Cultural Proficiency

Target Audience:

Service Providers

​Educators

Organizations

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Duration:

1/2 or 1 day workshop (depending upon group size)

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Overview:

This workshop explores the history of Canadian Residential Schools, the devastation and residual effects, and how awareness can alter perceptions and bring about positive change.

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Description:

It is becoming increasingly evident that Canada’s lndigenous students are falling through the cracks as they face a myriad of problems in academic and socio-economic settings. Throughout the years, academic and social problems have intertwined and inter-weaved to inhibit Indigenous people from prospering and flourishing as economical equals in an adverse society.  The deficiencies felt by Indigenous students today could be attributed to the era of residential schools, which for many Indigenous Canadians, left behind a legacy of trauma, language loss, and resentment directed toward education.  As a result, the educational foundations of the students were laid on unstable grounds. This lack of formal educational structure is a barrier which is preventing Indigenous people from separating their culture from the stigma of dependency.  The damage caused by generations of loss cannot be fully restored; however, the residual impacts may be alleviated through restitution aimed at the current and future generations of Indigenous students.   

Raising awareness and providing education about the Indigenous communities in which one works provides a wider spectrum of knowledge, appreciation, and empathy for the Indigenous persons of Canada. 

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