Personal Interlude: My 2012

So...2012. Didn't like it very much, medical leave and unemployment were huge features of the year. At the same time, there were a couple of positives that I hadn't considered, but they are, or were, I guess.

1. In April, I went to FanExpo Vancouver. This is the type of event that I would normally long to go to but then would not buy a ticket and regret it afterwards. This year I went. I had fun. I met Lou Ferrigno.

2. I had the opportunity, or unexpected last minute panic depending on your point of view, to sit down on a computer and edit six two-minute webisodes from hours of behind-the-scenes footage from the second season of Back in the Day. My editing skills are rudimentary at best, I don't know what crossing your axis means but I enjoyed it and would like to learn more. You can check them out at http://www.backintheday.ca/webisodes/

3. During my medical leave, I had the good fortune to be interviewed for an article that appeared in newspapers across the country. It left a lot out, I did speak to the guy for over an hour, but it felt good to be able to address the issue of Aboriginal Education at a level seen across the country. It was a good article, and starts with "Robert Genaille was not a big fan of teachers." :) This also had the added benefit of my Mom getting to hear from people who would say, "Are you any relation to Robert Genaille?" She loved it. At any rate, check it out here:  http://thechronicleherald.ca/thenovascotian/64606-adjust-education-native-students  (I specifically found a Maritime paper's website, I'm shameless.)

4. For the first time, I've been in online conversations about Aboriginal Education issues and, in asking questions to get the other person's understandings, been sent links to my own writing. That was just sort of fun.

5. I went on a couple dates this past year. That's actually significant. I'm not a social animal. Really.

6. As part of my getting better, I've started going to the gym and exercising. I've lost twenty-five pounds to date and seem to have been plateaued for a really long time, and truthfully, I've really struggled the last couple of months with my attendance and my endurance there, but I did find that through the Christmas holiday, I didn't gain any weight, which is good. I am trying to get back into it properly and I am still fighting a losing battle with french fries but I am still fighting it, so that's something.

7. I actually took part in a protest with Idle No More. I've never done something like that before. I'm hoping I do so again. I think this one is important.

8. I've been afforded the opportunity to return to the first school I had the privilege to teach in. It's very exciting.

9. I still think I will be playing with my camera more and try and make something.

It has felt like a rough year, but I guess not awful. Happy New Year everyone.

From Evernote:

Two Years, One Day Anniversary

Missed the second anniversary of my blog because it happened to coincide with the ten year anniversary of my Dad's passing and I was trying to ignore all of that. Sorry. I am not sure why that date seems to have been the day that I launched my blog.  It had a lot to do with some suicides in the community I think that had just occurred, as sad as that is to say.

At any rate, yesterday was the second anniversary of Where Are the Sheep? and I am surprised I didn't abandon this a long time ago.  The blog took a hit this year.  My interest and dedication were challenged by my medical leave and the depression, an ongoing concern, and the end of my term on the BCTF Aboriginal Education Advisory Committee (something necessary to my health improvement but I do miss it terribly), followed by a long stretch of unemployment.  My dedication has also been challenged by my perception of the BC education system as uninterested in Aboriginal Education in general and the specific issues I was raising.  That current apathy is reflected in the continued lack of interest BC educators appear to be taking in the current IDLE NO MORE movement, reflective of the Canadian consciousness in general it seems.  

This is a very exciting time and no one cares.  It's too bad.  This is a very teachable moment.  IDLE NO MORE is why Aboriginal Education matters.  I will try to write more about it as it progresses, compensate for my fear of actually participating in something meaningful and real.  What are the consequences for a teacher to participate in an act of civil disobedience?  

So, two years on, the blog is still here, limping along.  We'll see if year three is any better.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone.

From Evernote:

An Open Letter to the Teachers of British Columbia on the Matter of the IDLE NO MORE Movement

Ey Sweyel.

I hope the season finds you well and that you are having an excellent and productive school year.  My name is Robert Genaille and I am Stó:lō and Saulteaux from the Peters First Nation in the Stó:lō territory of what is now called British Columbia.  I am a teacher in the BC public education system, employed in the Fraser-Cascade school district.  I am also a former member of, and former Chair, of the BC Teachers' Federation Aboriginal Education Committee.

I am writing here today to discuss the IDLE NO MORE Movement, a grassroots, social media- driven protest movement of First Nations people, other Aboriginal people and allies, protesting the lack of consultation, by the Federal government, regarding the recent Omnibus Budget bill (C-45), and other, pending legislation that will have an effect on First Nations rights in Canada.  The idea behind the movement has grown beyond just protesting the lack of consultation to encompass the need to address the Federal lack of respect and poor treatment of the First Peoples in Canada, and, to an extent, the connection to the land that is a part of the various cultures across Canada and the exploitation of the natural resources, both as a degradation of the environment, but also the lack of First Nation prosperity as a benefit.  The movement is seeking to get Canada to honour the treaties that it has with First Nations, which promise adequate education and access to healthcare and housing.  

