AP

Ntamkidwinan: Anti-Oppressive Social Work — Study Notes (Chapter 1–4)

Chapter 1: Ntamkidwinan First Words

  • Opening Reflection

    • Quote: “We are engaged in a cooperative, consensual process…” – Ben Carniol
    • Collaborative authorship: Ben Carniol, Banakonda Kennedy-Kish (Bell), Raven Sinclair, Donna Baines
    • Themes: Respect, relationship, and anti-oppressive practice

  • Core Questions

    • Why do social services regress while education progresses?
    • How can we deepen our engagement with interdependence and inclusivity?
    • How do we confront colonialism and economic injustice in social services?
    • What actions lead to political, social, and economic justice?

  • The Four Foundational Principles (East to North)

    • Kindness (East)
    • Honesty (South)
    • Sharing (West)
    • Strength (North)
    • Life is circular, unfolding, and interconnected
    • Principles are inseparable and must be lived
    • Photo credit note: This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

  • Kindness

    • Life-sustaining, foundational principle
    • Root of respect, healing, and gratitude
    • “We value life because it is life.”
    • Key to anti-oppressive helping relationships
    • What is kindness? Examples?
    • Photo credit note: This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

  • Honesty

    • Awareness, self-reflection, alignment
    • Needed for congruent helping relationships
    • Begins with knowing and understanding ourselves
    • What other words resonate with honesty?
    • Photo credit note: This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

  • Sharing

    • Knowledge is not to be hoarded
    • Sharing brings the good life
    • “Some of us come in pieces… we all come for understanding.”
    • What does it mean to share?

  • Strength

    • Emerges from embodying the first three principles
    • Involves balance, resilience, and renewal
    • Strength is intergenerational and relational
    • What is strength?

  • Interconnectedness and Creation

    • Humans are the youngest relative
    • Dependent on and responsible to all creation
    • Practicing co-existence and mutual respect
    • Photo credit note: This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

  • Final Reflections

    • The journey of helping is never solo
    • Growth, healing, and understanding are ongoing
    • "It takes a village…" — collective work, collective healing

  • Questions for Discussion (early slides)

    • Why is our animal instinct to protect suffering? Not in its entirety, but pieces?
    • What policies or rules are in place that actually act against our normal instincts?
    • What has happened to people to feel numb to that innate response to protect?
    • How can we bring this back?

  • BuzzBible

    • VIDEO

  • Questions for Discussion (Petrels and colonization)

    • Petrels? What reminds you of these Petrels?
    • Why would our human existence prevent us from that same fight?
    • What has colonization created?

Chapter 2: Power, Ideology, and Social Services

  • Foundational Values (reiterated)

    • Kindness, honesty, sharing, and strength
    • Core principles for anti-oppressive, decolonized social work
    • Broader relevance to Canadian society

  • The Legacy of Colonial Oppression

    • Settlers escaped oppression, then imposed it
    • Colonization deeply embedded in Canada's foundation
    • Residential schools as a tool of cultural genocide

  • Indigenous Worldviews

    • All our relations: interconnectedness of life
    • Earth as mother, sun as grandfather, moon as grandmother
    • Kinship web includes all creation

  • Truth and Reconciliation

    • 2015 Commission urges a new relationship
    • Principles of equity, justice, and sharing
    • Contrast with continued colonial practices

  • TRC-Self Determination

    • "Nothing for us without us"
    • Examples?

  • BC Today

    • with Michelle Eliot
    • CBC Vancouver
    • NetNewsLedger

  • Residential Schools

    • Cultural and physical separation of Indigenous children
    • Systematic abuse, loss of language and identity
    • Legacy: intergenerational trauma and community harm

  • Historical Roots of Colonization

    • 1493 Papal Bull & Doctrine of Discovery (532 years ago)
    • Think of even prehistorically?
    • Justification of violence and land theft
    • Ongoing policy influenced by colonial ideologies (let's talk about this?)
    • Holocaust
    • Slavery
    • What else?

  • The 2008 Apology

    • Acknowledged harms of residential schools
    • Indigenous leaders responded with both hope and caution
    • Still lacking action and accountability

  • Gaps in the Apology

    • Silence on genocide and Treaty violations
    • No acknowledgment of economic exploitation
    • Continued marginalization through flawed Treaty processes

  • Illegitimate Colonial Privilege

    • Benefits of colonialism unequally distributed
    • Public education promoted colonial myths
    • Who was taught about Canadian Indigenous History (true history)?
    • Who was taught about African slavery and the Holocaust?
    • Oppression legitimized through ideology and religion
    • Photo credit note: This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

  • Colonialism Today

    • Still impacts every aspect of Indigenous life
    • Policies and worldviews rooted in dominion and greed
    • Calls for recognition, consultation, and true reconciliation

  • Reflection

    • Reconciliation requires more than apology—action is essential
    • Social services must be rooted in equity, respect, and Indigenous knowledge
    • How will we move forward?

