Preface

Trickster asks: What does it take to keep us going? How do we stay motivated to want to continue to make change? How do we sustain that struggling force in the midst of all the things that happen to us and in our lives to exhaust, to keep us down, to keep our minds off our activist work? Keeping our focus on the politics behind the personal attacks is one strategy for survival. (Graveline 1998:275). ¹

Visioning strategies for change gives us direction and hope. It is also a creative outlet for the anger, which is always present once the many forms of oppression and injustice, become more visible (Graveline 1998:284). Our visions reflect our past histories, our current struggles, our life visions (Graveline 1998:287). The movement in Native literacy to change the impact of the school system, through “acknowledgement of the strength of the interconnectedness of the Circle is truly a revolutionary position” (Graveline 1998:288). The Ontario Native Literacy Coalition (ONLC), Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU), National Literacy Secretariat (NLS) and Native literacy practitioners all work towards that change. What has not been clear up to this date, is how to affect that change.

According to Cardinal-Shubert,(as cited in Graveline 1998:288.) “You have to realize and believe that one person can make a difference” It is a weighty undertaking to comprehend the awesome dedication that motivates the approximately 38 individuals in the Native literacy field. The determination to continue the daily struggle of dealing with the “multi-generational effect of colonial trauma and the larger socio-political realities”(Hart 2002: 31) is a credit to their humanity.

In the 26 programs, isolated as they are from one another, practitioners have accepted a responsibility to help in the education! healing of individuals and communities. Each project that ONLC has commissioned has voiced the belief that holistic pedagogy is a required tool. “Holistic involves the individual, the family and the community”(Morrisseau 1998 as sited in Hart 2002:44). The teaching of “holistic” is that one aspect of individual and community life cannot be separated from all others. Learning, sharing, growth, working for survival, living and loving are inseparable. “Native cultures emphasize cooperation, harmony, interdependence, the achievement of socially oriented group goals and collective responsibility. Thus the goal [of self-actualization] is more akin to family and tribal self-actualization (Hart 2002).” Our learners and our practitioners always have their minds crowded with thoughts, dreams, and concerns about the big picture. This is a good thing. It is considered Aboriginal, holistic and humanist. This world-view is not going to go away. Assistance is needed to put it into action.