Non-Aboriginal settler and newcomer Canadians, such as the author of this paper, face a steep learning curve when it comes to "knowing" about and, especially, understanding Aboriginal worldviews and cultures.

The Student Awareness Survey (SAS) results show that few Canadian students feel they have adequate knowledge about Aboriginal Peoples and related issues. The students have stated that their elementary and secondary education did not teach them enough, and their responses prove that the students were not taught appropriate, accurate and necessary information about First Peoples. They feel deprived of information that they know they need to have, in order to be aware and capable in social and political spheres. Canadian students have also told us, directly and indirectly, that the information they currently get about contemporary Aboriginal Peoples and issues comes primarily from the media. At the same time, students are aware that media accounts are far from being adequate or honest. As the Assembly of First Nations noted, the media "still perpetuates stereotypes which foster racism and discriminatory practices…" (cited in RCAP, 1996:Vol5,p103).

Canadian students expect better. They want to be capable of addressing the economic, social and cultural marginalization of Aboriginal peoples, which in April 1999, the United Nations Human Rights Committee said is "the most pressing human rights issue facing Canadians." The students have told us they expect and want to get this information through their public education.

Educators need help and training so they can improve their classroom programs to address this shortfall. Non-Aboriginal teachers, like most settler and newcomer Canadians, have been poorly educated about Aboriginal cultures, worldviews, histories, and perspectives. As a result, they are often reluctant to stand up in front of a class of students and begin to teach these subjects. They do not feel sufficiently well informed to be confident about handling Aboriginal issues and information from an inclusive perspective. Many feel a degree of anxiety about the concept of "Aboriginal perspective." At some level, they know must honour "it" (i.e. Aboriginal perspective), but many haven't learned what "it" is and don't know how to find out about "it."

The majority of educators across Canada have lived and learned in broadly homogeneous environments, particularly in terms of race and class. Most Canadian educators attended schools and universities where little or no attention was paid to Aboriginal perspectives. Basic information about historical and contemporary Aboriginal Peoples, and their lives, was omitted from the curricula that teachers learned during their schooling. For many reasons (some of which are outlined in Learning About Walking in Beauty), most education students did not establish personal connections with Aboriginal persons in these institutions. Upon graduating and beginning their professional teaching lives, most Canadian educators do not live in community with, socialize or work with, Aboriginal persons. These individuals do not have significant personal experience with Aboriginal individuals or communities. The best way of learning, from someone who knows "it" (i.e. Aboriginal perspective) , is not an accessible option for many teachers in Canadian classrooms.

Educators must be able to not merely find the information and resources they require, they must also supported in using appropriate materials respectfully and honestly. Support to teaching staff does not simply mean making the opportunities or resources available. Sometimes this does not improve the situation at all. Teachers and school boards who pay lip service to "Aboriginal Day" or "Aboriginal Peoples Week" or "Native Studies" units, without acknowledging the diverse cultures, current realities, and future of Indigenous Peoples, may play into a self-perpetuating cycle of ignorance among our learners. Worse still, they may end up continuing to teach stereotypes and racist attitudes. Teachers need support to develop new strategies that integrate Aboriginal content into all areas of Canadian school curriculum.

An antiracist or anti-oppression approach provides one entry point for Canadian educators who, like all Canadians, have to do "unlearning" before they can begin understanding valid and accurate Aboriginal perspectives. Antiracist/anti-oppression pedagogy identifies and challenges stereotyping and bias found in conventional and current curriculum materials, resources, and policies. It also teaches sensitivity to the kinds of discriminatory behaviours that can occur in the use of these materials. Finally, this pedagogy examines the power relationship between diverse individuals in the learning/teaching environment. By "problematizing" power dynamics at all levels, from the personal to the political, antiracism/anti-oppression pedagogy encourages critical analysis directed towards alleviating inequities arising from entrenched (or systemic) racism or oppression.

Antiracism or anti-oppression education respectfully acknowledges Peoples' "lived" experiences. Therefore, this pedagogy must include recognition of the disruption of Indigenous cultures by European imperialism, in particular the Doctrine of Terra Nullius and, in this land, The Indian Act. Through these tools of colonization, Aboriginal Peoples have been dispossessed of their means of livelihood and subsistence, leading directly to deep social, economic, civil, political, spiritual and cultural marginalization. The continuing marginalization of Aboriginal worldviews, cultures and contemporary concerns is evidence of the ongoing neo-colonial program: cultural genocide of Indigenous Peoples.