Chapter 3: Naming and Resisting Injustices

  • Epigraph

    • "The earth has enough for the needs of all, but not for the greed of the few." – Mahatma Gandhi

  • The Dual Reality

    • Social injustices are deeply rooted and widespread.
    • Privilege is often invisible and protected.
    • BUT: Resistance is growing. People are organizing, educating, and advocating for equity and justice.

  • What is Privilege?

    • [Definition and exploration to be inferred from context in slides]

  • Understanding Colonial Privilege

    • Based on imposed superiority, racism, and cultural domination
    • Built on the theft of Indigenous lands and suppression of Indigenous peoples
    • Privilege persists invisibly in daily life and institutions
    • Photo credit note: This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

  • Breaking Down Colonial Privilege

    • Quote Highlight: “Europeans… brought concepts of land use and ownership that thinly veiled the most systematic theft of land in human history.” – B.C. Community Panel, 1992
    • Land taken was considered "unused" and therefore "unowned."

  • Indigenous Principles vs. Colonial Practices

    • Indigenous values: Kindness, Honesty, Sharing, Strength
    • Colonialism: Invasion, Theft, Violation
    • Decolonization begins with awareness and action
    • Photo credit note: This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

  • Environmental Colonialism

    • Environmental destruction on Indigenous lands
    • Toxic waste, pipelines, clear-cutting, fracking
    • Harm impacts all of us—but it’s disproportionately felt by Indigenous peoples
    • Photo credit note: This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

  • The Story of Grassy Narrows

    • [Brief reference to a case study implied by slide title]

  • Colonial Privilege Today

    • Ongoing benefit from stolen land
    • Harm is minimized or denied by media and institutions
    • Privilege becomes normalized and unchallenged
    • Why?

  • Defining Genocide

    • Residential Schools as Genocide; UN Convention (1948):
    • “Forcibly transferring children… with intent to destroy, in whole or in part…”
    • Photo credit note: This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC

  • Racism and Privilege

    • White Privilege (Peggy McIntosh) Examples:
    • Not needing to speak for your race
    • Trust that race won’t affect medical/legal support
    • Representation in media and education
    • Photo credit note: This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-ND

  • Levels of Racism (Henry & Tator)

    • Three Interconnected Levels:
    • Individual Racism: Personal biases and microaggressions
    • Institutional Racism: Biased hiring, exclusionary policies
    • Cultural/Ideological Racism: Symbols and stories that normalize whiteness

  • Pathways to Justice – What Can Be Done?

    • Acknowledge privilege and systemic oppression
    • Commit to anti-racist education and decolonization
    • Support Indigenous leadership and movements
    • Engage in collective action for justice

  • Thought to Ponder

    • "Equity, inclusion, and democratic accountability are not only possible and desirable, but also critically urgent."

  • Chapter 4

    • [Note: Chapter 4 unfolds with Patriarchal Privilege and Roots: Early Attitudes; see sections below]

Chapter 4A: Patriarchal Privilege – Socially Constructed

  • Core idea

    • Gender inequality is not biological but socially created
    • Women's roles devalued legally, economically, and socially
    • Feminist movements challenge these norms

  • Violence Against Women

    • Patriarchal privilege legitimizes abuse and control
    • Over 4{,}000 women & 2{,}400 children seek shelter daily
    • Many shelters are full; victims are turned away

  • Justice and Blame Culture

    • Victims of sexual violence face scrutiny and blame
    • Rape myths still influence court and public opinion
    • Feminist voices fight to center victims’ experiences
    • Think of triggering language as well; think of the court system?
    • Photo credit note: This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

  • Indigenous Knowledge and Elders

    • Indigenous cultures value elders as knowledge holders
    • Contrast with Western neglect (nursing homes, warehousing)
    • Learning from Indigenous models of respect and care

  • Moving Forward – Challenging Privilege

    • Recognize and challenge systemic injustices
    • Expand democratic participation and equity
    • Support inclusive and intersectional policy changes

  • Discussion / Reflection Questions

    • How is privilege made invisible in Canadian society?
    • How can social work resist class, gender, and age privilege?
    • What can we learn from Indigenous and feminist models of care?

