“Education is the belief in possibilities.” – Marie Battiste
Decolonizing Education: Nourishing the Learning Spirit by Marie Battiste articulates how traditional models of education in Canada are based in Eurocentric knowledge and often exclude Indigenous ways of knowing and being. She argues for the validity and importance of Indigenous knowledges for all learners, especially Indigenous learners, and suggests that what is needed are approaches that hold European and Indigenous ways of knowing alongside each other. Given Langara’s current tri-fold attention to internationalization, intercultural methods and awareness, as well as Indigenous presence, Battiste’s model for decolonizing education institutions may offer us a way to think about our own approaches in curriculum and education development and program review across these three frameworks.