{"@context":"http://iiif.io/api/presentation/3/context.json","id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/iiif/h41jh3ft30/manifest","type":"Manifest","label":{"en":["Just Powers iDoc: Dwayne Donald on Holistic Learning, Indigenous Knowledge, and Reconciliation"]},"logo":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/128/original/UA_Logo_WHT_RGB_%281%29.png?1725471982","metadata":[{"label":{"en":["Description"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eDwayne Donald discusses his work as an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta, focusing on holistic approaches to learning, Indigenous knowledge systems, and the challenges of reconciliation. Topics include the cultural assumptions embedded in curriculum development, the concept of unlearning colonialism, and the need to repair and renew relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. He reflects on the decolonizing research sensibility, called Indigenous Métissage, which seeks to honor the complexity of cultural interactions and move beyond colonial logic. He elaborates on the importance of place-based education, drawing connections between ecological relationships and human identity. He shares insights from initiatives like the River Valley walks and a year-long course integrating seasonal and moon-based teachings, emphasizing the role of experiential learning in fostering relational ethics. He highlights Treaty 6 as an act of love and kinship, envisioning a future guided by balance, interconnectedness, and shared responsibility. Through his work, he aims to inspire a deeper understanding of the relationships that sustain life and the potential for transformative education to address the legacy of colonialism and environmental challenges.\u003c/p\u003e (Summary)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Rights Statement"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/\"\u003eCC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"]}},{"label":{"en":["Date"]},"value":{"en":["2025-06-30 (issued)","2018-12-03 (created)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Note"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eFunders: Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) - Future Energy Systems (FES), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Kule Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS), University of Alberta Sustainability Council\u003c/p\u003e (General)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Type"]},"value":{"en":["Documentary","Interview"]}},{"label":{"en":["Agent"]},"value":{"en":["Wilson, Sheena (Just Powers) (Principal investigator)","Wilson, Sheena (Producer)","Chow-Fraser, Trevor (Producer)","Wilson, Sheena (Director)","Donald, Dwayne (Interviewee)","Wilson, Sheena (Interviewer)","Mazur, Holly (Videographer)","Belland, Myles (Recordist)","Beça, Andrea (Video editor)","Taylor, Sarah (Video editor)","Jorgensen-Skakum, Danika (Post-production coordinator)","Kwon, Vicki (Research team member)","Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) - Future Energy Systems (FES) (Funder)","Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) (Funder)","Kule Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS) (Funder)","University of Alberta Sustainability Council (Funder)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Format"]},"value":{"en":["video/ .mp4 (AV Type)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Subject"]},"value":{"en":["Elders (topical)","Indigenous communities (topical)","cultural studies (topical)","curriculum studies (topical)","colonialism (topical)","decolonization (topical)","embodiment (topical)","sustainability (topical)","holism (topical)","learning (topical)","education (topical)","métissage (topical)","Enlightenment (topical)","Great Forgetting (topical)","ancestral wisdom (topical)","interconnection (topical)","kinship (topical)","future generations (topical)","treaty (topical)","Treaty 6 (topical)","Indigenous knowledge (topical)","Indigenous teaching (topical)","directional teaching (topical)","moon teachings (topical)","River Valley Walk (topical)","sacred ecologies (topical)","identity (topical)","interconnection (topical)","environmental sustainability (topical)","wahkohtowin (topical)","diversity (topical)","rivers (topical)","river valley (topical)","walking (topical)","Indigenous (topical)"]}},{"label":{"en":["Language"]},"value":{"en":["English","Cree","Siksika"]}},{"label":{"en":["Publisher"]},"value":{"en":["Just Powers"]}}],"summary":{"en":["\u003cp\u003eDwayne Donald discusses his work as an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta, focusing on holistic approaches to learning, Indigenous knowledge systems, and the challenges of reconciliation. Topics include the cultural assumptions embedded in curriculum development, the concept of unlearning colonialism, and the need to repair and renew relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. He reflects on the decolonizing research sensibility, called Indigenous Métissage, which seeks to honor the complexity of cultural interactions and move beyond colonial logic. He elaborates on the importance of place-based education, drawing connections between ecological relationships and human identity. He shares insights from initiatives like the River Valley walks and a year-long course integrating seasonal and moon-based teachings, emphasizing the role of experiential learning in fostering relational ethics. He highlights Treaty 6 as an act of love and kinship, envisioning a future guided by balance, interconnectedness, and shared responsibility. Through his work, he aims to inspire a deeper understanding of the relationships that sustain life and the potential for transformative education to address the legacy of colonialism and environmental challenges.