This chapter opens with a brief history of Canada for the international reader. Chambers comments that Canada’s unique position as an extremely diverse parliamentary democracy means that education is highly challenging but rarely a matter for public debate, as it is never a federal election concern, but rather rests with the provinces and territories. She comments that while multicultural education as a whole still needs much more attention, Indigenous curriculum in particular is underrepresented in scholarship.

The role of Indigenous knowledge systems as both content and pedagogy continue to be developed by numerous scholars. A phenomenological approach, increasingly utilized in education in Western Canada, allows educators to think practically through the interactions between curriculum, pedagogy, and the lived experiences of teaching, learning, and everyday life. In addition, the hermeneutic tradition in Canadian curriculum studies has lead to a complex 'cross-cultural mediation’ that is dynamic and does not shy away from difficulty. Other theoretical framework—of autobiography and intersubjective narrative inquiry, for example—also highlight the role of experience and relations, and a focus on topography—on relationships with space and place—in turn emphasizes holistic connections between persons and their environments.

Chambers’ discussion goes on to address issues of hyphenation (e.g., what it is to be “Japanese-Canadian”) and postmodernism, and also engages with a significant body of Indigenous theory. Her conclusion states that many curriculum scholars in Canada advocate for a 'middle or third way’ that braids together languages, traditions, pedagogies, and theoretical frameworks rather than a single accepted practice.

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Chambers, Cynthia. “‘As Canadian as Possible Under the Circumstances’: A View of Contemporary Curriculum Discourses in Canada.” International Handbook of Curriculum Research, edited by William F. Pinar, 221-252. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003.

Reade this chapter in the Google Books preview of the International Handbook of Curriculum Research.

Battiste’s paper emphasizes the importance of Indigenous knowledge and its inherent incompatibility with a format such as a literature review, commenting that this review can only be read as fundamentally limited. The author surveys critical elements of Indigenous education, such as Elders’ involvement in curriculum development, and the importance of reforming educational structures as well as content. Indigenous education must be linked to the community and relationships, intergenerational land use, have exceptional support from teachers, and should begin to reform educational structures such as certification, setting, and types of research.

From Introduction:

This paper responds to the Government of Canada's working partnership with First Nations to improve the quality of Aboriginal life and education in Canada through the Education Renewal Initiative. It reviews the literature that discusses Indigenous knowledge and how it is handed down from generation to generation, and it outlines for the National Working Group on Education and the Minister of Indian Affairs the educational framework and recommended steps required to improve and enhance First Nations educational outcomes.

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The AFN has made this resource available here.

Battiste, Marie. Indigenous Knowledge and Pedagogy in First Nations Education: A Literature Review with Recommendations. Ottawa: National Working Group on Education and Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 2002.

This document is a supplementary resource that provides additional materials for teachers implementing Dene Kede curriculum.

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This document was accessed in July 2017 in the University of Alberta Cameron Library's circumpolar collection. 

Dene Cultural Institute. Dene Kede: Justice and Medicine Activities. Prepared for the Dogrib Divisional Board of Education by Dr. Joan Ryan and Martha Johnson, Research Associates, Arctic Institute of North America, 1994.

Fogwill describes the languages of the Northwest Territories and the demographics at the time of writing, noting that the NWT had the youngest population in Canada and the highest birthrate. The majority of members of the NWT Legislative Assembly and Cabinet were Aboriginal. Fogwill posits three main phases of education in the Northwest Territories: mission (1800s-1950), federal (mid 1940s-1970), and territorial (1967-). In addition, she tracks the discussions contributing to education reform in the NWT, including community testimony and assessments. Fogwill’s key theme is that NWT grade school, at the time of writing, was ill-equipped to provide education that would help a child advance professionally in the north. As such, if a child dropped out of school (and when Fogwill was writing, only 5% of Aboriginal people in Canada graduated grade 12) (s)he would be unprepared both for wage labour and for a traditional lifestyle. Possible solutions such as Dene Kede curriculum were just beginning to be developed/implemented at this time, and had not yet been evaluated.

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Download the full text of the edited volume on ERIC.

Fogwill, Lynn. “Chapter 16: Literacy: A Critical Element in the Survival of Aboriginal Languages.” In Alpha 94: Literacy and Cultural Development Strategies in Rural Areas, edited by Jean-Paul Hautecouer. 229-248. Toronto: Culture Concepts Publishers, 1994.

This article provides a historical overview of interpreter/translator (I/T) training in the Northwest Territories, focusing on Arctic College programs at Thebacha Campus (Fort Smith) as compared with Nunatta Campus (Iqaluit). The Northwest Territories Department of Information formed the Interpreter Corps in 1979, and launched I/T training at the same time. The same department became Culture and Communications a few years later, and the program was renamed “the Language Bureau,” which in 1993 provided on the job training for Dene or Inuktitut-English employees.

In 1987, a one-year I/T certificate program was developed at Arctic College by Marilyn Phillips and the Language Bureau. By 1993, a second year diploma was in place. At the time of this paper’s writing, it was offered in two locations: Thebacha (for Dene students) and Nunatta (for Inuit Students). To qualify for the program, students had to be orally fluent in Dene and have completed Grade 10. They often learn to write in their language in the program, “since a standardized system of writing Anthapaskan languages [had] only recently been accepted” (96). The languages taught were “Gwich’in, North Slavey, South Slavey, Dogrib, and Chipewyan,” (96) and the Dene classes were “Professional Development, Northern Studies, Keyboarding, Communications, Speech and Performance, Listening Labs, English Writing Lab, Dene literacy, Linguistics… Translation Methods, Interpreting Methods, Simultaneous and Consecutive Interpreting, and two Practica” (97).

