EFP12

Keena Laurie, a resident of Kelowna, acknowledges the traditional territory of the Silksilk-Kanaka people. Keena wants to learn more about the culture of Canadian indigenous people, as well as the history between the Canadian government and indigenous people. Keena also wants to improve speaking skills, which have been a struggle in various settings. Keena believes that being blunt and straightforward about past wrongdoings is an important step towards reconciliation. I would like to acknowledge that I am a traditional unceded territory of the Silksilk-Kanaka people. This is the land of which I learn, play, and practice the privilege I have to perform an individuality. I am grateful I get to experience the love this land has to give and the lessons there are to learn from it. My name is Keena Laurie. I was born here in Kelowna and I have lived here my entire life. My dad is a first generation Canadian born in the regional west coast. His parents are both from Europe. My mom was from New Zealand and moved here in her early 20s. My mom was raised in the Maori community of the indigenous peoples of New Zealand. I believe she brought those teachings she gained back to Kelowna with her as I learned many aspects of the culture growing up. Although I have mostly been exposed to very western ideology and beliefs. My goals for this course are to gain more knowledge on the culture of Canadian indigenous people. Although I know a lot about Maori culture, I want to know more about the culture that is practiced on the land of which I was raised. I think it is important to learn from the indigenous peoples of Canada as they have been here on this land much longer than us. I would also like to solidify my knowledge of the history between the Canadian government and indigenous people. Yes, it has been taught to me throughout school, but I feel like a lot of it has been dulled or frankly understated. I think a huge step towards reconciliation is bluntness and to be straightforward about all the wrongdoings in our history. Finally, I would like to improve my speaking skills. I often struggle with speaking in front of large crowds or in front of people I don't know. This has been a struggle for years, both in school academically and out of school, at work or in social situations. I think it might be difficult to work on this in an online course and it will have to be something I work on on my own time. However, even this assignment is helping me make progress towards improvement. I am excited for what I have to gain from this course. Thank you for your time.