Learning more about Indigenous history

East Kildonan

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/06/2023 (890 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

June is National Indigenous History month, and this Wednesday, June 21, is National Indigenous Peoples Day.

It is no secret that for decades Indigenous history and perspectives were absent from schools or elsewhere, except within the memories of Indigenous people, despite the profound Indigenous history in the Winnipeg area.

I recall taking the optional Canadian history class in high school. We learned about the Rupertsland Charter and transfer, Louis Riel and Metis concerns and heard about the Battle of Seven Oaks. I recall sitting in class envisioning vast, immutable western lands and hearing about its rather sudden, changing sovereignties. It felt odd, and I think my feelings had something to do with ideas about the legitimacy of power (which my family often spoke of, in various ways) but I couldn’t recognize this at the time, and I didn’t ask.

What do I remember from high school? Authorities prompted a whole bunch of stuff that ended up creating an institutional parameter around the area called Canada. Selkirk’s name came up, I think.

Perhaps the presentation was better than my recollection.

The class took a field trip to the 1872 Little Britain Church at Lockport where buffalo fur still covered the prayer kneelers. Did we also visit the 1852 Church of St. Peters just north of Selkirk where Chief Peguis was buried?

We then bussed to the Exchange District where we looked up at the megalithic Ashdown warehouse. We ended by touring though a once upscale Broadway neighbourhood where a friendly older lady showed us her large suite in a beautiful apartment building. My friends Mary Dawn and Cheryl and I talked pleasantly with her for a long time. The living room was panelled in oak.

Canadian history is now a compulsory credit. School curricula are evolving to include Indigenous history and perspectives, and in a recent article, University of Manitoba professor Niigaan Sinclair and an unnamed government spokesperson said that weaving Aboriginal content throughout varied courses from K-12 is the approach taken on the prairies.

Rick Frost, retired CEO of the Winnipeg Foundation called Indigenous history “hidden history” during a presentation about the organization’s priority to find it.

In July, an oral history tour at the Forks will commence and in Brandon, a new podcast will soon be out using the historical knowledge of Indigenous elders as a guide to exploration at the Riverbank Discovery Centre.

This month there are many opportunities to take in the history, culture, languages, and experiences of indigenous people in Canada.

Learn more about National Indigenous History month here: https://www.rcaanc-cirnac.gc.ca/eng/1466616436543/1534874922512