Antiracism or anti-oppression education respectfully acknowledges differences between cultures and worldviews, appreciating the fundamental strengths and integrity of each. Aboriginal/Indigenous knowledges, or ways of knowing, are based on the understanding that all relationships must be respectful and reciprocal. The philosophical concepts of respecting balance and harmony are communicated in the expression "All Our Relations", and poetically captured in the traditional Navaho expression "Walking in Beauty." Understanding the importance of this kind of relationship will lead to each of us acknowledging our responsibility to look after one another and the world that nourishes us all. Looked at this connective way, it is evident that the absence of this teaching in Canadian curricula challenges the health and wellbeing of Canada, First Nations, Aboriginal Peoples, settler and newcomer Canadians, and the collectivity we represent in the global community.

When one does not know enough about a subject or issue, one may rely on guesses, opinions, stereotypes and misinformation. People of all races living in today's Canada believe they "know" some things about Aboriginal Peoples. We have "learned" this information from many sources: popular media, school, literature, friends, observation, and so on. We need help decoding what we have learned, so that we can understand the extent to which our current "knowledge" is stereotyping, racist or inaccurate, or valid and respectful.

The exercises found below can be, and have been, used by educators in independent, self-learning situations. They are suitable, and have been used, in teacher certification programmes and for in-service professional development. These exercises have also been used successfully in a variety of adult education situations.

These exercises can be and have been used effectively with students from grades 4 to 12, in their mandatory exploration of Native/Aboriginal Peoples, Canadian history and geography, as well as other social studies courses in the intermediate and senior levels. They are also appropriate for religion, arts, literature, science and other courses where Aboriginal perspectives are being, or should be, explored. To benefit from these exercises, your students must be able to work at understanding some abstract ideas, such as the meanings of "stereotype" and "spiritual". Most importantly, your students must be able to comprehend that the names we use for things often carry hidden or loaded meanings. Much of the definitional work is done directly with the students during the exercises.

A workshop, including workshops oriented towards training other educators to use this resource (i.e. Train-the-Trainers), can be arranged through CAAS.

Understanding one’s own history and heritage unlocks a heightened awareness of one’s personal truth about her or his place in the ecosystem of the planet and in Canada. The learning associated with this inward journey is different for settler Canadians, for newcomer Canadians and for Aboriginal Peoples. Within many Aboriginal cultures, this self-knowledge is described as knowing, and following, one's Original Instructions. The critical process of asking oneself "Who Am I?" and "Where Do I Stand in Relation to the World Around Me?" can be initiated through a variety of explorations of "self" within the classroom.

Although exercises for this activity are not included in this document, many excellent anti-racism/anti-oppression, cross-cultural and global education resources are available to educators. Learning skills, such as synthesization of content knowledge and critical reflection, are strengthened as the learner places her- or himself into context in current relationships between Aboriginal Peoples and Canada.

Ignorance feeds stereotyping, racism and misery. The exercises presented below open a pedagogical doorway to Aboriginal Peoples' cultures and worldviews. They encourage learners to discard the inappropriate, invalid and biased "information" we have all absorbed about Aboriginal Peoples through the extant vacuum of respectful and honest classroom pedagogy. In contemporary thought, this process is called deconstruction, and in Aboriginal education circles, this content is known as decolonizing pedagogy. The Unlearning-to-Learn exercises are designed using some of the essential principles of popular education: they are deconstructive, decolonizing, disrupting and they celebrate "difference." They also call on learners to teach, and the teacher to learn.

The Unlearning-to-Learn exercises that follow will not redress stereotypes and racism. Instead, learners are instructed to become aware and vigilant: to remember that whenever each of us looks at anything, we use the viewfinders of our own distinct cultures. In this manner, the exercises present a methodology for deconstruction of the colonizing process as well as the individual learner/teacher's mind, and provide fertile ground for the development of broader critical analysis skills.

As educator Fyre Jean Graveline (Métis), who describes herself as a race relations teacher, tells us:

Although the focus of the following exercises is not "racism" per se, but rather unlearning stereotypes, her provisos are relevant. Graveline also warns about the pain that is relived by those who have experienced racism when "racism," as a topic, is addressed in learning situations. She speaks about how these exercises could be painful for some students, no matter how respectfully undertaken. Individuals of Aboriginal heritage, and others who have endured racist taunts as well perhaps, should be respectfully and personally asked whether they wish to participate and, if so, in what manner. Respect their wishes. If Aboriginal learners choose to remain in the class, the door must be left firmly open for them to change their minds about the manner in which they have chosen to participate as well as the decision to participate. As well, Graveline warns us to be careful not to take the learners beyond their common knowledge of "negative qualifiers." Take care not to add to the list of "slurs" already known to the learners: deconstruct, deconstruct, deconstruct, and then replace – with honest and respectful attitudes.

