The Richmond Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement (AEEA) is an example of how the principles of UNDRIP and DRIPA are being recognized and implemented in the district where I work. This agreement was created to set goals for the district as a whole. It acts as a guide to show the steps they are taking to become more culturally educated and support Indigenous students. It highlights the importance of Indigenous voice, cultural pride, reconciliation and academic success, which are all key points in both UNDRIP and DrippaThe goals set in the agreement are all interconnected to each other and support good work, there is room for reflection within this agreement. The main goal is for better schools, reconciliation and for a better Canada with students at the center. 

    This is the second enhancement agreement created by the district as student voice and community collaboration were absent from the first agreement. Local Indigenou nations were actively involved in creating this agreement and delivering workshops. These activities are not treated as add-ons or pull-outs, but now embed into everyday classroom, helping Indigenous students feel less othered and more connected

The AEEA outlines four main goals:

Goal 1 - Belonging

• Students with Indigenous ancestry will work toward strong sense of belonging through pride in their cultural heritage

• Stories will be honered and celebrated through individual strengths

• Students learn to make drum and cedar weaving in a series of workshops

Goal 2 - Reconciliation Through Understanding

• Community of learners and educators will engage with meaningful processes finding reconciliation through education

• Develop an understanding and respect for Indigenous history, culture, and worldview

• Educators participate in Elder led walks with Musqueam Knowledge keeper.

Goal 3 - First People Principles of Learning

• Educators have become familiar with the FPPL and integrated them into their teaching practice

• Educators district-wide are making intentional connections to the FPPL

• Priority to have Elder visits to classrooms and schools

Goal 4 - Holistic Wellness and Achievement

• Indigenous success teacher connect with students individually to focus on students as a whole

• Community discussion emphasized in transitional periods 

• Parent gatherings and workshops to help build community

School District No. 38 (Richmond). Aboriginal Education Enhancement Agreement: February 2017 – June 2022. 2017, https://sd38.bc.ca/sites/default/files/2020-06/SD38-AEEA-2017-2022.pdf.

 

My name is Rae Postulo. I currently live, work, and learn in Vancouver, BC, on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, and Squamish Nations, who have lived here for time immemorial. I have French, English, Mi’kmaq, Blackfoot, and Crow ancestors.

I grew up on Vancouver Island, in the K’omoks nation, outside of my own nations. I moved to Vancouver in 2011.  I am currently in my second year of teaching. I graduated from UBC with a Bachelor of Education focusing on diversity, equity, inclusion, and decolonization in 2023. I work in Richmond, school district 38, I teach Art and occasionally Science. I attended Emily Carr for a Bachelor of Fine Arts, which is where I really found my comfortability with being outspoken about my Indigenous heritage. I am very light skinned and had always felt like it wasn’t my place and having grown up outside of my community never felt particularly involved in any Indigenous community. I do try and incorporate Indigenous ways of knowing as much as I can but I would like to include it more.

I think for myself I want a deeper understanding of Indigenous ways of knowing in the classroom context, and how I can incorporate this more smoothly into everyday lessons. Also to find my way back to myself again, I feel like in these first two years I’ve been treading water a bit trying to catch my breath with starting a new career and want to become more involved in my own community again. I feel like I have lost a bit of the passion for incorporating Indigenous knowledge into my classroom and would love to get back to it.

Kinship in Indigenous terms, means sharing cultural practice with younger generations. Kinship is about sharing one's self with future generations so they will be able to learn the culture which will help heal past generations for future generations. 

In Indigenous culture there is the seven generations principle, which states that all actions and decisions will impact the next seven generations. When thinking of this principle and how it relates to kinship, I think it is important because the things I do as an educator today will not only impact my students now but for the next seven generations. For this reason it is important to share with students who I am so that they can feel comfortable sharing who they are. I tell students on the first day in my classroom that it is a community and the space is as much mine as it is theirs.

A good leader disrupts the system when needed but is also open to new ideas and dialog. They advocate for their nation and offer community, collaboration, safety, responsibility, the ability to listen, strength, and courage. They must find balance to have a holistic well-being for their physical, mental, and spiritual self so that they can lead by example. 

In the classroom, not being the leader all the time is part of being a good leader. It is knowing when to observe the needs of students and let their needs shape how the day or lesson will go. I think leading through land-based learning, checking in with students, having the flexibility that if it's not the day for a lesson to be able to do something else. I think this will encourage balance in the classroom, it creates a safe space for students to feel like they can actually be themselves and be honest this will inspire more self-connection and authenticity.