One major challenge this program encountered was evaluation. No Dene native speaker had completed a degree in interpreting or translating or written a “CTIC” exam. Most elders were unilingual, and thus unable to evaluate simultaneous interpretation (as judged by the program). A second challenge was enrolment, which was endemically low, in part because potential students could not find housing for their families near each campus. Finally, I/T services were in such high demand that translators often did not need formal training to acquire a job.

Abstract: 

This report briefly outlines the historical developments of interpreter I translator training in the Northwest Territories. It describes the origins of the present Arctic College I IT programs at the Thebacha Campus in Fort Smith and Nunatta Campus in Iqaluit and describes their similarities and differences. It outlines admission requirements and course offerings and discusses some of the challenges faced in training aboriginal translators and interpreters.

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The full text of this article can be downloaded from erudit. 

Semsch, Marlene. “A Report on the Arctic College Interpreter-Translators Program.”  Meta 38, no. 1 (1993): 96-91.

Note that Dene Kede Curriculum documents for grades 7, 8, and 9 were published subsequently, beginning in 2002.

This curriculum was developed with elders and teachers from each of the five Dene regions. It is intended to provide youth with Dene knowledge, skills, and attitudes, and emphasizes relationships with land, with the spiritual world, with other people, and with oneself. It also contains an overview of expectations for Dene as a first and second language students. Participants from the Sahtú included:

• Fibbie Tatti (Coordinator, Yellowknife)
• Jane Modeste (Developer, N. Slavey)
• Albertine Baton (Developer, N. Slavey)
• Therese Pellitier (Developer, N. Slavey)
• George Blondin (Elder, Great Bear Lake region)
• Joseph Jerome Bonnetrouge (Elder, born in Fort Good Hope, moved to Fort Providence)
• Marie Cadieux (Elder, born at Jiewatue on Great Bear Lake)
• George Kodakin (Elder)
• Rosa Taniton (Elder)
• Rose Sewi (Elder)
• Louie Taniton (Elder)
• William Sewi (Elder)

Description: 

Dene Kede encompasses the language, culture and the way in which five Dene nations view the world. In K to 6, themes are used to reinforce and teach the four concepts central to Dene perspective: the Spiritual World, the Land, the Self and the People, while grades 7 to 9 employ a modular approach. The purpose of this curriculum is to present children with the experiences, knowledge, skills and attitudes which will guide them toward becoming capable citizens.

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The full text of Dene Kede curriculum is available from the Department of Education, Culture, and Employment.

Read Dene Kede K-12, in addition to teacher resources on the ECE website: https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/en/services/education-et-programmes-detude-de-la-maternelle-la-12e-annee/aboriginal-languages

Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Dene Kede: Education, a Dene perspective. Grades K-6. Yellowknife: Education, Cultre and Employment Education Development Branch, 1993.

Chambers draws on the testimony at the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline inquiry, along with other Dene sources, to complicate English/Western ways of speaking, teaching, and thinking about education. Listening to Dene lessons remind us that all knowledge is storied, that communication must balance telling and listening, that a listener is responsible for much interpretation, and that family/community are central to education, as is land. Her paper is followed by some text from the Berger inquiry, along with an interpretation of said testimony.

Abstract:

Western European forms of discourse have been foisted upon the world as the universal value-neutral reference point. External standards have been used to assess aboriginal discourse, particularly in public contexts such as schools and courtrooms. These standards assume that there is one single correct way to proceed (to talk, write, argue, teach), and that ways of knowing and proceeding are universal and foundational. The Dene remind us that all knowledge is "storied," that is, knowing and communicating are always partial (no one knows the whole story) and contextualized (all stories are rooted in a particular time, place, and set of sociocultural conditions). Ethical forms of communication (including teaching/learning) require a balance between narration and listening. Dene elders criticize schooling for teaching children to talk too much. Dene discourse emphasizes restraint, silence, and discernment of the right moment for speaking/writing or listening/interpretation. Dene ways of speaking equalize power differences between speaker and listener. A speaker does not state the point or argument directly. In such a communicative context, the audience assumes much of the responsibility of interpretation. Story, personal experience, and culture must form the basis of curriculum for aboriginal education. This paper contains Dene testimony before the MacKenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry and a detailed rhetorical analysis of that testimony. (SV)

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The full text of this conference paper can be found on ERIC.

Chambers, Cynthia. “(Other) Ways of Speaking: Lessons from the Dene of Northern Canada.” Presented at the Annual Conference of the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Vancouver, British Columbia 4 Mar 1992.

This is a one page chart of Dene vowel sounds and pictures of what they represent. It was published with the NWT Department of Education, Culture, and Employment. 

Preview the chart below: 

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North Slavey Vowels and Dipthongs Chart. Northwest Territories Department of Educatıon, Culture, and Communications, 1990.

This document contains North Slavey sounds, words in which they are found, and pictoral representations of those words. For example, “a,” “sah,” and a picture of a bear or “ts,” “tsá,” and a picture of a beaver.

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North Slavey Alphabet Chart. Northwest Territories Department of Education, Culture, and Communications, 1990.

Dene Then: Precontact is the first of four themes within Dene Studies curriculum (1980s), and focuses on the central question, “What was Dene life like?” Topics include Economy and Technology, Living with the Land, Values of Dene Life, Learning and Survival, and People Living Together. The teaching guide provides an outline of activities, outcomes, and resources, including a guide to independent student research with organizations such as the Prince of Wales Heritage Center.

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Dene Studies curriculum documents are held in the NWT Archives. See item no. N-2007-014: 1-1. 

Dene Studies Project Team. Dene Then: Precontact, Teacher’s Guide. Yellowknife: Northwest Territories Department of Education and the Dene Nation, 1988.