This resource is designed only to promote readiness for learning about Aboriginal Peoples and their knowledges. After challenging the misinformation and disinformation (i.e. the extant pedagogy of oppression) that clutters your learners' minds and hearts of the learners through these exercises, they will be ready to learn about Aboriginal Peoples' worldviews, cultures, histories and contemporary concerns. Your classroom will also be on the way to becoming a safe and respectful place for an Aboriginal student, mathematician, Elder, artist, scientist or parent.

The following exercises provide a starting place for educators. The Unlearning-to-Learn educator or facilitator strives to release oppressive concepts and ways-of-knowing from the minds of the learners, and leans on the popular education pedagogical principles of fluidity, flexibility, absence of hierarchy or shared learning, a variety of creative ways to express meaning and perspective, and spontaneity. An educator who becomes inspired by what we suggest here may have to do a lot of "prep" and independent research to use these exercises with her or his class or community group. (CAAS can help you with locating resources and support: caas@edu.yorku.ca.) The Unlearning-to-Learn participatory exercises require the teacher or facilitator to gear the unlearning process to the specific learning audience.

Paper and a writing implement are required for this exercise. A chalkboard or flip chart may be used. Participants are asked to work in small groups to write down three things they "know" about Aboriginal Peoples. They are further asked to reflect on whether their knowledge is a "Fact" (which they may code as "F"), a "Stereotype" ("S"), or a "Guess" ("G"). Once this is complete, they are asked to share what they recorded. As each speaks, they are asked to describe what they "know" and conclude with a reflection on the kind (F, S or G) of knowledge they are sharing. From this group discussion emerges a composite picture of how Aboriginal Peoples are perceived by the participants. The facilitator and participants can reflect together on what this picture looks like. How accurate is it? What do we not know, i.e what is missing? Is it respectful? Are we confident about what we "know"? If some of us are confident, how did we learn this information?

Reassure your students that their general lack of awareness about Aboriginal Peoples is not a "failing." You may wish to share with them some extracts from recent Canadian history texts, as demonstration of the Bad Old Curriculum you learned, which is worse but not hugely different from what is taught in mandated curriculum today.

The facilitator or educator will then ask the participants to return to the list they produced, or the common list recorded on the chalkboard or flipchart. Now they should code the same points according to "where" their knowledge came from, as follows: "M"= media; "S" = school; "P" = from a person or people. Participants are asked to share reflections on these sources with the group, while considering the broader question of the accuracy and value of various sources of information about Aboriginal Peoples. What has been learned during this "unlearning" or decolonizing process about where one gets valid and appropriate "information"? How has what the participant un/learned changed what s/he would now put on the list? If their lists contained valid, accurate information, what were their sources? How and why has the information they have gained during this process contributed to this change?

Learners reflect critically on what and how they have been learning about Aboriginal Peoples up to this time. Usually, the discussion reveals a significant number of people who feel themselves to be, or are, inadequately educated on this topic. There may be one or more participants in each group who have absorbed valid and appropriate knowledge; she or he can share what they know with the group during this exercise. The learner should be clearer about which sources are most likely to provide valid information. Always encourage the Next Step: creating and taking opportunities to learn about Aboriginal Peoples directly from Aboriginal Peoples in their/your own region.

Chalkboard and chalk. Flipchart, markers and tape can be used if chalkboard is not available. Students are asked to call out the names of any nation or group of Aboriginal Peoples (i.e. Mohawk, Mi’kmaq, Maya, Ojibway/Anishinawbe, Haida, Blackfoot, Cherokee, Inuit, etc.). As each name is called out, three lists should be made on the blackboard:

• Nations/Peoples who made or make their home in what is now known as Canada;
• Nations/Peoples in the rest of Turtle Island (the Americas); and,
• Blended Nations or Peoples, i.e. Métis and mestizos.

When the class is finished, explain that there were at least 50 and perhaps as many as 70 distinct First Nations or Aboriginal Peoples in what is now called Canada before the European explorers and settlers arrived (Dickason, 1994). The only one of these who are believed to no longer exist is the Beothuk. Originally from what is now Newfoundland, the Beothuk were eliminated from their territory through a government-paid bounty for the extermination of this People, a strategy that was successful in the first few decades of the 1800's. In all of the Americas (Turtle Island, as many First Peoples from this region call the land), there were probably 2000 distinct Aboriginal cultures. (Dickason, 1992.)

