Town staff and Rotary Club of Cochrane members completed a blanket exercise last week, led by a Stoney Nakoda First Nation elder.
It was the pilot to an Indigenous learning course series. The training, an idea started by the Rotary Club, will be held over the course of several months. The goal is to create and enhance the understanding of Indigenous culture and identity – especially those living within the region – for a core group of Cochrane community members.
The courses will also look at what happened to Indigenous people during the process of the formation of Canada that has led to the current conditions of Indigenous communities and people. Creating the training sessions follows several meetings between Rotary members interested in offering services to the Stoney Nakoda members of Morley but realizing there wasn’t an accurate understanding of what and who makes up that community.
“What are we supposed to do, run out to the reserve and say, “Hi, we’re from the Rotary and we’re here to help you?”’ said Michael Bopp, Rotary board member. “We really don’t know enough to even begin. Where we need to begin is educating ourselves.” Bopp’s company, Four Worlds, an organization dedicated to improve the lives of those trapped in poverty, ill-health, social and economic deprivation, or the lack of basic human rights, is tasked with developing the curriculum.
Stoney elder Tina Fox will be at the helm of content creation with the help of other Stoney elders. When the town heard about Rotary’s education plan on Stoney Nakoda culture, experiences and history, it opted to join in to help town staff build a better relationship with the community.
“As a town, we realize that in order to be active participants in reconciliation, we first need to understand the truth and educate ourselves. Embarking on this joint training initiative with Rotary Cochrane and an Indigenous Resource team, we are being graciously and expertly guided by consultants and Elders that provide a specific context to the Stoney Nakoda history. We hope to implement training for the organization, educate ourselves and foster new relationships in this partnership process,” said Suzanne Gaida, deputy chief administrative officer for the town, in an email to the Cochrane Eagle. “The Blanket Exercise and its facilitators provided a natural starting point of empathy.”
Each of the seven modules will be covered from a Stoney Nakoda and Indigenous perspective. The first module was a blanket exercise which dramatically demonstrates highlights of early European settlement and colonization and its impact on Indigenous peoples. The exercise has been used across Canada and has proven to have an affect on participants. Bopp said the exercise was well-received.
“For the most part, people are trying to put aside whatever they thought they knew and they’re just trying to learn,” he said.
Over the next three modules, town staff and Rotarians will learn about life before European colonization and the “unraveling” of their world afterward. The following two courses will look at contemporary issues now faced by Stoney Nakoda members and Indigenous people across Canada and the journey to reconciliation. By the end, participants will learn how collaboration and fair partnership is possible with Indigenous communities. The courses are expected to wrap up in June 2019 with an event in Morley.
– with files from Chris Puglia