\u003c/p\u003e"]},"requiredStatement":{"label":{"en":["Attribution"]},"value":{"en":["\u003cp\u003e\u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/\"\u003eCC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/p\u003e"]}},"provider":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/aboutus","type":"Agent","label":{"en":["University of Alberta Library"]},"homepage":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/","type":"Text","label":{"en":["University of Alberta Library"]},"format":"text/html"}],"logo":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/organizations/logo_images/000/000/128/original/UA_Logo_WHT_RGB_%281%29.png?1725471982","type":"Image"}]}],"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/259/956/small/DwayneDonald_12_03_2018_WebRes.mp4_1736362681.jpg?1736362685","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956","type":"Canvas","label":{"en":["Media File 1 of 1 - Dwayne_Donald_12_03_2018_Web_Res.mp4"]},"duration":2106.004,"width":640,"height":360,"thumbnail":[{"id":"https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/collection_resource_files/thumbnails/000/259/956/small/DwayneDonald_12_03_2018_WebRes.mp4_1736362681.jpg?1736362685","type":"Image","format":"image/jpeg"}],"items":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/content/1","type":"AnnotationPage","items":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/content/1/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"painting","body":{"id":"https://aviary-p-ualberta.s3.wasabisys.com/collection_resource_files/resource_files/000/259/956/original/Dwayne_Donald_12_03_2018_Web_Res.mp4?1736362679","type":"Video","format":"video/mp4","duration":2106.004,"width":640,"height":360},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956","metadata":[]}]}],"annotations":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590","type":"AnnotationPage","label":{"en":["English Transcript- Dwayne Donald (03/12/2018) [Transcript]"]},"items":[{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/1","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"Dwayne Donald (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=0.0,0.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/2","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): My name is Dwayne Donald. I'm the Associate Professor at the faculty of education at the University of Alberta.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=0.0,5.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/3","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): I have a couple of names. I have my Cree name is [foreign","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=5.0,9.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/4","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"], so we say [foreign","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=9.0,11.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/5","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"]. That's big bear, or grizzly bear. I also have a Blackfoot name, Aipioomahkaa. That's \"long distance runner\".\n\nYeah, so that's one of my challenges I guess in my work and my life is to think about how those names can guide me, right? Because they do kind of flow together.\n\nSheena (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=11.0,37.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/6","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): You want to talk a little bit about that? How you got those names or how they inform what you do or the work you do?\n\nDwayne Donald (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=37.0,43.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/7","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): Sure. Yeah, so I was a high school social studies teacher at Kainai High School for ten years, and joining the Kainai community in that way was, I had some culture shock for sure. But that experience in the end changed my life because I was brought into a whole bunch of things that I didn't understand very well because I grew up in the city. One of the real profound shifts for me was the chance to just spend time with elders and be guided by then. [Bernick Tallman","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=43.0,81.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/8","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] was the one who gave me that name, Aipioomahkaa, about 25 years ago, and it was in a community setting and done in that ceremonial way.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=81.0,92.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/9","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): At that time in my life, I was running a lot, so that's an observation that they made, which is why I got that name, I think part of the reason. When I got a chance to ask him about it later, he went like this with his hands. He said to me, you got a group of people who live over here and you got another group of people who live here, and they don't interact very much. They don't talk to each other. They don't know each other. So he said, \"What you're gonna do is you're gonna spend time with these people and you're gonna run over here and you're gonna spend time here and try to bring them closer together.\"\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=92.0,133.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/10","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): So yeah, that was 25 years ago, so a pretty good job description. [foreign","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=133.0,141.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/11","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"] was elder Bob Cardinal who gave me that name, and that was about 15 years ago, gave me that name. In Cree culture, bear, grizzly bear is a healer. So those two names are connected in that way, because I do think that a lot of the work that I do is kind of guided by this understanding of healing in a holistic way. I would say a lot of the work that I do is kind of, I try to be guided by those names. I try to base what I do on the ethic that's implied in those names and how they're a gift to me in that way.\n\nSheena (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=141.0,195.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/12","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): So can you speak a little bit to the communities that you're bringing together?