In Canada, Indigenous people have a complex and continued story of colonization. As a white person, I can’t personally bring first voice (or ‘lived experience’) of Indigenous people. But I can help children and educators connect to their shared history of oppression in our country, and make sure they hear the stories that previous generations were not told. For educators it is always a good idea to bring someone in who can speak to ‘lived experience.’ By hearing a different perspective, especially one of a marginalized group, educators and children/students are challenged to consider the hegemonic system that is perpetuated through the public education system, and the complexity of power structures within Canadian society. Hearing stories, whether in person or through media, can help them make connections from history to...

Parts of this segment are from the full version of an article I wrote called: Theorizing a policy ecosystem for licensed childcare forest school within the anthropocene (unpublished).

There are a growing number of educators in Ontario who are trying to create their own methods of conducting classroom research, by paying attention to different things than they once did. Ontario’s Provincial Centre of Excellence for Early Years and Child Care and Ontario’s Indigenous Centre of Excellence for Early Years and Child Care are currently hosting conversations with educators in the Early Years to grapple with some of the ideas I introduce in my blog posts, and I would encourage readers to connect with them to gain opportunities to hear insights from brilliant educators and Knowledge Keepers from across...

In the Early Years sector in Ontario, educators have a wonderful framework that guides their work, called How Does Learning Happen (HDLH). Many years of research have gone into this, and the result is a deeply reflective framework that sets up opportunities for engaging with children, families, communities and the environment. HDLH is built around four foundations that “inform the goals for children and expectations for programs” (HDLH, p. 8) so it’s worthwhile considering how we can build ideas of reconciliation and treaty relationships into this existing framework.

The four foundations are as follows (coming directly from HDLH, 2014, p. 7):

• Belonging refers to a sense of connectedness to others, an individual’s experiences of being valued, of forming relationships with others and making contributions as part of a group, a...

In the Early Years sector in Ontario, educators have a wonderful framework that guides their work, called How Does Learning Happen (HDLH). Many years of research have gone into this, and the result is a deeply reflective framework that sets up opportunities for engaging with children, families, communities and the environment.

A notable “aim is to strive to establish and maintain reciprocal relationships among educators and families,” (HDLH, 2014, p. 25) throughout HDLH, but I would challenge educators to extend this reciprocity toward the more-than-human world that makes up the ‘third teacher’ - the environment. This aligns well with finding ways to live in treaty relationships with Indigenous people, as kinship with the natural world is an important part of Indigenous worldviews. HDLH does recognize that,

Through opportunities to engage...