My name is Flavie Dupont-Fournier; I am of mixed Atikamekw Nehirowisiwok of Manawan and Québecois descent. My identity is central to the vision I brought to this research, as I used traditional knowledge that family and Elders have passed down to me. The knowledge in this report was collated from numerous traditional and academic sources. In addition, I use my training, both scholarly and Indigenous, to bring a new understanding to Social Sciences. I believe the dual nature of my identity positions me in a unique space to relate to this historic endeavour.
The colonial project has been pervasively eroding the fabric of Indigenous existence for centuries on Turtle Island. To this day, Indigenous youth are still disadvantaged compared to their settler counterparts. Although they are expected to live in this imposed settler world and flourish in a competitive capitalistic environment, they are, unbeknownst to them, "supposed" to grasp the unique nature of their identity and the "Native" experience in Canada. In Wemotaci, a community of Northern Saint-Maurice in Nitaskinan, young students no longer fully grasp what makes Indigenous life unique and special. Surrounded by their peers, far from the settler way of life, and far from other Indigenous communities, the Indigenous political experience seems so natural and yet so abstract. Canada's colonial project pillaged traditional cultural exchange through land displacement, resource exploitation, forced evangelism and the residential school system (to name a few). Nowadays, youth are losing touch with the complete picture of their community's rich past, the reason for their way of life, and hope for a better Indigenous Future.
In this context, the Atisokana program was sparked by the dedication and steadfastness of the Council of the Atikamekw Nation (CAN) to build a school curriculum in the image of the Atikamekw Nation. Atisokan means narrative, history, or "récit" in French, and was launched and designed to address this threat to the Atikamekw way of life. At the cornerstone of this program, the Nation wanted to return its people's rich ancestral stories to the community. By redesigning school curriculums, including "Univers Social," a course blending history, economic history and social studies, the Nation wants to foster its people's sense of self-determination, nationhood, and build a tool to relay invaluable community knowledge to the next generations.
To achieve this revolutionary task, the CAN garnered valuable internal and external support through partnership with community Elders, committed council members, teachers, and academics. In the Atikamekw way, this project was built around an iterative nature, inviting community discussion and knowledge sharing. Therefore, after a one-year trial run of the program, there was a fundamental need to reflect on the program's achievements and a will to understand better the community's response to this initiative and the work that remained to be done. For example, were the teaching techniques appropriate and tailored to the audience the program wished to impact? What were the program's unanticipated strong points? What were the students yearning to know? What was lacking or needed improvement to better serve its recipients? It was under these auspices that my research with ARIA started.
During my internship, under the mentorship of prof. Studnicki-Gizbert at ±«ÓãÖ±²¥'s History Department, I was honoured to follow over 11 weeks the 40 students and two Atikamekw Univers Social teachers at Wemotaci's Nikanik Secondary School. I was able to learn greatly from them using blended traditional sharing methods, such as talking circles and more regimented social science interviews. The unique format of my interviews allowed me to reveal the student's and teachers' genuine excitement and passion for engaging with the program tailored format and content. I was honoured to follow over 11 weeks the 40 students and two Atikamekw Univers Social teachers at Wemotaci's Nikanik Secondary School. I learned immensely from them using blended traditional sharing methods, such as talking circles and more regimented social science interviews. The unique format of my interviews allowed me to reveal the student's and teachers' genuine excitement and passion for engaging with the program's tailored design and content.
The report highlights that educators are at the centre of this fundamental change. Although engineered by a multifaceted group of actors from different backgrounds, these classes hinge on the teachers' personality and rapport. They are able to bridge the gap between traditional experiential learning and a more formal classroom environment. The teachers felt a sense of responsibility and honour to be celebrating Atikamekw knowledge. As Atikamekw women (from Wemotaci and Manawan), the teachers' own experiences with their relations place them in an ideal position to touch the hearts and minds of their pupils. They reside at the heart of the community and know exactly how to transmit ancestral knowledge to a new generation in a culturally appropriate way while capturing their brilliance and imagination using a blended medium method. Across my multiple interviews with them, I was reminded that good Indigenous teaching is not acquired in a classroom but through a lifetime of experience. The emotional maturity needed to tackle the difficult histories taught within the classroom was not attainable through a university degree but through a lifetime of Indigenous womanhood.
Respect and mutual understanding for the teachers are evident in the program, as students showed genuine appreciation for them as community leaders. Teachers adapted the format and content to the responsibilities that young Atikamekws face when tending to the land. Students were eager to learn more about the land, build a sense of belonging and nationhood, and understand how the Nation's tumultuous past has shaped their current lived experiences. Students are invited to take part in hands-on activities on the land (in the outdoors), where they learn traditional concepts and activities ranging from tree and berry identification to creation stories and religious notions shaping Indigenous understandings of being. Through recordings, Elders are able to "step into" the classroom, no matter the epidemiologic circumstances and share their precious knowledge acquired through a lifetime of experiences and return to their seminal role in the community as guides. The class is purposely taught in Atikamekw, inviting the students to engage and participate in the language of their ancestors, a privilege not shared by all. In more geographical-oriented lessons, the students are invited to reflect upon sustainable land management enacted by other nations. By using indigenous, environmental, socio-economic and gender lenses, understanding the land makes students more cognizant of greater political ideas such as Indigeneity and Self-determination.
