Reconciliation integrated into education at City University of Seattle's Vancouver campus

Educator Arden Henley says he has tremendous gratitude for what he’s learned from indigenous people.

In an interview at the downtown Vancouver campus of City University of Seattle in Canada, Henley explained that First Nations people have opened his eyes not only to their history and suffering but also to their gifts—including a “supportive gentleness that I had seldom encountered before”.

“There’s a profound collective generosity that can take place through prioritizing relationships to one another and to the environment,” Henley said. “And that makes so much possible.”

Henley, principal of City University’s Canadian programs, has been moved by how First Nations people have shared their experiences with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. The TRC was created to allow them to talk about what happened in church-run residential schools, where many were subjected to horrific abuse. In June, after five years of work, the commissioners issued 96 “calls to action”.

This prompted Henley to launch an initiative to ensure that the TRC’s recommendations were embedded in City University’s master’s programs in counselling and education.

He asked Carolyn Kenny, a former professor of First Nations education at Simon Fraser University, to work with students and faculty on developing a four-hour module. Kenny told the Straight that they asked a researcher to read many survivors’ stories in the TRC files. Eventually, they agreed on 20 that would be included in the program.

“The faculty here has been wonderful to make spaces in their classes that they had already designed,” Kenny said. “It’s a team effort.”

Kenny’s mother was Choctaw. She was adopted into the Haida Nation many years ago and has focused much of her academic career on music therapy. Most recently, she served as a professor of human development and indigenous studies in the PhD in leadership and change program at Antioch University.

Kenny said students will be assigned to read first-person stories from residential-school survivors, then make oral presentations outlining their action plans for responding to the TRC recommendations.

“That creates a layer of accountability to their classmates and instructors,” Kenny stated.

She said it’s important for counselling and education programs to help students feel comfortable interacting with aboriginal people even if they’ve never had any dealings with them. In her view, students should be encouraged to attend powwows, participate in round dances, and not be shy about asking questions.

Nevertheless, Kenny acknowledged that some First Nations scholars are critical of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission as a resolution to the issue.

“Lee Maracle and [Gerald] Taiaiake Alfred have said the only answer is complete restitution of land,” she said. “There are many different positions.”

She pointed out that some aboriginal people, including former day-school students, didn’t have access to the TRC as a result of an agreement reached between the Assembly of First Nations, the churches, and the federal government. Only those who attended residential schools were allowed to bear witness to their experiences.

“So I think there is a danger of a new form of colonization, which is only about a certain segment of our population of Native people [being heard],” Kenny said. “But I think it’s a good start.”

Henley worked for years as a family therapist, which brought him closer to indigenous ways of healing.

“It’s all about how we hold stories—together and individually,” he said. “Those stories begin to shape us, so it’s better to cultivate a story that involves some hope and possibilities.”

He noted that victims of abuse or oppression are often unable to engage in healing wholeheartedly until they feel that the initial wrong is being addressed. That’s why he feels that the TRC is so important in acknowledging what happened in Canada’s past.

“It’s a conversation about the fundamentals of what makes for a happy, healthy, and harmonious society,” Henley said.