\n\nDwayne Donald (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=195.0,200.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/13","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): I would say the indigenous communities that I have spent time with mostly are the Kainai, the Blackfoot communities, and just mostly Cree people in the Edmonton area, but very much [inaudible","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=200.0,214.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/14","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"], Enoch Cree Nation, and because of my relationship with Bob Cardinal and just the different ways that I try to help him that I'm brought into a lot of those community settings. I would say a big part of my role is here at the University and mostly Canadians, so people who haven't had the chance to learn about indigenous people in maybe the ways they wanted to. So my chance to kind of expose them to things or give them a chance to learn in different ways and let them listen to people or have experiences that I think\n\nwill kind of break down some of the divides that we've inherited, especially teachers, people who want to be teachers or teachers who are already practicing. Just to support them as they try to learn. So those would be the two communities in general.\n\nSheena (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=214.0,279.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/15","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): So can you tell us a little bit more about your research or some of the research projects you've been involved in?\n\nDwayne Donald (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=279.0,285.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/16","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): My research, I think, is mostly guided by cultural studies, I would say. So I study curriculum. When I was a teacher, I was most interested in curriculum development. I continue to be very interested in that, but I see a lot of the interactions in education and other places between indigenous people and Canadians as a kind of a cultural problem, a very complex cultural problem. I think a lot of my research is this curiosity about cultural assumptions and especially in terms of curriculum, how we understand what it means to be a human being, and the ways in which knowledge systems promote certain kinds of human beings.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=285.0,345.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/17","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): The cultural assumptions that circulate the ways in which knowledge systems interact. I guess the research project that I'm most interested in right now is what I'm tentatively calling unlearning colonialism. So I understand colonialism as an extended process of denying relationships. I think that if the task of repairing relationships between indigenous people and Canadians and renewing them on different terms, if that's in a sense what we're being asked to do these days. I would say that the possibility for repair and renewal is blocked by colonial logic, so that kind of logic needs to be unlearned.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=345.0,408.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/18","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): In terms of research, what I'm most interested in is the cultural problem I would say of intellectualizing that problem. So in other words, if I want to decolonize someone, we've kind of accepted the idea that I can just tell you why colonial logic does damage and therefore change your mind and then you won't be that way anymore, right? So I'm interested in research projects that explore holistic approaches to how we understand these things. So when you take on holism in that way with the depth and with that kind of guidance from elders, I guess the healing aspects of it come through. We start to see a different kind of human being that can emerge from those kinds of engagements.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=408.0,467.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/19","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): So I'm talking about an embodied approach to teaching and learning. I'm talking about understanding emotion. I'm talking about understanding spirit in relation to intellectual approaches, to those things. So that's the research that is preoccupying me these days.\n\nSheena (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=467.0,486.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/20","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): So when we talk about holistic ways of approaching learning, I've met you before at a few different events, right? I think we were once invited to a curriculum conversation...Rachel Notley came and talked to some students. I forget the name of the school, and they were talking about integrating sustainability issues into the curriculum. I'm part of a lot of energy transition plans, but I feel that a lot of these things don't acknowledge, for example, that we live on Papaschase territory in Edmonton, right? That we're on Treaty 6.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=486.0,518.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/21","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): These solutions to the problem aren't really thinking through these issues, so how does a concept like — I think you used the term Métissage — and you have other terms for it. How does this kind of holistic learning allow us to take into account a lot of the grand — what SSHRC would call grand challenges of the 21st century if we just apply indigenous knowledge systems to them?\n\nDwayne Donald (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=518.0,543.