DIY Book Club: The Truth About Stories

By: Becca Shortt

As a non-Indigenous person with many years of experience working with Indigenous communities and researching Indigenous engagement, I am often asked by other non-Indigenous people for resources: “Where can I start?” In preparation for this inevitable question, I have pages and pages of articles, social media accounts, T.V. shows, movies, artists, etc. to share. But I often wonder what people do with the resources I share, how are they engaging with them, what impacted them, and what are they going to do now that they’ve consumed that knowledge. So, I want to focus on one book right now, dig into the reasons I chose it for my colleagues, and invite others to use the provided agenda to organize their own book club with their friends and colleagues.  

Continue reading “DIY Book Club: The Truth About Stories”

Why the word “Indigenizing” makes us uncomfortable

By: Becca Shortt & Alicia Hibbert

It feels like the word Indigenize is surrounding us lately. It is used in workplaces, especially those adjacent to or within post-secondary. It is often used interchangeably with Indigeneity, decolonization, and reconciliation. And it’s a word that always felt uncomfortable to both of us, but we weren’t 100 percent sure why at first. Just that if you put literally any other culture or identity in the world before “-ize,” it sounds horrible. Go ahead, try it. 

So, we explored further.

Continue reading “Why the word “Indigenizing” makes us uncomfortable”