decolonizing reading club
In January 2021, LWF and the Lake Winnipeg Indigenous Collective (LWIC) collaboratively created a reading club to grow our teams’ understanding of Indigenous perspectives and experiences, truth and reconciliation, treaty obligations, and the history and legacy of colonization. Through group discussions on shared readings, this reading club genuinely created a brave space for personal and professional learning and reflection that hadn’t been possible in other workshops and trainings.
The reading club is part of the ongoing growth and development of all staff members as we continue our respective learning journeys. We are working together to challenge our preconceptions, prejudices and past education. We want to ensure that LWF and LWIC staff are equipped with knowledge, terminology and perspectives that will help us integrate actions of reconciliation, decolonization and antiracism within our professional work and in our personal lives.
The topics, ideas and truths we encounter may be difficult and provoke uncomfortable feelings. Having honest conversations about the impacts of colonialism and racism is not easy, but is incredibly important.
As a result of the reading club and subsequent initiatives, LWF and LWIC staff have developed a greater understanding of the impacts of colonization, and have applied these lessons. Most notably, the 2023-2027 strategic planning process – including committee briefs, land acknowledgement and new organizational values – was more meaningful and productive as a result. The strategic plan commits to “educate LWF staff, board, members and partners on treaty rights and responsibilities, anti-racism, environmental justice, and the impacts of colonialism” (1.3) and “respect Indigenous rights and jurisdiction and uplift Indigenous knowledge for the protection of Lake Winnipeg” (2.4).
As we read new books, papers and other materials, we will be sharing our reflections on our website, as well as in our newsletters and through e-updates. We invite you to join us on this learning journey.
Click the below links to read recent staff reflections:
Decolonizing Reading Club: Wînipêk
Decolonizing Reading Club: White Supremacy Culture – Still Here
