Allyship and Cultivating Cultural Sensitivity in Child and Youth Care towards Indigenous Communities

Allyship Presentation – Final Project

Fundamental Indigenous principle – share knowledge (Elder Casey Eagle Speaker – “ it is not knowledge if you don’t share it”).

Directions:

•Imagine you are working in your career (e.g. Social Worker, Police Officer, Corrections Officer, Child and Youth Care, Early Childhood Educator, Educational Assistant, etc.) and you are in a position to teach others what you learned about Indigenous history and culture, and about reconciliation. 

•This assignment will offer you the chance to consider what it means to be an ally in your future workplace, and to share knowledge respectfully.

Choose one of the following scenarios: 
Option 1:Imagine you are working as a child and youth care worker and a co-worker makes a comment regarding Indigenous People (i.e., common stereotype) that you know is wrong. Your supervisor gives you the task with educating your co-workers as they know you completed a course on Indigenous Studies, whereas others have not.   
Option 2:Imagine you are in your first year of law enforcement and someone makes the comment that Indigenous people are all thieves, addicts, and/or homeless. 
Option 3:You are an educator, and someone makes the comment that learning about Indigenous history and culture, or about reconciliation is a waste of time and has no value.

Your task is to put together a presentation where you educate your co-workers on the topic that you are addressing. For instance, if the comment was, “First Nations parents don’t seem like they know how to parent,” your objective is to lay out the history, policies, attitudes and chain of events that led to this complex issue. You must demonstrate your ability to make connections on what you learned throughout the course, in particular embedded structures, policies and/or attitudes.

Positionality

The presentation will also be personal. You must include an element of your positionality near the start of your paper or presentation. You can share about your life, where you come from, your main influences, your prior attitudes/beliefs/understanding on the issue(s), and use your introduction as a way to make connections and encourage relatability to the audience. You might start off with a short story of yourself or a personal reflection as a way to relate and utilize the important Indigenous principles of relationship-building, reciprocity, and understanding where we come from. 

Research and analyze structures – 4 references minimum

After you introduce yourself and share your positionality, you will then draw upon credible sources from our course or outside the course that help you explain the history, structures, embedded attitudes, and key events that led to the issue you are addressing. You are demonstrating your understanding of ongoing colonization and the historic and and systemic factors that prevent full reconciliation.

Personalize the Presentation

Include your own way of thinking throughout (personalize it) including sharing the key learnings, perspectives, stories, and/or teachings that stood out to you and helped you understand. For instance, you may refer to a key reading, documentary, the lived experiences of someone who visited the class, an Elder teaching or any impactful content from the modules . This is meant to demonstrate what content stood out to you and to help you frame how you can help others broaden their perspectives. 

Indigenous Worldviews and Teachings

You will draw up key understandings of Indigenous worldview, value and/or cultural teachings that you learned as a way to share the positive benefits of Indigenous knowledge and perspectives. This is to demonstrate an understanding of Indigenous worldview and to apply it in a real-world setting.

Call to Action

Conclude your presentation by recommending further action (using the TRC, UNDRIP or MMIWG Calls to Justice as a framework) that all can do to contribute to positive change and to dispel harmful stereotypes.

Format Options:

•  Written paper (3-4 pgs. Or 750 and 1000 words)

•  Presentation (i.e., PowerPoint or Canva or any other multimedia) with an oral presentation (8-10 minutes)

• Create an art piece to demonstrate the issue and action plan (i.e. poem, beadwork, art, song, mural, ppt, sculpture, performance, story, symbol, etc.) with an accompanying oral presentation (8-10 minutes), as well as references list

•A minimum of 4 references will accompany all presentation options. Please provide a reference list in APA 7 format.

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