William Waters Annual Symposium on Urban Education
The symposium involves a visit from a distinguished academic of international stature,
who galvanizes energy around identified themes linked to student engagement through:
• a large public lecture with invited education stakeholders from the provincial, district, local school and university communities
• professional development sessions aimed at pre-service, in-service and university teachers to challenge and inform current local practices
• a networking meeting and reception to create new opportunities and solidify existing collaborations
• informal meetings with students and teachers both at OISE and in local schools.
Upcoming: William Waters Symposium on Urban Education - April 17 - 18, 2013
PUBLIC LECTURE WEDNESDAY, APRIL 17TH, 2013
5:00pm - 8:00pm
OISE Auditorium,
252 Bloor St. West
(St. George Subway)
Toronto, ON
Register at http://www.waterspubliclecture.eventbrite.ca
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William Waters Symposium on Urban Education: Seminars -
Thursday, April 18th, 2013
Location: Native Canadian Centre of Toronto, 16 Spadina Road
Seminar Information
The three seminars described below are free, have limited registration, and are open to all. Lunch, prepared by an Aboriginal caterer, will be served to all morning and afternoon participants.
Register for the Seminars at: http://www.watersfollowupseminars.eventbrite.ca
A. Taiaiake Alfred: 9:00 – 11:30 am (Talking Room)
Primary Focus: Community and Governance
Gerald Taiaiake Alfred is a Full Professor in IGOV (Indigenous Governance) and in the Department of Political Science at University of Victoria. He specializes in studies of traditional governance, the restoration of land-based cultural practices, and decolonization strategies. He is a prominent Indigenous intellectual and advisor to many First Nation governments and organizations. He has been awarded a Canada Research Chair, a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in the field of education, and the Native American Journalists Association award for best column writing.
Educated at Concordia and Cornell, Taiaiake has lectured at universities and colleges in Canada, the United States, England, and Australia. His writing includes numerous scholarly articles, essays in newspapers, magazines and journals, stories, book-length research reports for First Nations and government clients, as well as three published scholarly books, Wasáse (Broadview, 2005), a runner-up for the McNally Robinson Aboriginal Book of the Year in 2005; Peace, Power, Righteousness (Oxford University Press, 1999/2009); and Heeding the Voices of Our Ancestors (Oxford University Press, 1995).
Taiaiake's current research involves studying the effects of environmental contamination on Indigenous cultural practices, with a special focus on the Mohawk community of Akwesasne. In the context of the United States' Natural Resources Damages Assessment process, he works as a consultant with a number of Indigenous communities to assess cultural injury due to industrial and nuclear contamination of the natural environment, and to design land-based cultural restoration plans. His previous research and consulting work centered on retraditionalization, structural reform, and leadership training for First Nations governments and organizations. He also spent many a number of years as a researcher, writer, negotiator and advisor for First Nations governments in land claims and self-government processes.
Taiaiake is a Bear Clan Mohawk. He was born in Montréal in 1964 and was raised in the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory. Aside from his service in the US Marine Corps as an infantryman during the 1980s, he lived in Kahnawake until 1996. He now lives on Snaka Mountain in Wsanec Nation Territory on the Saanich peninsula with his wife and three sons, who are all Laksilyu Clan of the Wet'suwet'en Nation.
B. Ellen Gabriel: 1:00 – 3:30 pm (Talking Room)
Primary Focus: Curriculum, Pedagogy, and Schooling
Kanien’kehá:ka Nation - Turtle Clan
Kanehsatà:ke Mohawk Territory Indigenous Human Rights Activist
Ms. Gabriel was well-known to the public when she was chosen by the People of the Longhouse and her community of Kanehsatà:ke to be their spokesperson during the 1990 “Oka”/Kanehsatà:ke Crisis; to protect the Pines from the expansion of a 9 hole golf course in “Oka”/Kanehsatà:ke .
For the past 22 years she has been a human rights advocate for the collective and individual rights of Indigenous peoples and has worked diligently to sensitize the public, academics, policing authorities and politicians on the history, culture and identity of Indigenous peoples.
She has made numerous public presentations on Indigenous rights and history, including presentations to Parliamentary committees and the National Assembly on legislative amendments affecting the rights of Aboriginal peoples in Canada.
She has been active at the international level participating at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous issues, negotiations on the Nagoya Protocol of the Convention on Biodiversity and most recently, at the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. She has traveled across Canada, to the Hague in Holland, Strasbourg, France to address the European parliament, and to Japan to educate people about the events in her community during the 1990 “Oka”/Kanehsatà:ke crisis when she was chosen by the Longhouse and her community to be their spokesperson.
Ms. Gabriel has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Concordia University where she graduated in May 1990. She worked as an Illustrator/Curriculum developer for Tsi Ronteriwanónha ne Kanien’kéka/ Kanehsatà:ke Resource Center in Kanehsatà:ke and also worked as an Art Teacher for the Mohawk Immersion School for grades 1-6. Ellen has also worked on videos illustrating legends of the Iroquois people and the local community stories. She is presently an active board member of Kontinón:sta’ts – Mohawk Language Custodians and First Peoples Human Rights Coalition. In 2004, Ellen Gabriel was elected president of the Quebec Native Women’s Association a position which she held for 6 ½ years, until December 2010.
