_elizabeth.pdf
Gladys Rowe is a Muskego-iskwew (Swampy Cree woman) of mixed ancestry and a
member of Fox Lake Cree Nation in Northern Manitoba. Gladys has been enamoured
by the power of stories to connect and create spaces to build relationship with self and
with the animate and inanimate world. When Gladys was young she began her creative
development, writing poetry and short stories and has added paint and film as a way to
share stories that are close to her heart. She is currently completing her PhD in
interdisciplinary studies through the University of Manitoba. Gladys is passionate about
human experiences and opportunities to foster meaningful connections.
Sarah Story is a freelance archivist and oral historian raised in rural Manitoba. Story
resides in Treaty One (Winnipeg). She is an archival advocate committed to disrupting
the settler-colonial archive and sharing skills, knowledge and resources with groups
who request assistance to develop sustainable independent or community-controlled
preservation systems. Her true passion is working with individuals, families and
community groups to document and preserve oral histories for present purposes and
future generations.
Film Participants
Joy Eidse is a social worker living in Treaty 1 territory, Winnipeg, occupied traditional
lands of Anishinaabe, Nehiyawak, Dakota, Nakota, and Red River Metis peoples.
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Steve Heinrichs is a settler Christian Canadian living in Treaty 1 territory, Winnipeg,
occupied traditional lands of Anishinaabe, Nehiyawak, Dakota, Nakota, and Red River
Metis peoples.
Monique Woroniak is a settler living in Treaty 1 territory, Winnipeg, occupied traditional
lands of Anishinaabe, Nehiyawak, Dakota, Nakota, and Red River Metis peoples.
Murray Angus is a settler and founder of Nunavut Sivaniksavut living in Ottawa,
Occupied unsurrendered territory of Algonquin people.
David Bleakney is a settler and 2nd National Vice President of Canadian Union of
Postal Workers living in Ottawa, Occupied unsurrendered territory of Algonquin people.
Leah Gazan is a University of Winnipeg instructor and an Idle No More Activist from
Wood Mountain Lakota Nation, Treaty 4 Territory.
Chickadee Richard is a is a mother, grandmother, and clan mother from Treaty 1
territory, Winnipeg, occupied traditional lands of Anishinaabe, Nehiyawak, Dakota,
Nakota, and Red River Metis peoples.
Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair is a Associate Professor of Native Studies at the
University of Manitoba and is Anishinaabe (St. Peter's/Little Peguis)
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is a writer, scholar, lecturer, storyteller, musician,
First Nations Activist, from Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg, Alderville First Nation.
Tasha Hubbard is a filmmaker, assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan,
is Nehiyaw/Nakawe/Métis from Peepeekisis First Nation.
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SUPPLEMENTAL LEARNING RESOURCES
Useful websites:
Assembly of First Nations
http://www.afn.ca
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs
https://manitobachiefs.com
Groundwork for Change
https://www.groundworkforchange.org
Treaty Commission of Manitoba
http://www.trcm.ca
Native Women’s’ Association of Canada
https://www.nwac.ca
National Centre for Truth & Reconciliation
http://nctr.ca/map.php
History & legacy of residential schools
Websites:
The Blanket Exercise (directions & scripts)
https://www.kairosblanketexercise.org/about/
Residential Schools- 100 years of Loss, Timeline
http://www.legacyofhope.ca/downloads/100yol-timeline.pdf
Where are the Children? Healing the Legacy of Residential Schools
http://wherearethechildren.ca/en
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Videos:
Nindibaajimomin, Intergenerational Storytelling on the Legacy of Residential Schools
http://www.oralhistorycentre.ca/projects/nindibaajimomin-intergenerational-digital-sto
rytelling-legacy-residential-schools
Where the Spirit Lives
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Os5KqErc7XY
We Were Children (available on the National Film Board website
https://www.nfb.ca/film/we_were_children/)
Text sources:
Indian Residential Schools Map
http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100015606/1100100015611
Intergenerational Impact of Residential Schools
http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/pdfs/kiskino_Intergenerational%20Effect
%20of%20IRS%20on%20Prof%20Women.pdf
Government of Canada, full apology to Residential School Survivors
http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100015644/1100100015649
They Came for the Children
http://www.myrobust.com/websites/trcinstitution/File/2039_T&R_eng_web[1].pdf
Truth and Reconciliation Commission Findings & Calls to Action
http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/index.php?
Colonization in Canada
Websites:
21 Things You May Not Know About The Indian Act
http://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/21-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-indian-ac
t-1.3533613
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Christopher Columbus & The Doctrine of Discovery
https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/christopher-columbus-and-the-doctrine-of-discovery-5-thin
gs-to-know
Government of Canada, The Indian Act
http://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/i-5/
Videos:
Colonization Road
http://www.cbc.ca/firsthand/episodes/colonization-road
Indigenous resistance
Websites
Idle No More
http://www.idlenomore.ca
Indigenous Nationhood, Pam Palmater’s Blog
http://indigenousnationhood.blogspot.ca
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson
https://www.leannesimpson.ca
Native Youth Sexual Health Network
http://www.nativeyouthsexualhealth.com
Decolonization, Indigeneity, Education & Society
http://www.decolonization.org/index.php/des
Videos:
Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance
http://workforall.nfb.ca/film/kanehsatake_270_years_of_resistance/
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Being an ally
Website:
What is an ally? What is a settler?
https://www.groundworkforchange.org
Contemporary Indigenous Perspectives
Podcasts and other Media
Indian & Cowboy Podcast with Ryan McMahon
http://indianandcowboy.ca
Redman Laughing Podcast
https://www.redmanlaughing.com
Media Indigena
http://www.mediaindigena.com
8th Fire: Aboriginal Peoples, Canada & The Way Forward
http://www.cbc.ca/8thfire/
Radio
UnReserved with Rosanna Deerchild
http://www.cbc.ca/player/radio/Unreserved
News
CBC Indigenous
http://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous
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My commitment is …
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