In this session, Yvonne offers a proposed model of reconciliatory education, or reconciliation through education, to explain the hows and whys of this complex work. The model invites educators to move beyond colonial renderings of teaching and learning—those predicated on individualist, competitive, assimilative terms—and instead embrace the powerful potential of teaching and learning that can result when educators are driven by an ethos of truth-telling (Poitras Pratt & Gladue, 2022) and ethical relationality (Donald, 2012). In this session, Yvonne shares what she has learned with and from her students through processes of facing each other as Indigenous and non Indigenous people across truth divides and invite you to step into the space with us.
Dr. Yvonne Poitras Pratt is a card-holding citizen of the Metis Nation of Alberta whose family ancestry traces to the historic Red River Settlement and, more recently, to the Fishing Lake Métis Settlement in northeastern Alberta. Dr. Poitras Pratt joined the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary in 2013 where she teaches at both the graduate and undergraduate level and specializes in Indigenous education. Dr. Poitras Pratt has earned multiple awards for her teaching and research activities, including: the 2018 Confederation of Alberta Faculty Associations (CAFA) Distinguished Academic Early Career Award, the Werklund Teaching Excellence Award in 2016, the Students Union Teaching Excellence Award in 2017, Werklund Community Engagement Award in 2021, the Alan Blizzard National Award for Collaborative Teaching in 2021, and most recently the University of Calgary Faculty Association Community Service Award in 2023.
Her book Digital Storytelling in Indigenous Education: A Decolonizing Journey for a Métis Community has sold over 270 copies around the world and her most recent publication, Truth and reconciliation through education: Stories of decolonizing practices, features alumni stories from the “Indigenous education: A Call to Action” graduate program that Dr. Poitras Pratt designed with colleagues in 2016.
Dr. Poitras Pratt offers her expertise within Indigenous education to a variety of stakeholders, including educational leaders and community organizations; importantly, a large component of her efforts are dedicated to supporting fellow Metis in achieving their educational aspirations.
Sulyn Bodnaresko is a settler born, raised, and living on traditional and contemporary Blackfoot, Tsuut’ina, Îyârhe Nakoda, and Métis lands (Treaty 7, Calgary, Alberta). Her father immigrated from Hong Kong and her great-grandparents from Romania and Austria-Hungary. As an Educational Research PhD candidate, Sulyn focuses on understanding the perspectives and responsibilities of first- and second-generation Canadians in truth and reconciliation. Her interdisciplinary academic background includes global affairs, immigration and settlement, public policy, and education. She is a helper who believes in transformative education and the healing power of relationships.