“Educators respect and value the history of First Nations, Inuit and Métis in Canada and the impact of the past on the present and the future. Educators contribute towards truth, reconciliation and healing. Educators foster a deeper understanding of ways of knowing and being, histories, and cultures of First Nations, Inuit and Métis.”
During my high school years, I lived away from home for a while. At this time, I was trying to find myself and my identity in this new country during the most essential formative years of my life. This is when I met an Indigenous family that for the first time had shown me what it means to find yourself, your identity, your resilience, be yourself, resist, persevere, fend for yourself, etc. All while living in a community together and connecting to nature and the place you inhabit.
Standard 9 is the reconnection to the ways of the First People who inhabited the land we call Canada. They understood how to take care of the most beautiful place on Earth, appreciated what we have, and lived in synchronicity with the animals and the ecosystem of beautiful British Columbia.
This is what Standard 9 means to me. it is the reconnection to the place that was taken from them and not letting go of who you are. It means finding your reconnection to the things that are lost along the journey but can be rebuilt as you rebuild your spirit and find your place in life. It means healing and understanding that we cannot be of value to ourselves and grow if we do not forgive. It means building community, your community, and standing on each other’s shoulders and uplifting your family whenever they need it.
This is my mom and I in one of the lakes in the area known as Marble Canyon outside of Lillooet, B.C. close to the reservation of Pavilion. She still lives in Lillooet and her and I have connected in a deeper way that only the healing of this land could have given us.