Our Children Our Future Our Vision - People for Education

Our Children, Our Future, Our Vision
edge system. This is the typical Eurocentric approach to analysis and categorization of “other”
knowledge systems since they believe that most cultures are not capable of invention, change or
“progress”. 17 This is the fundamental core of Eurocentric categorization of Indigenous peoples and
cultures as “inferior”.
Additionally, there are often attempts to lump all Indigenous knowledges into one set of rules that
will apply to all “Indians” making the management and conversion of individuals with those belief
systems much easier. It is as if the varied histories, stories, values, experiences, territories and
local conditions make no difference to the knowledge contained in each system. However, Indigenous
knowledge is something very different from European conceptions of it:
Indigenous knowledge thus embodies a web of relationships within
a specific ecological context; contains linguistic categories, rules,
and relationships unique to each knowledge system; has localized
content and meaning; has established customs with respect to
sharing of knowledge…and implies responsibilities for possessing
various kinds of knowledge. 18
Outside observers lack the conceptual understanding or worldview to understand traditional Indigenous
knowledge systems which are based not only on the cultures they observe, but from the
deeply complex concepts and meanings inherent in Indigenous languages.
First Nations speak about language and culture as being intertwined.
Fluent speakers, particularly elders, note that unique concepts
are expressed through the language and that it is impossible
to translate the deeper meanings of words and concepts in the
languages of other cultures. Linguists agree that language shapes
the way people perceive the world and how they relate to the world
around them, as well as how they describe it. The intimate relationships
between language, culture and thought underlie the insistence
of First Nations peoples that language education must be a priority. 19
That being said, there are several characteristics of traditional Indigenous knowledges that
separate them from Eurocentric and other knowledge systems. Indigenous knowledge and ways
of knowing are holistic and based on local conditions which reflect the inter-relationships between
people, animals, plants, and everything that exists in the ecosystem – including those things seen
and unseen. Instead of being a predictable “science” based on theories about how the world
should be, it is instead a more accurate science based on how the world (seen locally) actually is.
17 Protecting Indigenous Knowledge, supra note 2 at 21-23.
18 Indigenous Knowledge, supra note 2 at 14.
19 R. Powless, “The New Agenda: Building Upon the History of First Nations Education in Ontario” in Manifesto, supra
note 11 [Building Upon the History] at 3.
5 Chiefs of Ontario