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/22","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): I'll go back to what I was saying earlier about the kind of human being we have in mind. I think that's what was most interesting for me when I started to learn about curriculum and curriculum studies is to try to think about that human being. I think if we look at the legacy of what's been inherited from the Enlightenment Age and the ways in which we've been trained to be as human beings, I think that's ... In curriculum, we spend a lot of time just putting new topics in that we think might be more important these days or whatever, but we don't ever really dig down to I would say at the center of this issue that we face. It really is about how we've been trained to live and things we've been trained to accept as necessary.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=543.0,608.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/23","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): So some people have called that the Great Forgetting, which is this idea that anything important, anything efficacious, anything worthwhile to attend to emerged in one part of the world in the last 300 or 400 years. So before that, nothing of importance happened. So I'm interested in relation to what you were saying, I'm interested in trying to wake up inside of people something that has kind of been put to sleep inside of people. That is that holistic sensibility, and this is a teaching from Bob Cardinal that I think is really important is that indigenous people don't have copyright on holistic understandings of life and living.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=608.0,666.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/24","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): His view is that this is a very human understanding, and so the fact that we live here, the fact that there's ancestral wisdom that's guided people to live quite successfully for a really long time here is really important to think about. Because I've been trained, I'll say, trained to understand that place matters a lot. Context matters a lot. The particularities of the ecosystems that we live in matter a lot. So to connect people to holism that exists in the area where they live is to wake up something that they recognize in themselves as necessary for them to be well. It's only through that transition that the earth can also be well. That's the way I've been taught is that what goes on inside of us is replicated outside. There's this constant dynamic in that way.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=666.0,731.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/25","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): So for me, that's the root of the challenge that we face, is can we actually begin a different kind of trajectory on how we live as people, how we understand ourselves in relation to what gives us life? So if we were to talk about sustainability, that's I guess how I would conceptualize it myself.\n\nSheena (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=731.0,755.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/26","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): So what does the future look like if we're able to remake our relationships with one another, if you're able to design for it, if you're able to influence? What is your ideal?\n\nDwayne Donald (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=755.0,764.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/27","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): Well, I take a lot of beauty and inspiration from that act of love that we call Treaty 6. I do consider it an act of love because I do think that those old people at that time, they tried really hard to imagine what our challenges were gonna be and what we were gonna need, right? So if I think about ... I guess the way I'll put it is the kind of life I would want for my grandchildren or my great grandchildren, it is guided by that balance, that harmony and balance that is implied in that handshake. That somehow, we're gonna, that kinship is gonna be very strong and we're gonna recognize each other as relatives, and that that kinship is gonna extend past people to include everything around us, right?\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=764.0,831.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/28","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): All societies need to exploit resources. Maybe exploit's not the right word. We need to use them, right? Changing our relationship with those resources and understanding the relationship between those resources and the kind of human being that I was talking about earlier, to me it just means that there's a\n\ndeeper and more tangible understanding of a connection to what gives us life, right? And how we can, in our day to day lives, in our practical lives, understand that and connect with that.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=831.0,886.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/29","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): I see, I guess, a balance between all the benefits of technoscience, knowledge, and all those things and insights from indigenous people and other things. This idea of getting to the particularities of knowledge systems, cultural assumptions, so that they can interrogate each other in equitable ways. That's my ideal. We could get to that.\n\nSheena (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=886.0,918.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/30","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): That's a fantastic ideal. I think a lot about how we would actually live, what life would look like every day if we lived in greater relationship with one another and with our environments. So for you, what does that look like, in the community or maybe how do we teach our students in a future like that where everyone is more attuned to living that way?\n\nDwayne Donald (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=918.0,939.