In the list below are some of the elements of cultural genocide that might be (as you become more knowledgeable, will be) touched on during this discussion (for resources, see Dickason, 1992; Reed, 1999,and the CAAS Basic Resource List):

• The Doctrine of Terra Nullius, which religious and political authority to European mercantile explorers to claim any "empty" land, later expanded to include territory that was not being used in a "civilized" way
• Imported disease
• Slavery --especially along the east coast in the late 1500’s and the 1600’s.
• Military alliances (often based on Treaties that were not honoured by the Europeans) with various colonial powers, leading to deadly conflict with other colonial powers.
• Relocations
• Starvation
• Massacres
• Bounties for extermination (the Beothuk and the Lenape or Delaware People).
• Cultural repression to force assimilation, especially through colonial or federal legislation.
• Broken Treaties
• Residential Schools, jails, etc.
• Tally how many groups of First Peoples your class has listed. Ask the class for their comments about why they don’t know the names of the others. Help your learners understand that it is not their fault they don't "know" these things. Explore how the inadequate curriculum in schools is a pedagogy of oppression, a topic discussed in detail in Learning About Walking in Beauty: Placing Aboriginal Perspectives in Canadian Classrooms.

You may want to use a blank map for this exercise. As you become more familiar with the names of First Peoples, you will also be able to share what you have learned, infusing understanding of the diversity of Indigenous cultures into the learning process. Teachers may want to offer related learning from Aboriginal traditional stories (oral histories) regarding the beginning of human settlement on this land. Educators who use this activity are asked to make serious efforts to find a creation story from First Peoples in their region. The Coalition for the Advancement of Aboriginal Studies, local Friendship Centres, and Band historians or Elders from nearby First Nations communities will be happy to assist with finding these resource persons or materials.

Learners become familiar with names of Peoples from different Aboriginal cultures or nations (albeit in English or French, often). As they begin to realize how little they know about their "hosts" here on Turtle Island, they also begin to acquire a foundation of valid information. Learning to identify and speak the Names of the First Peoples of Turtle Island is the first step towards building a respectful relationship.

Chalkboard and chalk. Flipchart, markers and tape can be used if chalkboard is not available. Invite the class to once again call out "names." This time we are looking for the names by which we call these people because of colonization. These are the "Labels" that have been developed by European explorers, colonizing governments, the neocolonial governments that exist today on Turtle Island. You are looking for "Indian", "savage", "Native", "Indigenous", etc. Due to the self-consciousness many people have about acknowledging systemic racism, you may find that learners offer none of the most problematic terms. As noted above, Graveline warns us to be careful at this juncture. However, many of these words are known to everyone, because some sports teams use degrading imagery and terms, creeks and mountains have racist names, and everyday conversation can be infused with this language. Probing gently along these lines may be helpful. The educator is looking to help learners shed biases and stereotypes, and that does require looking at how we "name" First Peoples.

When the class has exhausted the "labels" they can recall, ask for their help in critically reflecting on each one. Where does this label come from? How did it get attached to this group of people? Is it a respectful term, or not? What was the intention of the individuals who first coined this term to describe, for example, the Mi'kmaq, Cree or Seneca man or woman or community of People, or the so-called non-Status Indian, etc.?

Compare this list of "Labels" to the list produced in "Name the Nations", and ask participants to reflect on the different natures of these lists. Encourage understanding that the Nation names are the most respectful, perhaps by comparing how we "name" this group of people compared to other groups of People in different parts of the world.

Learners become familiar with the large number of terms used to describe this group/these groups of People/s, and the colonizing root of these terms. They begin to understand the extent of intentional disruption of Aboriginal identity -- a violation of human rights known as "cultural genocide" -- that has characterized Canada’s Aboriginal policy since the colonial period.

Paper and a writing implement may be used for this exercise.

Aboriginal Peoples expect recognition for their identities as First Peoples or First Nations. Each cultural group (distinct First Peoples of Turtle Island, as well as various Europeans, different nations of Africans, etc.) has its own outlook on the world, which can also be called worldview. Educators can open a discussion about the unique qualities in Aboriginal cultures, as compared to the dominant Euro-Canadian culture. For example, educators could explore with their students the following Aboriginal understanding of the responsibility of individuals, as human beings:

Religion, or spirituality, are central to culture and worldview. You can use concrete examples such as the importance of many church institutions in Canada's history, or the fact that Christian holidays are observed by law in Canada, while holidays of other traditions are not. As you become more capable, you could open a discussion about "same" and "different" regarding Indigenous knowledges and spiritualities, and the way in which people who follow the conventional customs of Euro-Canadian culture relate to the natural world around them. As you progress in your own learning, take time to learn about diverse Indigenous spiritual cosmologies, and to understand the significance of Creation Stories and the Creator in Indigenous spirituality. Move towards being able to communicate the meaning inherent in the expression All Our Relations (or any other similar term culturally more relevant to the region you are in), which describes Indigenous perspective on relationship with the living world:

That was a long lead-in to this exercise, which is central to Indigenous worldview and can be very challenging to grasp for Canadians. The exercise can now be described.

