Anti-racism
Anti-racism is the practice of identifying, challenging, preventing, eliminating and changing the values, structures, policies, programs, practices and behaviours that perpetuate racism between individuals and within systems. Anti-racism is characterized by taking action against racism; it is distinct from simply having a disposition of being “not racist.”
Examples:
At the individual level, medical professionals can take anti-racist action by building trust with patients from marginalized communities, such as by taking time to listen to their concerns, providing culturally competent care, and acknowledging historical injustice.
At the systems level, medical institutions can take anti-racist action by taking steps to address structural racism, such as by examining their hiring practices, diversifying leadership, and addressing disparities in care.
Bystander Effect
Also known as Bystander Apathy, is a phenomenon in which the presence of other people discourages individuals from intervening in an emergency, against a bully, during an assault, or when some other injustice is being committed. The greater the number of bystanders present in the situation, the less likely that any one of them will provide help to a person in distress, as each individual feels like they bear less responsibility for intervening.
In working to bring about equity, diversity, and inclusion, it is important to recognize the bystander effect as a barrier that can prevent otherwise kind and caring people from taking action when they witness an act of discrimination.
Instead of being bystanders, the REDI team encourages people to become “Upstanders,” people who are motivated to take action when they witness injustice.
Allyship
Allyship is a life-long process of working to advance inclusion through intentional, positive, and conscious actions within one’s sphere of influence. A person who takes action, listens to, builds trust with, advocates for, and amplifies the voices of marginalized people and groups may be recognized as an ally. As a label, the term “ally” cannot be self-applied; one can only become an ally by having their efforts recognized as such by the marginalized person(s) they strive to uplift.
Intersectionality
Intersectionality is the recognition that social identities or categorizations (such as race, class, disability, sexual orientation, and gender identity) create overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage.
The term was coined by lawyer, civil rights advocate, and critical race theory scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw to describe the “various ways in which race and gender intersect in shaping structural and political aspects of violence against women of color”. In other words, the effects of discrimination and disadvantage are more acute for those who belong to multiple marginalized groups, as the inequities they experience reinforce each other.
For example, a queer black woman may experience the world on the basis of her sexuality, gender, and race — an experience based on how those identities intersect in her life. Intersectionality recognizes that oppression cannot be reduced to only one part of an identity; each oppression is dependent on and shapes the other. Understanding intersectionality is essential to combatting the interwoven prejudices people face in their daily lives.
(Source: adapted from https://vpfo.ubc.ca/2021/03/intersectionality-what-is-it-and-why-it-matters/)
Our Language and Stories are Far Too Complex for Them to Understand: An Excavation of Sorts About Who We Are and Where We Come From
Thank you for joining us on Wednesday, November 22nd, 2023 from 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm (PST), for “Our Language and Stories are Far Too Complex for Them to Understand: An Excavation of Sorts About Who We Are and Where We Come From.” In this Indigenous Speaker Series session, we had a conversation with Dr. Paulette Steeves, an Indigenous mother and scholar, and author of The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere (featured in this CBC Ideas Radio interview). We learnt about the rewriting of Indigenous histories, framed through Indigenous knowledge. This talk underscored the importance of reclaiming the way that we understand Indigenous Peoples’ identity, sense of belonging, and place, and the recovery of all things that were either stolen or dispossessed from Indigenous Peoples – family, language, lands, humanities, ceremonies, and safety. It emphasized the need to come together and work towards decolonizing our minds, and experience the liberation of our hearts, and to define the reconciled balance between the past and present.
Join us virtually on Wednesday, November 22nd, 2023 from 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm (PST), for “Our Language and Stories are Far Too Complex for Them to Understand: An Excavation of Sorts About Who We Are and Where We Come From.” This virtual event is presented by the Indigenous Speakers Series.
