My years at UBC enriched my life in so many ways, not only intellectually. Graduate studies field work opened doors for me to learn about communities that I otherwise might never have made connections with—particularly Indigenous communities. As a teacher researcher I worked with Indigenous students from across Canada in a Vancouver School Board program called Outreach. After five years in that Downtown Eastside program, I was prepared to work with the Musqueam people, developing a language enrichment program for their preschool and elementary school-aged children. Working with Betty Point and Rose Point was a gift. Three years later, I was hired to implement a program for Musqueam youth transitioning into Point Grey Secondary School. All of these experiences were possible because I had studied language and literacy education in the Faculty of Education at UBC.

It is because of these experiences that I have taken a special interest in the work of Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, and am disturbed by the recent controversy stirred up by the CBC over her ancestral claims. This controversy is overshadowing the good work that she has done over decades and that is upsetting to many of us who have made efforts towards reconciliation long before this became an official government vision. Please read this statement that I wrote as an opinion piece and is published online by the Victoria Times Colonist to learn more about why I believe this controversy has negatively affected efforts at reconciliation.