Người tham gia thân mến
Cher.e Participant.e,
Dear Participant,

We are thrilled and excited that you have chosen to lend your talents in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to support the learning of young people across what is currently Canada. In an effort to break down the structural barriers that exist in our current society, we are forced to recognise the systems of power and oppression that have been created through the intricate legacies of dual colonisation coupled with white and anglophone supremacy. As people who will be interacting with a multicultural public as you share your STEM knowledge, we offer you this training as a way to give you the awareness and tools you need to create spaces of engagement that are both inclusive and antiracist. 

This training is divided into eleven sections that have been co-created by the teams at Future Ancestors Services, SuperNOVA and Actua; followed by a homework piece where we have curated content for you to do at your own pace to help you interact with the learning material. Although we will be touching upon a wide range of topics including the concept of identity, how systemic racism manifests and the ways in which STEM classes could be more representative; the true purpose of this training is not necessarily to educate you, but to inspire you to action. We want you to leave this training thirsty for change and filled with ideas and thoughts on how to dismantle the systems of power and oppression that exist in STEM education in your city, in your province, and all around Canada.

Trân trọng,
Cordialement,
Sincerely,

Future Ancestors Services

Before we dive into the modules, we would like to take a moment to highlight and celebrate the intentionality that has gone into the design and creation of this training. Mo Phùng and Chúk Odenigbo from Future Ancestors Services sat down with the team at SuperNOVA (Hil Hamilton and Clayton Murphy) and had a discussion on the work that SuperNOVA does, the circumstances under which SuperNOVA operates, and their anti-racism needs and objectives. From there, Mo and Chúk came together to create an asynchronous training that would meet these needs and objectives. The Actua team was involved behind the scenes as we collectively built these modules.

Later in the year, we came together with the teams at SuperNOVA (this time represented by Hil Hamilton and Alexandra Fenton) and at Actua (represented by Tracy Ross). We sat down for a total of three hours as we recrafted this training and really centred both our wants and needs as organisations who wish to contribute to the creation of beautiful, inclusive anti-racist societies. We started our time together by defining the space in which we would be operating in as an ethical space:

“[An ethical space] is a way of observing, collectively, how hidden values and intentions can control our behaviour, and how unnoticed cultural differences can clash without our realising what is occurring. Presently, the norm of Western existence, the norm of its governance, becomes so pervasive in its immediacy, so entrenched in mass consciousness, that the foundations of its being become largely invisible to itself. The idea of the ethical space, produced by contrasting perspectives of the world, entertains the notion of a meeting place, or initial thinking about a neutral zone between entities or cultures. The space offers a venue to step out of our allegiances, to detach from the cages of our mental worlds and assume a position where human-to-human dialogue can occur.”

Willie Ermine

We upheld the Métis value of Pa iksitii:

“Taking time to enjoy the processes of life was a common Métis tradition. Learning to look, listen, and learn was a highly valued skill. Taking the time to think before acting and using prayer before making important decisions was a common aspect of the Métis way. Doing things carefully, mindfully, and purposefully the first time was encouraged. Métis carpenters always said, "measure twice - cut once." Patience, and more specifically taking the time to enjoy life, is seen in this story by the family taking time to stop and make a meal and visit and tell stories by the giving tree. The meal could just as easily be eaten in the wagon while on the journey, but the time for family was more important than reaching the end of their journey. The path on the way to your goal is often more important than the actual goal itself.”

Leah Marie Dorion

And we collectively defined our goals, values, feelings, needs and expectations; all of which allowed us to inform the work that was to come. 

In creating, editing and recreating the content for this training, we (your facilitators) drew on our identities and our lived experiences as a young Việt/Người Kinh (Mo) and a young black Franco-Albertan (Chúk) who are at the edge of two realities, of two or three languages, and several cultural traditions. Mo Phùng (they) is a second-generation immigrant who was born in Yarmouth which is situated in a part of the beautiful Mi’kmaw territory that is currently known as the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. Chúk Odenigbo (he) is is a first generation Canadian from Calgary, a city that was built on Treaty 7 territory, with ancestry hailing from Àlà Ị̀gbò. We often have difficult discussions amongst ourselves, but it is precisely these differences that define us and therefore, it is these differences that unite us. We hope to bestow on you the beauty of diversity, anti-racism and cross-cultural friendships through our words.

