A Vision Towards Indigenous Education Sovereignty in Northwestern Ontario

Authors

  • Melissa Oskineegish Lakehead U
  • Leisa Desmoulins Lakehead University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37119/ojs2020.v26i1.451

Abstract

To support the calls for Indigenous education sovereignty by the National Indian Brotherhood (1972) and the Assembly of First Nations, (1988), in this paper we explore Indigenous education as envisioned by six educators and knowledge holders in northwestern Ontario. Educators from six different schools and programs who took part in a national project called the National Centre for Collaboration in Indigenous education shared their descriptions and visions of Indigenous education. Findings reveal Indigenous pedagogies that align with Lee and McCarty’s (2017) theoretical framework of culturally sustaining and revitalizing pedagogies to promote and support Indigenous education sovereignty. Their visions include pedagogies grounded in the need for equitable education; Indigenous-led instruction for land-based teachings, traditional practices and languages; and, community-based accountabilities. Their visions illustrate that a deeper understanding of the localized and nationhood contexts of Indigenous sovereignty over education is missing and needed in the ongoing movement towards educational sovereignty.

Keywords: Indigenous sovereignty; Indigenous education; culturally sustaining and revitalizing pedagogies

Author Biographies

  • Melissa Oskineegish, Lakehead U

    Dr. Melissa Oskineegish is a Research Associate for NCCIE in the northwestern Ontario region and an External Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University. She is a recent graduate of the Joint PhD program in Educational Studies at Lakehead University whose dissertation examined the role of self-reflective practices in a mandatory Indigenous education course in teacher education. Prior to her graduate studies, she began her teaching career in a northern First Nation community where she was mentored by experienced educators who provided her with guidance on developing curriculum and pedagogical practices that were relevant and meaningful to the students she taught – an aim that influences her current work within Indigenous education research.

  • Leisa Desmoulins, Lakehead University

    Dr. Leisa Desmoulins has served as the Research Lead for NCCIE for the northwestern Ontario region since fall 2017. Many years ago, she married an Anishnaabe man and gained Indian status. Together they raised three Anishinaabe children in Thunder Bay. Family connections ground her in community—Biigtigong Nishnaabeg (formerly the Ojibways of the Pic River First Nation) and Thunder Bay, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University. Leisa’s community-led Indigenous research uses researcher-practitioner collaborations to explore intersections between Aboriginal education, sovereignty, and action for justice.

Downloads

Published

2020-12-23

Issue

Vol. 26 No. 1 (2020): Autumn 2020

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).