Awards: In 2005 Ms. Gabriel received the Golden Eagle Award from the Native Women’s Association of Canada; 2008 International Women’s Day Award from the Barreau du Québec/Québec Bar Association and as well in August 2008 Ms. Gabriel was the recipient of the Indigenous Women’s Initiative “Jigonsaseh Women of Peace Award” for her advocacy work. Ellen worked at McGill University as the Coordinator of the First Peoples' House, which supports Aboriginal students studying at McGill.
She believes that decolonization will be achieved by implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with the full and effective participation of Indigenous peoples. She believes that education controlled by First Nations peoples based upon our languages and culture are paramount to the revitalization of our institutions damaged by the Indian Act, the Indian Residential School and colonial legislation and policy. Our traditional knowledge is precious, is one of the key components for Indigenous peoples in overcoming colonial oppression. She is an advocate for gender equity, the revitalization of Indigenous languages, culture, traditions and Indigenous governing structures
C. Susan Dion and Jean-Paul Restoule: 9:00 – 11:30 am (Cafeteria)
Primary Focus: Research & Indigenous Methodologies
Susan Dion
Dr. Susan D. Dion is an Indigenous scholar (Potawatami /Lenape) who has been working in the field of education for over twenty-five years. She is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at York University in Toronto and her research interests include Decolonizing and Indigenizing education; Urban Aboriginal Education; and violence prevention in Indigenous communities. Dr. Dion works in collaboration with the Toronto District School Board Aboriginal Education Centre on research and program development. Her book titled Braiding Histories: Learning from Aboriginal Peoples' Experiences and Perspectives is available from University of British Columbia Press. Dr. Dion is widely consulted by diverse community groups, workplaces, and institutions on developing methods for building more equitable, respectful relationships between Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal people.
Jean Paul Restoule
Jean-Paul Restoule, Wazhuzhk dodem, Anishinabe, is a member of the Dokis First Nation (Dokis) in mid-northern Ontario, and was raised in Orangeville, northwest of Toronto. He is associate professor of Aboriginal Education in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto. He has been a member of OISE’s Indigenous Education Network since 1998 and was a co-chair of the network for 7 years.
He co-founded SAGE Ontario, a peer support group for graduate students whose research involves Aboriginal communities, and is an original member of the OISE working group to infuse teacher education with Aboriginal perspectives called Deepening Knowledge, Enhancing Instruction. He’s contributed to research on urban Aboriginal identity, HIV prevention messaging in Aboriginal communities, access to post-secondary education for Aboriginal people, and curriculum development with Aboriginal perspectives.
Featured Lecturers
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April 2012 - James Banks and Judy Rebick
Link to view the video recording of this event
https://media.library.utoronto.ca/public/serve/cdLU4ClxFGvk.mp4 -
March 2011 - Dr. Jim Cummins, Dr. David Hulchanski, Gina Csanyi and
Fouzia Warsame - April 2010 - Dr. Lisa Delpit
- March 2009 - Dr. Michelle Fine
The Centre for Urban Schooling congratulates the four William Waters Scholarship winners for the 2011-2012 academic year:
Julia Hainer-Violand - Oyster-Adams Bilingual Public School
Julia's commitment to urban education is rooted in the immigrant experience. Her mother, a first generation immigrant from Bolivia, set forth a standard for her of community activism through education. It is her passion that has led Julia to dedicate her life to providing engaging learning opportunities for second language learners and their families. For the last five years, Julia has taught at Oyster-Adams Bilingual, a dual language Spanish-English public school in Washington, DC… Step inside her room and you can see students debating secession, writing poetry about the Middle Passage, or organizing into a union to promote immigrant labour rights. People’s history becomes alive and acts as a foundation for language development to promote critical thinking and social action.
Melanie Willson - York Humber High School
Melanie's work at York Humber has been informed by eight years of involvement in grassroots anti-poverty organizing in Guelph and Toronto, which has lead to the understanding that schools do not function in isolation from a larger social and political context. In completing this Masters degree, Melanie hopes to take the time to focus on her own learning and growth in order to become a stronger ally to her students, their families, and communities.
Jozef Konyari - Robert F. Hall Catholic Secondary School
Jozef describes his teaching practice as student-centred, geared towards understanding the needs and interests of each individual student in relation to their immediate social circumstances. He would like to examine school spaces as sites for modern-day revolutions and nonviolent resistance to various forms of oppression.
Ambeika Sukhram - Sir Wilfrid Laurier Collegiate Institute
Ambeika is winner of the OSSTF District 12 Status of Women, Outstanding New Teacher award in 2008. The genesis of her interest in urban education is clearly related to her migration from Guyana to Toronto. For her Masters study, Ambeika has outlined a research project that would have her examining the deportation of Roma families from Europe and the ways in which their destination cities, like Toronto, might more effectively address their educational needs.
2010-2011 William Waters Scholarship Winners
Ambika Jain - Norman Bethune Collegiate Institute
Mary Ampomah - Lawrence Heights Middle School
Rhiannon Maton - Emery Collegiate Institute
BEYOND THE THREE R'S: Troubling Reconciliation, Restitution, & Resurgence
A conversation for Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal Educators