  • Activity: Systems of Power Mapping

    • Purpose: Visually explore how class, gender, and age-based power structures intersect and are maintained in Canadian society
    • Instructions (summary):
    • Break into small groups; large sheets; markers
    • Create power maps showing how institutions (government, media, education, health care, family, corporations) maintain:
      • Class privilege
      • Patriarchal privilege
      • Age privilege
    • Include: Who benefits? Who is harmed or left out? How is resistance happening (e.g., Indigenous knowledge, feminist social work)?
    • Follow-Up Questions (class discussion):
    • What common patterns did we see across groups?
    • How can social workers or community organizers intervene in these systems?
    • What are examples of successful resistance?

  • Game: “Decolonize This!” – Reimagining Institutions

    • Goal: Critically examine how institutions are built on colonial foundations and brainstorm ways to decolonize them through collective strategy
    • Setup: Break into groups (3–5 people); each group gets an institution card (e.g., public school, hospital, child welfare agency, social work program, local government office)
    • Each card includes: mandate and a brief colonial problem (e.g., Indigenous exclusion, language erasure, enforced hierarchy)

Chapter 4B: Roots: Early Attitudes

  • Early Roots of Social Work

    • Emerged alongside growth of capitalism and colonialism
    • Roots tied to managing poverty and social “order” rather than justice
    • Dominated by moral regulation and settler colonial values

  • The Role of Social Welfare

    • Originally designed to support capitalism by managing the poor
    • Reinforced social hierarchies through paternalistic practices
    • Served the interests of colonial states, not marginalized communities

  • Colonial Violence and Social Control

    • Indigenous Peoples criminalized, displaced, and institutionalized
    • Social services used as tools of forced assimilation (e.g., residential schools, child removals)
    • Surveillance and control of racialized and poor communities

  • Social Darwinism and Charity Work

    • 19th-century belief: poverty = personal failure, not systemic issue
    • Charity rooted in "moral uplift" — save the deserving, blame the rest
    • Help offered only to those deemed 'worthy' by white, Christian, middle-class norms

  • Workhouses and the COS (Charity Organization Society)

    • Workhouses: punished poverty through hard labor and harsh conditions
    • COS: Early “casework” model based on moral judgment
    • Focused on individual reform, not structural change
    • Reflected white settler, classist, and patriarchal ideologies

  • Lasting Legacies

    • These systems shaped modern social work’s structures and biases
    • Deep influence of colonial, racist, classist, and patriarchal norms
    • Calls for decolonizing and reimagining social work from the ground up

  • Indigenous Assimilation and Resistance; Colonial Role of Social Work

    • Early social workers helped enforce assimilation through residential schools
    • Assisted in forcibly removing Indigenous children for adoption/foster care
    • Truth about Assimilation: Assimilation was never about inclusion—its real goal was genocide, not integration
    • Indigenous people were never intended to be part of the "New World" vision of Canada
    • Erased Histories: Indigenous history is often omitted or misrepresented in Canadian narratives
    • Social workers must uncover these injustices to challenge ongoing colonialism

  • Decolonization is Everyone's Responsibility

    • All Canadians (not just Indigenous peoples) must engage in decolonizing institutions, including social work
    • Page indicator: 440

  • Inuit and Métis Experiences

    • Inuit Communities: Residential schools led to traumatic cultural dislocation, RCMP killed sled dogs, families coerced with threats of losing government assistance
    • Métis Marginalization: Métis identity often misrepresented as simply "mixed"; Métis Nation emerged in 1816 as resistance to land theft; Louis Riel executed to suppress resistance and Métis nationhood; Recognition in 2016: Supreme Court affirmed Métis rights to be included in federal negotiations; Ongoing discrimination in eastern vs western provinces
    • Photo credit note: This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

  • In Summary

    • Indigenous assimilation and resistance: Complicity of social workers; truth that assimilation was disenfranchisement and cultural genocide; historical erasure upholds colonial privilege
    • Ethical Responsibility: Social workers must uncover and act on historical injustices to challenge colonial power and build mutual respect

  • Colonialism and Land Theft

    • Thomas King’s Perspective: Focus on what white settlers wanted—land; colonial history prioritized settler desires
    • Eurocentric Narratives: Colonial history dominates Canadian education; decolonization is everyone’s responsibility

  • The Great Depression and Social Work

    • Suspicion toward welfare: Leaders like Charlotte Whitton advocated removing children from poor families rather than offering financial aid
    • Conflict of Interest in Social Work: Social workers paid by elites; political advocacy for systemic change risky
    • Photo credit note: This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

  • Takeaways

    • Colonialism, racism, and capitalist interests have shaped Canada’s social welfare systems
    • Indigenous resistance and labour activism have been key forces for justice
    • True reconciliation and social justice require acknowledging these histories and confronting ongoing systemic inequalities
    • Social work has a responsibility to confront power, resist injustice, and support decolonization efforts

  • Questions?

    • [End of provided content]