With the understanding that much of British Columbia lacks a treaty with the Crown, which may seem to mean that we aren't as concerned with the Treaty Rights issues, it is a good time to remind that the government has fiduciary responsibilities in this province which are often found to be lacking, not to mention the fact of the ongoing fear that is our Highway of Tears and the Missing & Murdered women across this province and the country.

Dear teachers if British Columbia, I am writing to ask you for your help.  There have been many rallies, protests, roadblocks and an ongoing hunger strike on Parliament Hill, but there has been very little media coverage from Canada's media, as well as muted response from the government, none from the Prime Minister.  We are invisible in Canada and while that remains the case, our peoples will continue to suffer and struggle.

I am writing to you to ask for your assistance in making IDLE NO MORE something that cannot be ignored.  The teachers of British Columbia and the BC Teachers' Federation have a long history of activism and social justice is a key component of your view of a fair and just world.  Please teach about this issue.  Please rally or get together in study sessions.  Please show your support in some way for Chief Spence's ongoing hunger strike to get Harper to speak to her.  Take a lunch hour and hold a sign outside your school to show you are our allies in seeking fairness and justice for First Nations.  Write your newspapers, encourage the BCTF to take a stand.  Take pictures, splash them all over social media.  Check out idlenomore.ca, check out http://globalvoicesonline.org/2012/12/15/indigenous-idle-no-more-movement-sweeps-canada/ , http://thetyee.ca/Blogs/TheHook/Media/2012/12/13/Monkey-Vs-Protest/ , http://apihtawikosisan.com/2012/12/11/the-natives-are-restless-wondering-why/ and any number of other blog posts and sites.  Check out the #idlenomore hash tag on Twitter.

It is an honour and a privilege to teach in this province.  It is an honour to be affiliated to such an activist group of teachers.  I know that you will stand with Chief Spence and the First Nations, Métis and Inuit in protecting our rights and survival.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Robert Genaille (Stó:lō/ Saulteaux)

Teacher

Fraser-Cascade School District 

From Evernote:

Why 'Idle No More' Matters to Educators

IDLE NO MORE is a grassroots, social media- driven protest movement of First Nations people, other Aboriginal people and allies, protesting the lack of consultation, by the Federal government, regarding the recent Omnibus Budget bill (C-45), and other, pending legislation that will have an effect on First Nations rights in Canada.  The idea behind the movement has grown beyond just protesting the lack of consultation to encompass the need to address the Federal lack of respect and poor treatment of the First Peoples in Canada, and, to an extent, the connection to the land that is a part of the various cultures across Canada and the exploitation of the natural resources, both as a degradation of the environment, but also the lack of First Nation prosperity as a benefit.  The movement is seeking to get Canada to honour the treaties that it has with First Nations, which promise adequate education and access to healthcare and housing.  

The ongoing housing emergencies in Native communities over the last couple of years, symptoms of ongoing disregard, as well as the very public battles between the Federal government and the First Nation Caring Society over children in care and the constant education problems, have resulted in very public embarrassment for the government but not any action to correct their failure to act on the fiduciary responsibilities and requirements of the Indian Treaties.  Instead, they have made unilateral decisions and started legislative changes to change the rules that have the perception of, and likely the effect of eroding Native rights in Canada.  In addition, the decision to only focus on those Treaty negotiations in British Columbia that has, in their view, a definite chance for success, essentially cuts their responsibility to seek out treaties with all First Nations.  Considering much of BC is unceded territory, they are abandoning their responsibilities and, with the international agreements they are signing and environmental regulation changes, they are essentially attempting to terminate First Nations rights and sovereignty by ignoring it completely.  

Let's us also bear in mind the estimated six hundred to a thousand missing and murdered women that the government continues to ignore, the biased media coverage and online trolling that continues to reinforce the benevolent society myth and "blame the victim" mentality that permeates the colonial attitude of Canada.

The most significant, public protest is currently that of Attawapiskat Chief Theresa Spence, on a hunger strike to meet with Prime Minister Harper to discuss honouring their Treaty.  Harper has turned the issue over to Aboriginal Affairs Minister Duncan, who has said HE will meet with her, of course.  He has also dismissed IDLE NO MORE as a social media thing.  The government, and the media for that matter, are not taking this protest very seriously.  I have been watching the news channels and there has been far more coverage, and commentary from Canadian politicians, of the Egyptian protests than coverage of IDLE NO MORE and First Nations issues.

