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Sam brought up the idea of changing the narrative around forts to a colonial narrative than a symbol of a new beginning
This makes me think of how the narrative around thanksgiving has changed overtime.
recently, I was looking up how thanksgiving is taught to elementary school students and how the narrative around it has changed, and why it is a controversial holiday. While it is still taught as a day to be thankful, I've seen articles that emphasize when the first settlers celebrated thanksgiving, but also that Indigenous people had celebrated such harvest days since time immemorial.

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Selina, thanks for bringing up the points about how language influences our view of the world. It definitely made me reflect on my own experiences with regards to that.

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I feel that change can a will happen, but change may take a lone time. It's not just going to change overnight. It is a long and continuous process.

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Yes! Engage with hope. Change is slow and arduous but, it's possible.

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I also found the section about the rocks to be fascinating. I never thought of rocks as animate objects, as storytellers.

I like what Selina said about how language can influence how we see the world. I haven't thought about that in this way before. I find that when I read poetry, the descriptive, symbolic, and poetic language paints a very different pictures of the world compared to another form of writing. I also have a similar experience as YiWei. I also find that with different languages, I talk in a different way and convey different ideas. I also find that sometimes I can express my thoughts better in one language compared to another, and sometimes certain "feelings" are lost when the same sentence was translated in a different language.

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Really feeling everything you're saying Selina about feeling frustrated in this colonial institution and how difficult it is to reconcile when we are trying to focus on LAND BACK!

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I definitely feel the tension Robert discussed between the old guard and the new guard while on practicum. In discussions I've had with other teachers, some have embraced inclusivity and including FPPL for example, while others are quite hesitant to change their methods and why we should. Perhaps when appropriate/when it arises part of our role as a TC and in the future new teachers in regard to decolonizing education is to have conversations about we have learned in this class or in others with other staff members. It can be a small start to maybe "deconstructing the fort" in our own communities.

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I've done a bit of travelling and have visited a few major Forts in Canada and Europe. The points made in the discussion today were so insightful and eye-opening for me as I'd never made any of these considerations or had these symbolic or metaphorical thoughts. It's easy to get caught-up in the information and history that the storytellers want you to be aware of, while keeping out/limiting the other sides of the story. Thanks everyone for the insights! Very thought-provoking.

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Robert's question of how to weave and integrate Indigenous curriculum is compelling. The reliance on "the expert" is not ok. Burdening an already traumatized people to educate us is not ok. We have to do the work.

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I loved the analogy of deconstruction of the fort. Especially the addition of us only deconstructing the windows as we have a long way to go. We are only the beginning of this long and arduous process.

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Selina, I appreciate your points about language influencing our relationship with the world. Fascinating and thought-provoking!

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Great points on language and how it shapes our views and perspectives

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Selina's point on the relationship between language and the way we think and perceive the world is something I've thought quite a bit about. Language certainly does have an impact on how we perceive the world. I've recently learned that it's called "grammar of thought". When we speak English, it's hard not to engage in a grammar of thought that agrees with colonial ideology and ignores other ways of thinking. This is probably why severing one's connection to one's language is so destructive.

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I really like the point that Robert made about education being purposeful and inclusive. Education needs to change but, it is still so stuck in the "old guard" as Robert said.

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Thanks for bringing up how language affects and shapes our views, Selina. I have different personalities when speaking in different languages and I feel that influences my perspectives a lot.

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Great point about how the language we use shapes our reality and our viewpoint.

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Selina, your point about language and relationally is so interesting!

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Steve highlighted the clear symbolism of the fort well. Forts are heavily defended and walled settlements created to keep others out including wildlife and indigenous peoples. Inside the fort is what is accepted into our society while outside is the wild or uncivilized world. Continuing to observe these forts as idealized early settlements perpetuates the otherness of indigenous people.

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I love what Steve says about revealing the already-existing connections. When you look around at our society with a critical mind, the 'disconnects' that exist feel incredibly manufactured–at least, that's how I feel. Of course we need to work to reconcile these disconnects, but the sad part is that we even need to reconcile in the first place. I stop to think, "how did we even end up falling so far and disconnecting from one another?"

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Steve, the connection/metaphor you made and mentioned about forts + schools is something I didn't think about, but when you say it, it makes so much sense. Thanks for sharing.

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Steve initiated an interesting point. Colonialism is big on dichotomies. Inside vs. outside, good vs evil, woman or man, us and other. Using Indigenous perspectives to help tear down this grammar of thought is a good point. Thinking of the forts as metaphors was quite insightful!

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I agree with you Steve about how powerful the video by Dwayne Donald was in that inquiry class. I also think that your point about beginning from an Indigenous viewpoint and exploring our current connections is a fantastic way of incorporating Indigenous ways of knowing into the classroom.

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Thinking of how forts are positioned, along with the many manufactured reconstructions of Indigenous culture that we see in museums and gift shops brings to mind a scene in Thomas King's Green Grass, Running Water that features Blackfoot (if I remember correctly) characters profiting off of tourists by selling menus and pretending to sell dog meat at their "exotic" restaurant. I love how King uses humour in his writing to draw attention to the lip-service aspects of "multiculturalism" that are prevalent in our society.

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I went to Fort Langley during an elementary field trip in the early 2000's and there was very little talk about Indigenous Peoples. The focus of the tour was very much the European view of settling the land, the fur trade and gold mining. Looking back on it now there was a huge missed opportunity to link the Fort to Indigenous Peoples and their history and way of life.

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Selina, I think it's so important to share those emotions! I would like to hear more!

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Many forts also depict such a narrow, stereotypical view. At least they did in my childhood. Even recently, we took our daughter to Fort Langley. Sam mentioned Fort Langley. There wasn't a great influence on the Indigenous stories. Lots of focus on Blacksmithing. That could have been the time that we went and what was being presented but, it did not feel like a place to go to help my daughter understand and be exposed to Indigenous stories.

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Thank you for sharing that, Selina. So important to let ourselves express our emotions

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I believe that Forts have been traditionally presented as a watered down history lesson and is presented in a way to attract tourists without making them feel uncomfortable.

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I definitely agree with Sam's analysis of naming and how the name of something gives it context and that there are certain connotations a name brings an object or idea. In math often take a European view on concepts such as the Pythagorean theorem which sort of implies that it was Pythagoras was the one who created the theorem when they is more evidence than now that these ideas have a long history previous to any work that Pythagoras has done in that regard.

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Yes, understanding where the narrative is coming from. Perhaps understanding what might have been before the forts were established. Seeing if the narratives align and looking at different perspectives at that point in time and see if there is overlap and/or disagreement.

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Forts are a way for colonizers to nail down the land and make it less other and more theirs and so they represent a way of also otherizing Indigenous people and their knowledge of and relationship to the land. That which exists inside and outside the fort becomes shaped by their relationships to the forts.

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Thank you for your comments, Sam. Looking back, I recognize the strangeness of Indigenous history being presented by the white, settler workers with a colonial lens. Definitely reinforces the dehumanization and perception of an "exotic other."

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This article introduced a new way of thinking about placed based learning for me. I have never really thought deeply about how we commemorate things and how colonized myths are being perpetuated.