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/31","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): It's a question that I get asked a lot. Teachers, of course, kind of say what is this that we're working towards? What are we working on? I do think that I have a lot of faith in public education, but I do think that we have a particular challenge in front of us in terms of how young people are brought to understand themselves in relation to the place where they live. Right now, we don't really do a very good job with that. Even the idea to say to public school folks, maybe the kids could be outside more often. Even that is considered kind of a dangerous thing to do, right?\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=939.0,1000.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/32","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): I do think that if we can let go of the factory system model, if we can let go of the need to continually kind of worship certain knowledge insights and approaches to knowledge, and if we can reorient ourselves to all of that and work together differently, that a different kind of relational ethic can flow out of that, I would say, in public school settings. We can begin to socialize young people in different ways and just ... yeah, I guess just let go of this fascination or fixation with technology. Yeah, because I do think that it is kind of a virus that's growing that continues to cause a lot of problems.\n\nSheena (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1000.0,1054.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/33","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): Do you want to talk a little bit about the projects that you've engaged in, so the walk and taking people? I mean, you went on something like several hundred walks or something last year that I found unbelievable. I don't know if you would know the number. Do you want to talk about that or the course you've just finished teaching that tried to disrupt the regular school calendar?\n\nDwayne Donald (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1054.0,1072.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/34","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): The course that I taught with Elder Bob Cardinal and Christine Stewart as well as the River Valley walk, those are I would say very personal inquiries on my own part because I continue to search for balance in my own life. I continue to try to heal myself. Just to be in a position where I can invite other people to participate in that with me and try to learn with me is really meaningful for me.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1072.0,1109.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/35","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): So the course was the Elder, it was at his request. It was something that he asked for, and so Christine and I did our best to try to get everything in place for it. It was a course that was predicated on wisdom teachings in this area that have to do with the number four and the four parts of a person, the four seasons, the four directions, and I could continue to go on. So the course was organized in a way that would give the Elder the opportunity to connect people with these wisdom teachings and to understand it in terms of healing.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1109.0,1171.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/36","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): The length of the course went for a whole trip around the sun, so we began our meetings in the Summer and finished, completed it in the Summer. We met during each moon. So a lot of indigenous people who live, the ones I've learned about anyway, they have their own calendar, and it's based on ecological understandings of what's supposed to be happening at certain times of year. So in our different classes, the Elder would connect with directional teachings, the seasonal teachings, and also the moon teachings.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1171.0,1212.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/37","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): So we kind of went for that whole trip around the sun together for a whole 13 moon cycle. There were all kinds of insights that came from it, but I think one of the most maybe poignant parts of it was the very strong ethic of non-interference that guided us. To allow people to express for themselves what it is they were learning, to allow them to decide what they were gonna pay attention to. For example, one of the assignments was to study a place, so they chose the place themselves. They each had their own personal choice, and they would visit that place as often as they could for the whole length of the course. Their task was to pay attention to what was going on at that place. Who was there with them? What were the changes they saw and the transitions they saw in connection to the moon and watching the moon as well.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1212.0,1283.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/38","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): So continued to kind of resonate with that course and think about, again, back to my earlier point about what kind of human being is being promoted through that process, and how can people continue to be supported in, I guess, taking up those teachings in their daily lives rather than this big event, right? How can they take it away and how can it actually change the routine of the decisions they make, what they do?\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1283.0,1318.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/39","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): The River Valley walk is very much connected to that same thing, because I was a descendant of the Papaschase and as somebody who wasn't raised with an awareness of the stories of this place and the traditions of this land, the stories that I tell during that walk are very much stories that I've learned to tell myself about who I am and what matters to me and what I understand to be the ancestral wisdom that's here in this place. So the reason that I'm so committed to that River Valley walk and the reason that I'm so passionate about it is that I believe that the work of repairing and renewing the relationship between indigenous people and Canadians and other people who have come to live here, the key to that is helping people connect to the place where they live in a holistic way. It's through those connections that a different kind of human to human relationship can also occur.