THE What: I am not an expert. I am, however, a learner. Throughout my education, my career, my personal life, and my social experiences, I pray that my identity as a learner can overpower my ignorance as a person. Today, I listened to Dustin Louie discuss the resiliency of a people whose culture and identity were comprehensively reshaped in the span of a century. I felt my heart break for every wronged child, every lost family, every misguided education. I felt guilty for my privilege and my lack of knowledge. A few hours later, I listened to Dr. Niigaanwewidam Sinclair offer structure, advice, and opportunities to those of us who wanted to do more for Truth and Reconciliation. Dr. Sinclair spoke from a place of hope and within the span of a single day, I learned that my guilt has nothing to do with my responsibility to T&R. The value of a child’s (or anyone’s, for that matter) education is much bigger than any insufficiencies I feel in my own knowledge. The most important thing I can do for my learners is to offer myself as a keeper of my own truth. Acknowledging my lack of knowledge, my discomforts, and my indiscretions can only be the first incremental step to developing a pedagogy that includes all learners.

SO What? NOW what? With all of these things in mind, I realize that this is only the recognition, not the enaction, of Truth and Reconciliation. My goal for this year is to empower myself as a learner of culture and engagement. I can’t teach what I do not know and my knowledge of Indigenous history, health, and modern culture lacks a great deal. Today forward, I will learn everything I can. I will immerse myself in a world that centuries of one-sided decision-making and ignored voices have reduced to a rubble of intergenerational trauma. I will learn what it means to become an ally. My position as a public educator is no longer about me and my journey for self-worth. It is about every learner that sets foot in my classroom and what I can offer of myself and my knowledge. My learning is no longer for me, it is for them. NOW, I will build my knowledge as part of the safety net that I believe all learners must have. NOW, I will model the space I wish to create. NOW, I will learn. If we can all do this, then WE WILL ALL COME TOGETHER.