Speaker
Dr. Paulette Steeves, PhD, Indigenous Archeologist – Cree/Métis Ancestry
Dr. Paulette was born in Whitehorse, Yukon and she grew up in Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada. She is an Associate Professor in Sociology/Anthropology, Geography/Geology, and Land Stewardship at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, ON. She is a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous History, Healing and Reconciliation. Her research focus is on the Pleistocene history of the Western Hemisphere, as well as reclaiming and rewriting Indigenous histories, and healing and reconciliation. In her research, she argues that Indigenous peoples were present in the Western Hemisphere as early as 100000 years ago, and possibly much earlier. Dr. Steeves argues that counter stories to Western narratives of Indigenous histories address issues that remain critical to Indigenous people and their understanding of sovereignty, self-determination, and healing and reconciliation. She has stated that rewriting and unerasing Indigenous histories become a part of healing and reconciliation to transform public consciousness, and to confront and challenge racism. Long-standing academic denial of the deep Indigenous past fosters racism and discrimination among the general or Settler population. Rewriting Indigenous histories, framed through Indigenous knowledge, will create discussions that counter racism and discrimination. Her award-winning book The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere was published on July 1st, 2021.
Moderator
Derek K Thompson – Thlaapkiituup, Director, Indigenous Engagement
Description
Written by Derek K Thompson – Thlaapkiituup, Director, Indigenous Engagement
Dr. Paulette Steeves is my hero. She’s my hero because of her depth of vulnerability and awareness about who she is as an Indigenous mother and scholar, and because she wrote this amazing book: The Indigenous Paleolithic of the Western Hemisphere (featured in the Ideas interview – The Old Stone Age in the Western Hemisphere). As usual, I was up early one morning and listening to the CBC radio program, Ideas, and Nahlah Ayed was speaking with Dr. Steeves about her book.
Near the conclusion of the interview Nahlah Ayed asked, “What effect have you observed in Indigenous communities when there are stories that reinforce the idea that there’s been a much longer human history in this hemisphere than what we’re told?”
Dr. Steeves’ reply, brilliant and telling, “The existence of our stories on the land, I call archaeological sites stories on the land, that are older than 12000 years, in our ancestral connections between ancient first people and contemporary Indigenous people, are empowering to Indigenous people. The existence of hundreds of archaeological sites in the Pleistocene creates a dialogue from which Indigenous people can challenge erasures of their histories. It foregrounds their Indigenous identities and their links to the land, and it empowers them in seeking justice. To allow that Indigenous people have been present in the Western Hemisphere for a much greater time is to support ownership of the past and the present, their lands and material heritage, to accept that Indigenous people have been in the Western Hemisphere for over 60000 years, and possibly over 130000 years, is to put them on equal footing with some areas of the so-called Old World.”
We seek out equal footing with the old world, and equity within this era of reckoning with the truth, reconciling for the future, and a present-day excavation of who we are and where we come from, as Indigenous peoples and as Canadians. This talk is about the reclaiming the way that we understand our identity, sense of belonging, and place, and it’s about the recovery of all things that were either stolen or dispossessed from us – family, language, lands, humanities, ceremonies, and safety. This talk is also about the need for us to come together and work towards decolonizing our minds, and experience the liberation of our hearts, and to define the reconciled balance between the past and present.
Topic: Our Language and Stories are Far Too Complex for Them to Understand: An Excavation of Sorts About Who We Are and Where We Come From
Date: Wednesday, November 222nd, 2023
Time: 12:00 – 1:30 pm (PST)
What Will I Learn?
You will learn about a unique Indigenous perspective of archaeology within the context of truth, reconciliation and redress.
Continue Learning
“The time to make things happen is now. The time to seek out our individual and shared power is now.”
