Field Trip: Discovering My Privilege
By attending a class field trip to Fort Qu’Appelle it has helped me within my miskasowin journey in discovering self and realizing how my identity contributes to my learnings and what I take away from different experiences. Being a white, settler, I often over looked all the damage that has been done and the land that has been taken away. By being apart of this field trip, it has allowed me to take part in the process of unlearning in order to discover truth by visiting various places, monuments and listening to different stories.
Looking at the different monuments, has allowed me to see how the white, english, male has seemed to be dominant and has erased a lot of history and culture of Indigenous Peoples. This statue presented below, is one of the most memorable things from the field trip, but not memorable in a good way, more in an uncomfortable, upsetting, frustrating way. I had said to my friend “I want to say it” when asked what the statue represented, in which my professor heard and said to me “say it.” So I did. I simply said, “male” which is all I had to say and I did not need to say much more.
Due to my broken foot, it caused great pain and as a result took away from my learnings and contributions. As a result I struggled with staying engaged and apart of the conversation because I was more worried about resting my foot, as I was very uncomfortable while standing around and walking, to the point of tears. It would have been more beneficial for myself to have taken my own vehicle and drive around from place to place as a way to contribute and learning. I realize this relates back to the privilege in which I have and through this field trip, it has allowed me to see how much privilege I have, without the need to fight for it.
Overall, as a white, settler, female, english speaking, Treaty Person, I am becoming more comfortable with admitting all the privilege in which I have, as it has constructed who I am and the experiences I have. Seeing the land, hearing stories and visiting various places within Fort Qu’Appelle, I have come to understand myself more and the need for Treaty Education within schools. Although some conversations are hard to have, it is important we have them as a way to move to different standpoints in hopes of learning truth, towards reconciliation. Fort Qu’Appelle was valuable to my learnings not only as an educator but an individual, as well.