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1318.0,1395.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/40","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): So if we start with this kind of sacred ecology connection, if we start with helping people see their own identities as connected to the place where they live, then to me, that instigates a qualitatively different human to human relationship, or at least the possibility of it. I think that is a mistake that we make in our conflicts and misunderstandings is that we take it up as a purely human to human problem, and what I've learned from the Elder is that we need to include those other elements that surround us, the other relatives in our deliberations. We can't leave them out. Just in my experiences, when you can bring that in in that kind and gentle and compassionate way, then people participate differently. They're much more open.\n\nThey don't see difference as a problem or a threat. They understand it in an ecological way.\n\nSheena (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1395.0,1461.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/41","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): Can you give me an example of when you've done that?\n\nDwayne Donald (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1461.0,1463.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/42","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): I have some hard lessons that I can talk about with colonialism, and certainly the history of the Papaschase and the story of displacement. All the identity politics surrounding truth and reconciliation\n\nnow, and the ways in which people understand it as shaming or pointing fingers. I actually don't think that that's very helpful, those approaches, and so I think that being in the River Valley and being beside the river, I think it reframes the problem as a shared human struggle.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1463.0,1511.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/43","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): Yeah, there's some hard truths that we need to talk about, but this is a shared inheritance that we have, this legacy of colonial logic. That ability to connect as human beings, to understand each other as human beings, to recognize each other as fellow human beings, in my experience, is accentuated when you're attentive to sacred ecology. It's when things change.\n\nSheena (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1511.0,1548.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/44","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): Several people that I interviewed say that we need to return the land to indigenous peoples, but I also hear you saying something along the lines of if we think about it that way, then not everybody belongs to this place, so it would be more complicated to work together. I see a lot of downloading of environmental responsibility onto indigenous communities as well, so there's these conflicts, identity politics playing out in this other kind of way now after truth and reconciliation. So I do think that's interesting, a different kind of recognition that we're all in it together.\n\nDwayne Donald (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1548.0,1585.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/45","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): Right. Well if I could speak about Métissage, I think that the central question that Métissage as a research priority, a central question that Métissage tries to address is how can I tell the story of my life without choosing sides? So it's a very purposeful attempt to not to replicate colonial logic in how we're proceeding, and to understand the ways in which colonial logic infiltrates and circumscribes a lot of the ways that we take up these issues. Métissage for me is a way to honor the complexity of the problems we face and to understand our responses, not necessarily solutions, our responses as equally complex.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1585.0,1652.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/46","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): Just the way I've learned about treaty is that we agreed to live in peace and friendship, right? We agreed to share, and so for me to sort of I guess forget about that is kind of violating that treaty, right? We need to go back to that kind of act of love and the wisdom that's there. That's the way I see it.\n\nSheena (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1652.0,1682.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/47","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): What does that mean to share in an urban space that has been parcelled out. The same is really true. We have all of the leases for the oil companies and everything all across the province, but I think it's a very sort of personal, domestic homes and spaces. People understand these properties as owned. What does it mean to share these spaces and live together differently or to change those relationships now that we're in this urban space that's been parcelled out and sold to people without the right to sell it in the first place?\n\nDwayne Donald (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1682.0,1715.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/48","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): I guess when you ask me that question, I think back to my late dad who, we had a chance to talk about Papaschase and that history. My dad was a very practical person, and he didn't entertain at all the idea of getting some kind of compensation or worrying about getting land or anything like that. His focus and his guidance to me was just to make sure that people know the story of what happened. I guess to understand, help people understand what commitments were violated with that, the expropriation.