Learn more about REDI’s Indigenous Initiatives here
Discover more about REDI’s Indigenous Initiatives Speakers Series here
Find REDI’s Indigenous-Specific Resources here
We’re Still Dancing Around the Table: Reconstituting our Sensibilities about Truth, Reconciliation and Redress
Thank you for joining us on Wednesday, October 18th, 2023 from 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm (PST), for “We’re Still Dancing Around the Table: Reconstituting our Sensibilities about Truth, Reconciliation and Redress.” In this Indigenous Speaker Series session, we had conversation with Chief Bill Wilson – Hemas KlaLeeLeeKla, Founding Signatory of the BC Treaty Commission and Founding Chairman of the BC First Nations Congress (First Nations Summit). He brought both truth and truthfulness about past and present contexts of our collective struggle to negotiate Indigenous peoples’ legitimate and proper place in British Columbia and Canada. He remains a pillar of determination for Indigenous peoples, and continues to inspire the very political processes that he helped to create and influence. Seemingly, we’re still dancing around the table to really get at coming to terms with the things we’ve labelled as truth, reconciliation and redress. Hemas KlaLeeLeeKla shared what he believes to be necessary in efforts to reconstruct, to reorganize, to shift, to transform, and to fundamentally arrive at a sensibility that places Indigenous people at the heart of this great country and its constitution.
Join us virtually on Wednesday, October 18th, 2023 from 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm (PST), for “We’re Still Dancing Around the Table: Reconstituting our Sensibilities about Truth, Reconciliation and Redress.” This virtual event is presented by the Indigenous Speakers Series.
Speaker
Chief Bill Wilson – Hemas KlaLeeLeeKla
Founding Signatory, BC Treaty Commission
Founding Chairman, BC First Nations Congress (First Nations Summit)
Senior First Nations Representative – First Ministers Conference (1983)
Founding President, United Native Nations
Director, Union of BC Indian Chiefs (1970-73)
Vice-President, Native Council of Canada (1982-83)
BORN
- April 6th, 1944, Comox, BC
EDUCATION
- Elementary School – Comox, B.C.
- High School – Courtenay Senior Secondary
- University
- Bachelor of Arts, University of Victoria, 1970
Political Science and English Majors
- Bachelor of Laws, The University of British Columbia, 1973
ANCESTRY
- Youngest son of Charles William Wilson and Ethel Christine (nee Johnson)
- Father was a member of the Cape Mudge Indian Band
- Mother was born in Hopetown Village and raised at Kingcome Village and on Gilford Island
- I am a Musgamagw Indian, and a member of the Hamatsa Society as initiated and recognized by our still thriving Potlatch system
WORK
- 2002 – Present
Treaty Negotiator, Private Consultant and Trainer in land claims, self-esteem building, public speaking, and negotiating skills. An accomplished and published author - 2000 – 2002
First Nations Summit, Task Group Member - 1997 – 2000
Special Political Advisor on BC Indian Issues to AFN National Chief Phil Fontaine - 1991 – 1992
Political Secretary, Assembly of First Nations - 1990 – 1991
Vice-Chief, Assembly of First Nations - 1990 – 1991
Chairman, First Nations Congress (First Nations Summit), Provided leadership to bring the Federal Government and the Provincial Government to the table to create a British Columbia Claims Task Force which led directly to the creation of the British Columbia Treaty Commission and the present tripartite negotiations that are now in progress - Negotiated successfully with Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and Premier Bill VanderZalm
- 1986
Co-founder, Eagle Airlines LTD (1986), a wholly owned Native Indian airline company - 1984 – 1990
Coordinator, Musgamagw Tribal Council- Member, District Advisory Board, Canada Employment and Immigration Commission
- Member, B.C. Native Economic Advisory Committee, Canada Employment and Immigration Commission
- March 15th & 16th, 1983, Ottawa, ON
Negotiator at the First Constitutional Conference on Aboriginal Issues – HELPED TO DRAFT AND SUCCESSFULLY NEGOTIATE THE FIRST AND ONLY AMENDMENT TO CANADA’S CONSTITUTION.
- 1982 – 1984
Vice-President, Native Council of Canada, Ottawa, ON- Member, Special Committee on Indian Self-Government – This committee produced what became known as the “Penner Report” which among other things recommended the elimination of Indian Affairs and true self-government for Native Indian people at the community level.
