Reflection to Jo Chrona

In yesterday’s class, we read an article titled If Not Here, Then Where? by Jo Chrona, which is found in her book Wayi Wah! Indigenous Pedagogies: An Act for Reconciliation and Anti-Racism Education. https://luudisk.com/2022/04/25/if-not-here-then-where/

What Happened?

Jo Chrona speaks about her experience being apart of building the new British Columbia K-12 ELA curriculum. She recalls being asked, “Why are Indigenous content and perspectives necessary to teach in a classroom with no Indigenous learners?” (Chrona, 2022). Chrona then explains the importance of mandating Indigenous content and perspectives in all classroom across British Columbia.

“When we address the lack of knowledge and understanding about communities, cultures, histories, and rights of Indigenous peoples in Canada, we will have an education system that is responsive to First Nations, Inuit, and Métis learners”.

jO cHRONA, 2022

So What?

In Shelly Moore’s video People are NOT Supports, she discusses how “People can be supportive but are not supports. Supports are tools that increase independence” (Moore, 2025). What stood out to me was how this connects to Truth and Reconciliation in Canada.

Looking at UNESCO, reconciliation is “based on the acknowledgement of past injustice, the acceptance of responsibility and steps towards (re-)building trust. It is often understood as going beyond formal conflict resolution to changing the nature of the relationship between the conflicting parties as part of a long-term communal relationship-(re-)building process” (UNESCO).

Reconciliation requires those who caused harm to acknowledge their actions and take responsibility and to rebuild the trust. However, what we continue to see today in 2026 is that Indigenous People’s and groups doing most of the hard work toward reconciliation. This connects back to Shelly Moore’s point that people are not supports – strategies are. For reconciliation to progress, Canada must stop relying on the Indigenous People’s of Canada to carry the burden of reconciliation and instead take proactive steps (strategies) towards rebuilding trust for a future in reconciliation.

People are Not Supports

How Does Jo Chrona Resonate With Me?

I resonate with Jo Chrona’s post because I remember being in school for a dental assisting program and thinking, “The Indigenous education I am receiving does not prepare me for working in this community.” That was the truth. My peers and I were unprepared to understand or respond to the traumas surrounding dental care for anyone in our community.

Had the program included discussions about the trauma specific to Indigenous People’s in Canada to dental care, we would have been better equipped to respond effectively to everyday anxiety in the dental office.

With all being said that is why we competency #6 Practise respect for all learners from all cultures, including, specifically, Indigenous learners. Integrating Indigenous ways of knowing, doing and thinking in the classroom are not only mandated by the British Columbia curriculum but also a mindset we are authentically learning when becoming teachers in British Columbia.