Judging by the discourse on the #idlenomore hashtag on Twitter, there is currently an appetite for expanding the protests.  Being heard requires getting others to listen and, so far, few are paying attention.  I am curious about the gray areas of civil disobedience and wonder what lines are drawn and where.  There is a lot of frustration on the part of First Nations people.  A lot of frustration in people who try hard to thrive but seem condemned to struggle just to survive in one of the richest countries in the world.  

As a man of Stó:lō/ Saulteaux ancestry, I want to march in the rallies and shout out to protect my rights and the rights of the children I don't yet have.  I live the struggle every day.  At the same time though I am terrified of stepping forward to do so.  My entire career is contingent on a certificate from the provincial government that says I can teach.  Having been unemployed this past year, through medical leave and then layoff, I am scared of not toeing the line of "shut up and teach the curriculum."

Ah yes, the curriculum.

That thing our society has decided is the sum of skills and knowledge we need to impart to the children to prepare them to be citizens of Canada. 

Where do we, as Canadians, formally learn the attitudes that inform the view and treatment of First Nations?  Canada's story is played as a linear narrative of perseverance, survival and conquest (not necessarily militarily) of the wilderness and the development of the ideals of a benevolent society that moved westward, or eastward in BC, pacifying the wild, empty landscape and helping the unfortunate savages that were found here and there within.  I have a school textbook my Grandmother used that refers to the original inhabitants of BC as savages.

Our curriculum creates the image of the Canadian as a visionary, benevolent man.  It creates the image of the Native person as reactionary, always reacting to what the non-Native does, never master of his or her own destiny, and always locked in a frozen past. As if our contemporary existence is always invalid and somehow unreal.  

It is how we can take to the streets and protest, demand action and still be invisible.

It is how we can be blamed for our situations. We reacted poorly, we didn't assimilate as was offered.  In some ways, we are just reacting, to the poor treatment, the paternalism, to protect what is ours.

We, as educators, are not innocent of the situation that leads to this movement.  We are complicit in teaching the curriculum without asking our students to critically question it.  We make it okay for this situation to grow and fester and divide and harm.  Our complicity makes First Nations invisible.  Our claims of innocence in understanding the lived experience of Native people is what allows the trolls to extol racist and colonial drivel online and in print.  It is what allows us to care about the human rights in other countries and dismiss it here for the original inhabitants of this continent. Educators dismiss our Native students as unteachable, ignoring the reality of their lived experience and their epistemologies, because it is not the same as that teachers experienced.

I use the term "we" because I am complicit in this. I live in fear of sticking my neck out too far.  I have challenged where I could, I have resisted where I could and taught resistance, but I have not been willing to take the step beyond the quiet acts.

We, as educators, need to change. IDLE NO MORE matters because it should be a wake up call that what we are teaching our children about their country and themselves is wrong.  It should be a wake up call that our society, in claiming to be fair and benevolent, doesn't practice what it preaches.  IDLE NO MORE matters be cause ALL OF OUR CHILDREN deserve to be treated fairly and have their lived experience dignified.  IDLE NO MORE matters because the status quo doesn't work for everyone (neither does the slightly ridiculous BCEDplan, but that's another story).  And it needs to be us to change, not expect these young people to continue to give up parts of themselves.

From Evernote:

Between a rock and a hard place?

Earlier this year, I was privileged with the opportunity to be interviewed about Aboriginal Education by the MetoWe people, an interview which appeared in an article by the Kielburgers in newspapers across the country.  In the article I shared my story of a young woman, "Mary", who was on the way out, so to speak, unable to fit into the classroom environment and generally at war with any teacher who tried to work with her.  

I mention this because I want to relate something that was told to me when I received a gift a few years ago.  The story of the gift is the story of our students, in many ways.  It came from Eric Wong, an anti-racism officer with the First Nations Education Steering Committee.  He was speaking to me and several other Aboriginal teachers at an event I can't remember the details about.  

I don't remember his words but I hope I capture the sentiment.

We have no control of or even understanding of the lived experiences of our students.  Many of them come to us with their lifetimes of who knows what kinds of histories.  They come to us as rocks, hardened by good and bad, who like Mary, could as easily decide to throw a punch at you or storm out, or, like others I have known crawl under their desks or hide in the bathroom.  Or worse.

Rocks are breakable after all.

We aren't here to break them.

We are here to teach them, help them see their potential and let them know that they are valued.  

Have you ever seen below that hard outer shell of a rock?  Each one is different and  unique and spectacular.