- 1981 – 1983
School Trustee, School District & 71, Courtenay - 1981 – 1982
Vice President, United Native Nations - 1981
Organizer, BC Tribal Forum - 1978 – 1980
Co-founder, Aboriginal Council of BC - 1976 – 1981
Founding President, United Native Nations - 1975 – 1977
Member of Board of Governors, Canadian Council on Social Development - 1975 – 1976
Executive Committee Member, Union of BC Indian Chiefs - 1973 – 1975
Chiefs’ Council Member, Union of BC Indian Chiefs - 1973
Aboriginal Title and Land Claims Director, BC Association of Non-Status Indians - 1972 – 1973
President, UBC Law Students Association- Member, Provincial Council of the Canadian Bar Association
- 1972 – 1982
Board of Director/Member and Vice President, Native Courtworkers and Counselling Association of BC - 1971
Director, Native Indians and the Law Program – This program was sponsored by the Union of BC Indian Chiefs and led directly to the formation of the Native Courtworkers and Counselling Association of BC - 1970 – 1971
Executive Council Member, National Indian Brotherhood - 1970
Executive Director, Union of BC Indian Chiefs - 1969 – 1970
President, University of Victoria Native Student Union- President, National Native Students Union
- 1966
President, UBC Native Students Association - 1963 – 1968
Organizer, BC Native Youth Association - 1958
Member, Native Brotherhood of British Columbia
Moderator
Derek K Thompson – Thlaapkiituup, Director, Indigenous Engagement
Description
Written by Derek K Thompson – Thlaapkiituup, Director, Indigenous Engagement
They were individually and collectively smug, ignorant, antagonistic, indifferent, classist, chauvinistic, paternalistic, and blatantly racist. The people, the men, that I am referring to are your Prime Ministers and Premiers from the 1980s Federal and Provincial Conference of First Ministers on Aboriginal Constitutional Matters. They were, well, you know who they are because that’s what was taught in Canada’s school systems, and if you don’t know, google them, or even better, you can watch them in action in the two-part documentary called Dancing Around the Table.
Who you likely don’t know are our First Nations, Inuit and Métis leaders who showed up to rightfully and successfully negotiate an amendment to Canada’s Constitution to include Section 35 within the Constitution Act (1982), which subsequently enshrined Indigenous – First Nations, Inuit, Métis – rights and title. They were Chief Bill Wilson, Ethel Pearson (mother to Bill Wilson), Georges Erasmus, Simon Lucas, George Watts, Joe Mathias, James Gosnell, Jim Sinclair, Brion Whitford, Harry Daniels, Mary Simon, John Amagoalik, Zebedee Nungak, Gary Potts, William Commanda, and Yvon Dumont, among many other great Indigenous leaders past and present.
For this important conversation, Chief Bill Wilson will bring both truth and truthfulness about past and present contexts of our collective struggle to negotiate our legitimate and proper place in British Columbia and Canada. He remains a pillar of determination for Indigenous peoples, and continues to inspire the very political processes that he helped to create and influence. Seemingly, we’re still dancing around the table to really get at coming to terms with the things we’ve labelled as truth, reconciliation and redress. Hemas KlaLeeLeeKla will tell us what he believes to be necessary in our efforts to reconstruct, to reorganize, to shift, to transform, and to fundamentally arrive at a sensibility that places Indigenous people at the heart of this great country and its constitution.
We are absolutely honored and grateful to be hosting and welcoming Chief Bill Wilson – Hemas KlaLeeLeeKla. All of us, and I do mean all of us, owe a debt of gratitude for the great good leadership of Chief Bill Wilson – ƛ´eko ƛ´eko | Gila’kasla | Nakurmiik | Marrsî | Thank you.
Topic: We’re Still Dancing Around the Table: Reconstituting our Sensibilities About Truth, Reconciliation and Redress
Date: Wednesday, October 18th, 2023
Time: 12:00 – 1:30 pm (PST)
What Will I Learn?
You will learn about the unique experiences and perspectives of First Nations leadership in the context of truth, reconciliation and redress.
Continue Learning
“The time to make things happen is now. The time to seek out our individual and shared power is now.”
Learn more about REDI’s Indigenous Initiatives here
Discover more about REDI’s Indigenous Initiatives Speakers Series here
Find REDI’s Indigenous-Specific Resources here