The guest speaker for SD57’s Indigenous Day of Learning was Dr. Niigaan Sinclair. He had many interesting ideas on how to improve the lot of indigenous students, and yet what stuck with me most was the statement “no one gets there alone.” So much focus goes to “winning” the culture wars these days, and no one ever changes their minds; it is nice to hear a speaker pointing out this reality. Beyond that it was interesting to see a science lab that centered around a recently butchered moose, the muscles and ligaments of its legs, its hide, its bones. The lab seemed like a great opportunity to connect science and a rural setting, which is oddly presented as an environment that is the opposite of science in popular culture. On that note, if you tried this lab in North Vancouver you would have protesters demanding your expulsion from teaching before the permission slips made it back to the school.

An interesting off mic comment he made was that often when he goes to speak at a school the students don’t know who he is or what he’s going to be talking about. Honestly that is how I have always entered a schoolwide talk and never considered it being done differently. His outlook was that the talk would be more impactful if students had some idea of what would be covered, and I think that’s reasonable.