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Abstract: Responding to the TRCs Calls to Action and Indigenous scholars repeated calls for non-Indigenous people to engage in decolonial efforts (Kovach, 2009; Pete, 2016; Pidgeon, 2016; Wilson, 2008), the Kodály Society of Canada facilitated a series of virtual gatherings in 2021-22 grounded in the principles of respect, responsibility, relationship, and reciprocity (Wilson, 2008). Organized to encourage and support members in their reconciliation efforts, the gatherings were also an opportunity for the organization to consider what steps need to be taken in addressing systems and operations that are deeply embedded in colonial constructs.
Résumé : Pour donner suite aux appels à l'action de la CVR et aux multiples demandes d'universitaires autochtones pour que les non-Autochtones participent aux efforts de décolonisation (Kovach, 2009; Pete, 2016; Pidgeon, 2016; Wilson, 2008), la Société Kodály du Canada a organisé, en 2021 et 2022, une série de rencontres virtuelles portant sur les principes de respect, de responsabilité, de liaison et de réciprocité (Wilson, 2008). Ces rencontres, qui visaient à encourager et à soutenir les initiatives de réconciliation des membres, ont aussi permis à l'association de réfléchir aux mesures à prendre pour corriger les pratiques et les systèmes profondément ancrés dans des concepts coloniaux.
Start doing some of the heavy work ... pick up a rake. - Marion Newman (Kwagiulth and Stó:lo)
To respect protocol, I will begin by introducing myself. I am a White, queer, nondisabled settler of Scottish heritage who is a choral conductor, Kodály and Orff-Schulwerk certified music educator, and a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of British Columbia. I am currently living, working, and playing on the traditional and unceded territories of the Coast Salish peoples of the SalilWatał (Tsleil-Waututh), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and xwma0kway'am (Musqueam) Nations in what is currently known as Vancouver. I was born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario, the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe, specifically the Fort William First Nation who are signatories to the Robinson-Superior Treaty (1850) and is also home to many members of the Métis nation.
The following is from my perspective, as one member of the Kodály Society of Canada's board of directors, and as a White settler engaged and committed to reconciliation, decolonization, and Indigenization of music education and my own practice. As Margaret Kovach has...