John Harris
Indigenous Education Elder & Indigenous Knowledge Facilitator SD61
’Uy’ skweyul,
I am an Indigenous Educator and member of Snuneymuxw (Nanaimo) First Nation, working in the Greater Victoria School District’s Indigenous Education Department as the Elders and Indigenous Knowledge Facilitator. I am grateful for the privilege of living, working, and playing in the traditional territory of the Songhees and Esquimalt First Nations and passionate about weaving local Indigenous perspectives and knowledge into educational opportunities for youth. As an educator and a father, I have found that incredibly profound learning occurs at the intersection between traditional ecological knowledge of local First Peoples, land-based experiential teaching, and an openness on the part of student and educator alike to embrace Uy’skwuluwun (a good mind and a good heart) when doing this work.