We ask that you take this training in the spirit with which it was made: with a lot of heart and with a profound desire to begin transforming, empowering and rebuilding the way youth engage with STEM.

This training has been designed to take place asynchronously, enabling you to be at the helm of your own learning. While we have done our best to challenge you in a way that makes you uncomfortable, it is entirely up to you as to whether you acknowledge and seek to grow out of that discomfort. We also understand that an asynchronous text-based model is not always the best way to learn and ask that you touch base with the leadership at Actua if you require any accommodations to support you in engaging with the content. The training format is broken down into three major components:

Learning Outcomes

Immediately after the training:

• Participants will have the tools to recognise their own identity and related privileges, thus being able to better situate themselves within the systems of power and oppression in our society and interrogate circumstances through their positionality.
• Participants will feel empowered in understanding how their confluence of identities play into a classroom dynamic beyond the teacher-student power imbalance and dichotomy.
• Participants will have an enhanced idea on how they can incorporate the tenets of anti-racism into their teaching methods, ensuring a classroom setting that supports students of multicultural origins. 
• Participants will be better able to identify moments that require an antiracist intervention in a classroom setting to ensure support for students of racialised and marginalised identities.
• Participants will have the tools they need to navigate interpersonal relationships with fellow staff members, regardless of identity.

Long-term impacts:

• Actua is fully staffed with personnel that are able to realise the organisational mandate of providing meaningful STEM experiences for all youth, especially those of racialised and marginalised identities and experiences. 
• The personnel at Actua and its network members are able to transition the antiracist tools and philosophies that they gained through their time at Actua into future workplace settings, becoming ambassadors for anti-racism in their respective networks.
• Actua will become an organisation that holds space for voices not often heard in STEM fields and become a leader in diversifying STEM education and rebranding STEM as being for all.
• Actua will be better situated to advocate in favour of anti-racism within their network of organisations, partners and collaborators.

Engaging in an online asynchronous space

This training will take place in a modified ethical space. An ethical space is one that is produced by contrasting perspectives of the world and speaks to the idea of a meeting place, or a neutral zone between entities, cultures, identities and ways of being. This is a space that offers “a venue to step out of our allegiances, to detach from the cages of our mental worlds and assume a position where human-to-human dialogue can occur.” 

To create this modified form of an ethical space that fits in with the asynchronous style of this training, participants are asked to engage in the following behaviours:

• Work on recognising privileges: Participants should use this space to recognise and review their privileges (e.g., class, gender, sexual orientation, ability). 
• Take risks and accept the discomfort: Participants are asked to challenge themselves to contribute during the homework piece even if their wording isn't perfect.
• Practice active listening: Participants are asked to use their energy to read/listen to what is being said and to take note when their defenses arise/if their first instinct is denial.

For more information/to learn more about ethical spaces, please click here and here.

Course Overview

(Estimated 4.5 hours to complete) 

• Welcome and Introductions
• Land Acknowledgement
• Section 1: Identity and Intersectionality
• Section 2: Positionality and Our Worldview
• Recommended: 15 Minute Break
• Section 3: Discrimination 101
• Section 4: History of Whiteness and STEM
• Section 5: Systemic Racism and Anti-racism
• Section 6: Racism in STEM
• Section 7: Racism in the Classroom
• Recommended: 30 Minute Break
• Section 8: Allyship and Ancestral Accountability
• Section 9: Privilege
• Section 10: Interventions and Conflict Resolution with Children
• Section 11: Decolonising STEM in the classroom
• Recommended: Take a break for the rest of the day
• Guided Reflection

Why are land acknowledgements important?

