File Type: Teacher Resource Kit including a podcast, a teaching guide, a slideshow, classroom activities, and episode transcripts
Podcast creator: Leah-Simone Bowen and Falen Johnson via Canada Broadcast Corporation
Source: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1a_inMC-AJ8nsoCoY8uQOxFy39kYMRD14?usp=sharing
Summary
This podcast offers a historical timeline and a survey of the context behind what is currently the Canadian Indian Act. Beginning with the 7 Years War (The French-Indian War) and the Royal Proclamation, the hosts, Leah-Simone Bowen and Falen Johnson discuss how sexism was written into the text of the Indian Act, including the legislative restructuring of matrilineal societies. Over time, The Act extends Canada’s control over the structure of First Nations communities. Guest interviewee Kaniehtiio Horn (Mohawk) describes the absurdism of Indian Agents acting as paternal autocrats on reserve land and briefly describes the process of applying for status.
Bowen and Johnson describe The Indian Act’s influence on cultural erasure and segregation in Canada (and South Africa) which leads to an interview with Teresa Vander Meer-Chasse, whose grandmother lost her status because of the gender discrimination embedded in The Indian Act. She tells the story of her experience being raised in her First Nation community and reclaiming her status.
The hosts include discussion of the complexity involved in repealing the Indian Act, including Pierre Eliot Trudeau’s and Jean Chrétien's controversial White Paper, which would have nullified all legal agreements like the Royal Proclamation and the Indian Act, as well as any accords or treaties between Indigenous nations and the Canadian government.
The teaching guide is designed around the essential questions “How did the Indian Act come to be?” and “What is the human cost of this policy for Indigenous people, particularly women?” and has a table that asserts all the topics in the episode align with History, Social Studies, and Indigenous Studies curriculum areas. Most topics include external links to extension activities.
There are five classroom activities in the package focused on stereotypes, clauses of the Indian Act, treaties, common myths about Indian status, and treaty recognition. The first of the classroom activities are themed around identifying harmful stereotypes using mascots as a focal point, which includes examining bias and how identity influences the political stances people take. Another activity includes an examination of the clauses of the Indian Act which asks students to guess whether certain clauses are still in effect today or not.
An activity on treaties asks students to research a wampum treaty, to learn what treaties (if any) are in place for their region, and to relate their understanding of contemporary issues in First Nations rights to their new knowledge surrounding the Indian Act. In lesson four, students read and research myths about Indian status and create a myth-busting infographic poster campaign for the school.
The lesson on treaty recognition enforces the understanding that a treaty is an agreement between all people living in what is currently Canada. The guide offers a list of six possible consolidation activities that range from final project suggestions to inviting an Elder to answer questions the class has about treaty history.
Podcast creator: Leah-Simone Bowen and Falen Johnson via Canada Broadcast Corporation
Source: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1a_inMC-AJ8nsoCoY8uQOxFy39kYMRD14?usp=sharing
Summary
This podcast offers a historical timeline and a survey of the context behind what is currently the Canadian Indian Act. Beginning with the 7 Years War (The French-Indian War) and the Royal Proclamation, the hosts, Leah-Simone Bowen and Falen Johnson discuss how sexism was written into the text of the Indian Act, including the legislative restructuring of matrilineal societies. Over time, The Act extends Canada’s control over the structure of First Nations communities. Guest interviewee Kaniehtiio Horn (Mohawk) describes the absurdism of Indian Agents acting as paternal autocrats on reserve land and briefly describes the process of applying for status.
Bowen and Johnson describe The Indian Act’s influence on cultural erasure and segregation in Canada (and South Africa) which leads to an interview with Teresa Vander Meer-Chasse, whose grandmother lost her status because of the gender discrimination embedded in The Indian Act. She tells the story of her experience being raised in her First Nation community and reclaiming her status.
The hosts include discussion of the complexity involved in repealing the Indian Act, including Pierre Eliot Trudeau’s and Jean Chrétien's controversial White Paper, which would have nullified all legal agreements like the Royal Proclamation and the Indian Act, as well as any accords or treaties between Indigenous nations and the Canadian government.
The teaching guide is designed around the essential questions “How did the Indian Act come to be?” and “What is the human cost of this policy for Indigenous people, particularly women?” and has a table that asserts all the topics in the episode align with History, Social Studies, and Indigenous Studies curriculum areas. Most topics include external links to extension activities.
There are five classroom activities in the package focused on stereotypes, clauses of the Indian Act, treaties, common myths about Indian status, and treaty recognition. The first of the classroom activities are themed around identifying harmful stereotypes using mascots as a focal point, which includes examining bias and how identity influences the political stances people take. Another activity includes an examination of the clauses of the Indian Act which asks students to guess whether certain clauses are still in effect today or not.
An activity on treaties asks students to research a wampum treaty, to learn what treaties (if any) are in place for their region, and to relate their understanding of contemporary issues in First Nations rights to their new knowledge surrounding the Indian Act. In lesson four, students read and research myths about Indian status and create a myth-busting infographic poster campaign for the school.
The lesson on treaty recognition enforces the understanding that a treaty is an agreement between all people living in what is currently Canada. The guide offers a list of six possible consolidation activities that range from final project suggestions to inviting an Elder to answer questions the class has about treaty history.
