“Dancing on our turtle’s back”

Haig-Brown writes about various forms of power and hierarchy that Europeans attempted to impose on Indigenous students. She also focuses on how these students and their communities resisted these processes, working to regain control over education through political action and community-based action. For example, she describes the transformation of the former residential school in Kamloops into a hub for community activities.

In her book, Haig-Brown describes how the senior girls dormitory houses the Native Indian Teacher Education Program. On the main floor, the Little Fawn Day Care was a busy centre for young children. The cafeteria was used to prepare meals for Elders’ gatherings, conferences, and meals for students and workers at the former school. These changes reflect clear examples of Indigenous resurgence. As Haig-Brown writes: “Ironically, those buildings which for so long were the centre of a cultural onslaught are now the centre of cultural enhancement and economic development” (p.X).

Leanne Betasamosake Simpson is a Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg scholar, writer and artist. A member of Alderville First Nation in Ontario, she holds a Ph.D. from the University of Manitoba and teaches at the Dechinta Centre for Research & Learning in Denendeh. She was also an instructor at Nukskahtowin (Previously known as the Centre for World Indigenous Knowledge) at Athabasca University. Reflecting on the residential school system, she writes:

“To me, reconciliation must be grounded in cultural generation and political resurgence. It must support Indigenous nations in regenerating our languages, our oral cultures, our traditions of governance and everything else [that] residential schools attacked and attempted to obliterate” (p.22).

In the clip below, Betasamosake Simpson reads from her book, Dancing on our Turtle’s Back. She describes a community procession on National Aboriginal Day in summer 2009.