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1715.0,1764.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/49","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): That was his main focus and so I've taken that on. I don't worry too much about some kind of compensation or whatever. My concern, I think, is to think about my Papaschase ancestors and what they knew about what it means to live here. My passion, I would say, is trying to connect as many people as I can to that wisdom.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1764.0,1794.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/50","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): I think that there's lots of sources of inspiration now, right? I'm just thinking of a beautiful young woman. She just defended her Master's thesis. She's from Enoch. Her name's Mackenzie Ground, and she just started her doctoral studies at Simon Fraser. She wrote a beautiful Master's thesis that was creative writing, poetry. It was focused on being indigenous in the city, in this city, and she drew our attention to all kinds of beautiful things that can ground people in that wahkohtowin sensibility. That kind of kinship and enmeshment kind of understanding.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1794.0,1849.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/51","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): To me, the Papaschase story, what's most tragic about it is that violation of that kinship principle, and so for us to try to revive that here in this place. Many people will say, you live in that big city. How can you talk about ecology in the big city? All you can talk about is recycling and composting, those kinds of things. Mackenzie's work was really beautiful that paying attention to the sacred ecology that surrounds us. One of the real powerful points in her work is I guess an extended meditation on rocks as grandparents and how cities are made of concrete. So we're surrounded by our grandparents. We walk on our grandparents. She frames it in such an inspiring way.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1849.0,1909.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/52","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): So for me to try to address your question of this complexity, what I pay attention to is how when we face problems like climate change or sustainability, my view is that in general, you tend to reflect or replicate the philosophies and world views that got us to this point. You continue to kind of drawn and consistently and kind of rework them, represent them as though those philosophies are the ... there will be none to replace them. There will be nothing superior to those that have got us to this point, right?\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1909.0,1956.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/53","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): So I tend to look at other sources of inspiration, and that's a question I actually ask students a lot and other people. If those philosophies aren't working for us, then where can we look? What could be our sources of inspiration, then? And again, for me, it's about balance. How can we bring this together? That's the way I see it.\n\nSheena (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1956.0,1979.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/54","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): I really enjoyed talking to you today, and I really enjoyed the walk.\n\nDwayne Donald (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1979.0,1984.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/55","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): Okay\n\nSheena (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1984.0,1984.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/56","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): I think it's really fantastic that you've taken so many people. Do you want to just make one comment about how many of the walks you've done? How many hundreds of people you've probably toured?\n\nDwayne Donald (","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1984.0,1992.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/57","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): Yeah, the walk, the River Valley walk has become very popular, and as I often say, I don't think it has a lot to do with me, actually. I think people are more interested, curious about the place where they live and learning more. I haven't invented anything related to the walk. Everything I share on the walk really were things that were shared with me by other people, so I've just kind of compiled them. Last year I think I did 74 River Valley walks. Most of them come just through email requests by word of mouth, and a lot of school groups, junior high, high school, mostly. I do get younger kids. A good number of university classes as well, and then a lot of community groups. Sometimes I have church groups that want to do it on a Sunday after their service, those kinds of things.\n\n(","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=1992.0,2049.0"},{"id":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956/transcript/74590/annotation/58","type":"Annotation","motivation":"transcribing","body":{"type":"TextualBody","value":"): I think that's one of the best things about it is kind of the diversity of people that I get to interact with. It's so satisfying because I think in general, I can say that most of the people that come on the walk have never heard any of the things that I share with them. In a lot of cases, these are people who have lived decades in this city, and they've never heard. So just to give people a chance to consider the layers beneath the façade of the city now is really, it's why I'm so committed to it, because I think that's where good changes can start.","format":"text/plain"},"target":"https://ualberta.aviaryplatform.com/collections/1775/collection_resources/140572/file/259956#t=2049.0,2106.004"}]}]}]}