Fall Anti-Racism Reads Recap: Wayi Wah! By Jo Chrona

The day after reflecting on the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, participants gathered at the Dana Porter Library to discuss Jo Chrona’s Wayi Wah! Indigenous Pedagogies: An Act for Reconciliation.  

Facilitators Leslie Wexler, Senior Educational Developer, Indigenous Knowledges and Anti-Racist Pedagogies at the Centre for Teaching Excellence, and Kevin George, Associate Director, Indigenous Initiatives at the Library, situated the space in a circle, providing participants the opportunity to engage in the First Peoples Principles of Learning.  

“The discussion wasn't exactly what I expected it to be... In a way, the circle offered more than what I was prepared for. I expected more time to be focused on Jo Chrona's book, and yet I'm grateful to Leslie and Kevin for facilitating the circle and wouldn't change a thing.” -- Anti-Racism Reads participant   

Chrona writes about this in her book. We, non-Indigenous educators, often come to “Indigenous work” with trepidation, and until we can situate ourselves — sit in the discomfort — and suspend our preconceived notions of how “it should be,” we will not be able to move forward in an effective way.  

Wexler and George were able to seemingly suspend time for an hour and a half, allowing participants to fully engage in an act of reconciliation: critical self-reflection. Empowering and unsettling, many participants remarked, “I was sad I ran out of time!”  

The ability to do this in a university space, with thoughtful and willing participants, is something I cherish greatly. The physical space, facilitators, approach and the people who attend are always different but one thing that remains the same is the energy many people feel to continue engaging in anti-racist practices.  

Jermal Jones 
Associate Director, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Access 
University of Waterloo Library 

Further Reading 

• Indian School Days by Basil H. Johnston 

• Indigeneity and Decolonial Resistance: Alternatives to Colonial Thinking and Practice, edited by George J. Sefa 

• Reclaiming Indigenous Research in Higher Education, edited by Robin Starr Minthorn and Heather J. Shotton 

• Research Is Ceremony: Indigenous Research Methods by Shawn Wilson 

• Residential Schools and Reconciliation: Canada Confronts Its History by J.R. Miller 

• Silence to Strength: Writings and Reflections on the Sixty Scoop by Christine Miskonoodinkwe Smith 

• Working with Aboriginal Communities in Places of Higher Learning by Herman Michell  

• Working with Elders and Indigenous Knowledge Systems: A Reader and Guide for Places of Higher Learning by Herman Michell