You are ready to begin taking your students to the place of spirit, which is inside of each of us in this exercise. Provide a few moments of guided meditation or reflection to help the learners visualize and experience that memory of relationship with what Cajete calls "other life, and the natural world." Ask the participants to think about sometime they saw or felt or were aware of "spirit" in something "natural" they saw: a beautiful flower, a newborn kitten, a stand of trees, a canyon, or something else. This sense of spirit was probably felt as a "connection" to some part of creation. Provide times of silence between your spoken guide to this the place of spirit. Allow mental, emotional and spiritual space for the participants to find this recollection.

Once your students have recalled that connection or memory of spirit, you can either have a class discussion about what people have identified or you can ask them to write it down and invite participants to share responses with the group.

After these experiences have been shared to the extent your learners are willing, use guided meditation techniques to ask them to go mentally, emotionally and spiritually back to that place where they were recalling that experience of "relationship" with some other species of life. Ask them to feel again how connected they were to that part of creation. Then, ask the students, "How did (does) that flower, bird, puppy, sunrise, creek, (or other part of creation you connected with) see or perceive or relate to you?"

The learner may have a strong emotional response to asking himself or herself that question, because this may be the first time s/he will have seriously contemplated his or her role in the ecosystem from a non-hierarchical perspective. One's responsibilities for reciprocity in relationship could be cast in a harsh light, when one first considers how you might be viewed by some other part of the natural world. Invite your students to share their responses; some may be willing and others not. If your group is trusting with each other and has time, you might want to consider use of the technique Image Theatre, to convey feelings about this exploration of the place of spirit.

On the other hand, some participants may not be able to recall this kind of connection or having been in the place of spirit. This will mean that the second part, where they are asked to reflect on how they were being perceived by a non-human part of the loving world, will be hard to imagine. That is all right.

Learners begin to critically reflect on the role of reciprocity and respect in relationship; this can be inclusive of the entire living world or, if more comfortable for learners in your group, discussion can be directed back towards connections between people. Learners begin to grasp some of these notions:

• distinct cultures can have common elements;
• the meaning of "Aboriginal worldview";
• "spirituality" is an essential element of worldview;
• feeling responsible or accountable to the rest of creation.

What is important is to appreciate that very different worldviews are being explored here. For those who could not make this connection to the place of spirit, not being able to cross that cultural gap can be as much a learning experience as feeling that one has crossed it.

Evaluation of the exercises through a discussion circle, if time permits, or written reflections are an important component of this Unlearning-to-Learn process. A non-hierarchical approach to learning must involve an exploration of the pedagogical process, allowing time and space for the process itself to be questioned, challenged, critiqued and/or appreciated. Here is where we all learn what worked and what didn't.

This is also the time when all participants can talk about how what they have learned has changed their perceptions. Do participants feel this un/learning has increased their capacity to address the shortfall in portrayal of Aboriginal perspectives in Canadian classrooms? From their new understanding, what needs to change? How can we work together, or with others who have not been part of this process, to bring about these changes?

As we began to talk about compiling these exercises, we discovered that many groups and individuals associated with our network do this kind of participatory education when trying to un-teach stereotypes. For example, the Aboriginal Rights Committee of KAIROS (formerly the Aboriginal Rights Coalition and Project North) has developed a popular education manual the centrepiece of which is something called "The Blanket Exercise." Educators at Trent University, George Brown College and many other post-secondary institutions, as well as some on First Nations territories such as Six Nations of Grand River, are using these kinds of decolonizing methodologies. This pedagogical style is standard among antiracism and anti-oppression educators.

Much of the content of the "Walking in Beauty" report can also be used for participatory decolonizing learning, especially the students' comments and the exemplary practices materials. The Student Awareness Survey produced spontaneous un-learning and learning, which we discuss in the report. The CAAS Learning Circle and related learning expectations can be used effectively in Unlearning-to-Learn professional development sessions.

CAAS hopes that the effort we have made to draft this short brief may encourage educators and other partners to work together to compile exercises such as these into a manual. This manual could be shared with educators and students starting out on this learning path, in order to help those of us who are ready to start by first doing some Unlearning-to-Learn. In this way, we can each and all contribute to the necessary process of Unlearning-to-Learn. For this, just like for our website maintenance and other tasks that are essential to helping educators and students get started with this pedagogical journey, CAAS needs money and other resources. Can you help?