Land acknowledgements reflect a series of traditions practiced by Indigenous communities in what is currently Canada since time immemorial; however, for many non-Indigenous Canadians, officially recognising the territory or lands that one stands on is a fairly new concept. Following the calls to action put forth by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, land acknowledgements have become a standard practice before the beginning of any event in Canada as a necessary first step towards the healing process after the years of colonial efforts to erase Indigenous presence on the land.

A meaningful land acknowledgement starts with an intimate analysis of one’s identity and history with the land. It requires an introspective look into how you/your family came to be on the land that you find yourself/ves as well as the historic and present powers that you and your ancestors wielded in the society/ies that lived on this land. Through this lens, you are then able to understand the responsibility that you have to the land and the original guardians of the land, and express it verbally or visually to signal to those around you, thereby creating accountability. 

According to Anishinaabe-kwe Wanda Nanibush, the first curator of Indigenous art at the Art Gallery of Ontario, land acknowledgements have one goal, regardless of format: They commemorate Indigenous peoples’ principal kinship to the land, highlighting that Indigenous peoples have not and cannot be erased. “They’re a starting place to a change in how the land is seen and talked about,” she says. “[They] help redefine how people place themselves in relation to First Peoples.”

Our land acknowledgement

Future Ancestors Services is a black and Indigenous owned and operated social enterprise that is headquartered in Calgary, a city that was built on Treaty 7 territory recognising the sovereignty of the Blackfoot Confederacy (the Siksika, Kainai, Piikani) who named the land Moh’kinsstis; the Îyâxe Nakoda nations who named the land Wichispa Oyade; and, the Tsuut’ina nation who named it Kootsisáw. Calgary is also in Region 3 within the historical Northwest Métis homeland, with the name Otos-kwunee in Michif. We respect the longstanding relationship of each of these peoples with this territory, which remains unceded.

This anti-racism training has been co-created with SuperNOVA and Actua. SuperNOVA is an organisation based in Kjipuktuk, frequently called Halifax, in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq People. This territory is covered by the “Treaties of Peace and Friendship” which Mi’kmaq Wəlastəkwiyik (Maliseet), and Passamaquoddy Peoples first signed with the British Crown in 1726 that have not been respected. We honour the relationship between the Mi’kmaq on this land since time immemorial. The principal office of Actua is located in Adawe, unceded Algonquin territory that became the capital city of the settler-colonial state Canada.  

Further, we pay respect to all Indigenous peoples from all nations across Canada who call Treaty 7, Kjipuktuk and Adawe home. Indigenous Peoples across Turtle Island and around the world have and continue to demand climate justice, sovereignty, and the right to live. It is imperative that we take our direction from these Peoples and their knowledge systems, teachings, and cultures that inherently centre Earth and Her well-being.

We respect and honour the history of slavery and indentured servitude faced by many black and non-black peoples in the founding and building of colonial Canada. Specific to Nova Scotia, we recognise the plight and struggles of the Afro-Nova Scotian peoples who have defied the barriers raised against them and fought for equity and equality. Specific to Alberta, we highlight Chinese-Canadians who experienced abuse and structural racism as they built the railway that connected the east to the west. We owe many of the human rights we have in Canada today to these brave people. We also acknowledge and consider the layered and complex encounters between Black, Indigenous and other racialised communities in our actions and deeply believe in the strength possible in our united efforts. 

Finally, we acknowledge all Nations – Indigenous and non – who live, work and play on these lands, and who honour and celebrate these territories. Parmi ces nations, nous reconnaissons les Acadien.ne.s, les Franco-Albertain.e.s et les Franco-Ontarien.ne.s qui ont vécu de la discrimination, de la ségrégation et de l’assimilation en raison de leur langue, malgré leurs connexions profondes avec ces terres. Being permitted to work, play and reside in these sacred gathering places provide us with an opportunity to engage in and demonstrate leadership on reconciliation.