Knowing the Past, Facing the Future

Sheila Carr-Stewart is a professor emerita at the College of Education at the University Saskatchewan and teaches in the Faculty of Education at the University of Alberta. A former teacher, she has worked extensively in the area of Indigenous education, particularly on issues related to jurisdiction, administration, funding, and local control of community schools. In 2013, she received the University of Saskatchewan Provost’s Award for Teaching and Research Excellence in Aboriginal Education.

Contributors: Jonathan Anuik, Michael Cottrell, Karlee D. Fellner, Rosalind Hardie, Darryl Hunter, Harry Lafond, Solange Lalonde, Brooke Madden, Yvonne Poitras Pratt, Jane P. Preston, Larry Prochner, Noella Steinhauer

Mark Fettes, Simon Fraser University:
There is no doubting the importance of the subject tackled by this edited collection... In eleven highly diverse chapters, plus a substantial introduction by editor Sheila Carr-Stewart, this collection seeks to shed light on the mechanisms of educational exclusion and sound out the prospects for a different kind of education in the future.

Valentina de Riso, Nottingham Trent University:
This book provides innovative reflections on long-standing issues in Indigenous education in Canada and suggests possible pathways to address the educational debt that Canada owes Indigenous peoples. I recommend it to educators, students, and administrators, to anyone interested in learning about the history of residential schools, and to all readers who are interested in reconciliation and decolonisation.

Margaret Wilson, professor emerita, Faculty of Education, University of Alberta:
An important book for students, educators, and administrators who want to understand the colonial history of First Nations education in Canada and help create a better future.

Marie Battiste, author of Decolonizing Education: Nourishing the Learning Spirit:
This must-read collection of essays provides needed historic reflections on treaties and Indigenous peoples’ aspirations for education, and much needed insight, support, and research to address the reconciliation agenda and correct the longstanding educational debt owed Indigenous peoples.

Jo-ann Archibald (Q’um Q’um Xiiem), co-editor of Decolonizing Research: Indigenous Storywork as Methodology:
New and seasoned readers to Indigenous education in Canada will value how the authors tackle old issues in new ways, uncover challenges that have been ignored, and present innovative possibilities that learn from the past for a much better future.

Margaret Kovach, author of Indigenous Methodologies: Characteristics, Conversations, and Contexts:
Knowing the Past, Facing the Future is critical reading for those invested in Indigenous education, as all Canadians ought to be. By confronting colonialism and racism as they intersect with reconciliation, the contributors of this collected work address the role and responsibility of education in decolonizing a society. I recommend this book be read by all educators.