Calling in
Calling in is an approach aimed at encouraging someone to change their problematic or harmful behavior by inviting them into a conversation with the goal of listening and building mutual understanding.
For example, a preceptor might “call in” a colleague by pulling them aside in private and asking questions such as, “What was your intention when you said [problematic or harmful words]?” or “Can you help me understand what was going on when you [engaged in problematic or harmful behavior]?”
When calling someone in, it is important to listen with compassion, patience, and empathy while also being frank about the harmful effects of the person’s actions or words in order to help them understand.
This approach is appropriate for situations in which you have an established relationship with the other person and you both hold similar levels of power, making it safe to have such a conversation. It is not appropriate for addressing major issues such as sexual misconduct or egregious racial microaggressions, especially when there are significant differences in power involved.
“Calling in” stands in contrast to a “calling out” approach, which involves openly challenging and shutting down unacceptable behavior in the moment.
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