Learning and Unlearning Together
Decolonization is a term that many non-Indigenous people may not be familiar with, let alone have the tools and knowledge to commence a personal or organizational journey of decolonization.
Building on years of partnership and collaboration, the Real Estate Foundation of BC and Nahanee Creative invited all Healthy Watersheds Initiative project staff to join in Decolonizing Practices training through the fall of 2021.
As a part of Healthy Watersheds Initiative commitment to advancing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, HWI and Nahanee Creative developed a customized training package called Decolonizing Watersheds. The intent was to provide a safe space to discuss personal experiences of colonization and empower settler and Indigenous peoples with practices that can help us all move beyond the trappings of colonization.
Indigenous-owned and operated Nahanee Creative then hosted the series of decolonizing workshops for HWI project teams. Each workshop captured lessons learned, commitments and inspiration about actioning UNDRIP, reframing how we understand colonialism and what decolonizing practices can mean within our workplaces.
To prepare for the workshops, the Nahanee Creative and HWI staff team worked together to understand the varied needs of HWI project leads through a distributed questionnaire which was highly influential to the design and delivery of workshop structure, directed questions and discussions, as well as in the provision of further resources to participants.
Since October 2021, Nahanee Creative has provided a total of 9 facilitated decolonial workshops to 246 participants in the Healthy Watersheds Initiative, with further enrollment in self directed, on-demand courses. In February 2022, all workshop participants were invited to a “Learning & Unlearning Together” gathering to reflect on lessons learned and ways to apply them in ongoing work, in good relations, with a decolonial lens.
Project participants were deeply appreciative of the experience and learnings. The final report produced by Nahanee Creative offers an incredible resource for continued reflection and action.
Testimonials from HWI Project Teams
"The Decolonization workshops were an extremely valuable resource for project teams across the province to have access to and we appreciated the challenging work and education." – Project Lead - West Kootenay EcoSociety
“WWF staff really appreciated the Decolonizing Watersheds workshop series. Future iterations are welcomed.” – Project lead, WWF Canada
“The decolonizing and communications training were very timely and valuable.” – Project Lead, Skeena Knowledge Trust
“We found the Indigenous Relations trainings particularly helpful.” – Project Lead, Ducks Unlimited Canada
Divided into 3 topics, the HWI workshop series set its focus on providing both a solid foundation and a forward looking perspective on decolonization for a range of participants to apply to their current and future projects.
The workshop series included:
- Introducing Decolonizing Practices
- Restorying Colonialism
- Actioning UNDRIP
These three sets of workshops were led by Ta7talíya Michelle Nahanee, Ta7talíya-men Paisley Nahanee, Squamish, and Savannah Erasmus, Metis-Cree, and were centered around storytelling and equitable engagement. Each facilitator shared insights from their own experiences and Nahanee Creative decolonial framings through Introducing Decolonizing Practices, Restorying Colonialism online zoom-based workshops. The series culminated in a customized Decolonial SWOT Analysis designed to assist participants in understanding and implementing the calls to action outlined in UNDRIP.
Nahanee Creative offers a number of self-directed On-Demand Mini-Courses.
These online courses focus on a number of topics including Etiquette for Allies; Restorying Colonialism; Cultural Protocols, Cultural Empathy, and Cultural Safety; Introducing Decolonizing Practices; and Territorial Acknowledgements.
You can learn more about Nahanee Creative and their online courses here: https://www.nahaneecreative.com