I am of mixed Atikamekw Nehirowisiwok of Manawan and Quebecois descent. I grew up on Wendat and Innu land in Quebec City. My identity is central to the vision I brought to this research, as I used traditional knowledge that family and Elders have passed down to me. The knowledge in this report was collated from numerous traditional and academic sources. In addition, I use scholarly and Indigenous training to bring a new understanding to Social Sciences. I believe the dual nature of my identity positioned me in a unique space to relate to this historic endeavour.
As an Indigenous person who aspires to have a career in academia, I first and foremost wanted to gain research experience at the crux of history, economic history, economics, and social sciences. The ARIA gave me the first glimpse into the life of a researcher and comforted me in my life choice to study my heritage through a multidisciplinary lens.
Moreover, this unique project gave me the unique opportunity to reconnect and reform ancestral bonds with my family's Nation, which were unfortunately broken by Canada's violent colonial legacy. I looked ±«ÓãÖ±²¥ to engaging with Atikamekw youth and the wider to register their experiences, reflections and hopes for the new curriculum.
It was essential to me to produce a comprehensive and practical report to inform and empower relevant actors within the communities and the appropriate bodies of the Conseil de la Nation Atikamekw (CNA) about the potential of such innovative programs. Lastly, I wanted to challenge myself and bypass the stigma that most neurodivergent Indigenous people like me have when it comes to academia and show that it's possible with the proper support and guidance.
First, I wanted to learn how to conduct sound interviews which capture Indigenous people's reality and to do so respectfully and in a culturally safe manner. Coming from a background in Indigenous studies and social sciences, I recognized that these two philosophies confronted each other when approaching fieldwork research. This was an experiment in creating a voice for myself as an interviewer and feeling which practices better aligned with my goals as a researcher.
Second, I wanted to deepen my understanding by conducting literature reviews at the intersection of Indigenous Studies, Social Sciences, and History. Much like the analysis of academic texts in a class setting, I was to distil the critical information within written material and apply it to the situation at hand. This was especially important to transfer mainstream educational practices into a trauma-informed decolonial context.
Third, I wanted to build a concise, precise, and practical report that could contribute to real change within the Atikamekw Nation. Therefore, this report was specifically designed to be presented to the CNA with tailored interview methodologies, a comprehensive literature review and unique insights that could help inform local policymakers in future decision-making processes regarding school curriculum and creating opportunities for Indigenous youth.
During my ARIA, I had the privilege to stay in the community of Wemotaci and embrace the rhythm and tradition that reign on the reserve. I was fortunate to enrich my research with the chance to explore the natural landscape surrounding the community, share traditional foods from the ancestral land (especially moose meat), and exchange with community members about daily life and experiences lived on the reserve.
I felt my forbears watching over me as I reconnected with Nitaskinan, its people, and its tradition. I could feel the energy left by my ancestors when exchanging with people whose forbears exchanged relations with mine. Above being a purely academic experience, I was touched spiritually and emotionally, and I know that my bond has been resewn for good. Dipping my feet in the Tapiskwan Sipi, a river that has nursed the Atikamekws for millennia, was unforgettable. I hope this will be only the beginning of my relations with the community.
As I predicted, the language barrier was obviously challenging, considering that the Atikamekw language is the mother tongue of 95% of enrolled Atikamekw members. However, prior to arriving in the community, I made sure to learn basic Atikamekw to show respect to the community and prove my profound dedication to the program's cause. With the help of my family, I was able to research the pronunciation and meaning of Atikamekw words that I might use daily. Once on the land, I made a point to maintain open communication with the teachers I was working with to avoid putting an unnecessary translating burden on students due to my limited (yet growing) vocabulary. I made sure to keep my Atikamekw-French dictionary at hand and dutifully noted every word that escaped me to ask my mentors later on.
The ARIA I undertook this summer was a turning point in my young career and confirmed that meaning is at the centre of how I wish to practise my research. I deepened my passion for fieldwork, especially within Indigenous communities. I was finally able to comprehend that my work was incomplete until I acknowledged that my Indigenous relations were central to my cosmology.
This opportunity solidified my intention to make my research grounded in the real world. I was to be academically sound, while providing meaningful, tangible, and measurable impact at the forefront of my practice. I want to keep using innovative and socially tuned methods while breaking/challenging outdated academic moulds. I hope to collaborate with more grassroots organizations to help them empower marginalized communities and improve their welfare and lived experience.
I would like to personally thank Mr. Mark Gallop for his generous stewardship and for enabling me to contribute to my Nation's prosperity and take this life-changing journey up North, where the roots of my cosmos lay amongst the blueberry bushes.
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