草莓污视频导航

Sept. 28, 2022

Social Work PhD grad endeavours to make allyship a full family affair

Jeff Halvorsen's daughter instrumental in school board decision to review the name of her school
A person in a blue coat and a person in black coat hold up a black banner that says "this is Treaty 7 land" in white and orange letters.
An "art action" led by students at Sir John A. MacDonald school earlier this year. Albert Woo

When the remains of 215 children were found in Kamloops last year, the news hit close to home for recent 草莓污视频导航 Faculty of Social Work PhD graduate Jeff Halvorsen 颅鈥斅爃e was born there and attended school on the traditional territory of the Tk'eml煤ps te Secw茅pemc, the Indigenous people local to the region.

Halvorsen, having already read the Truth and Reconciliation鈥檚 executive summary, discussed the matter with his family. They decided to act by way of small steps

鈥淲e were thinking, what is one thing we could do towards reconciliation?鈥 he recalls

At that point, the Calgary Board of Education had announced a name change for the former Langevin School. Petitioning for a similar course of action at his daughter Makena鈥檚 secondary school, Sir John A. MacDonald Junior High, made sense given the role of Canada鈥檚 first prime minister in the expansion of the residential school system and other racist policies, such as the Chinese Head Tax.

Halvorsen had been involved in an anti-racism group led by Faculty of Social Work professors Dr. Regine King, PhD, and Dr. Liza Lorenzetti, PhD, where he first came into contact with Michelle Robinson, a Sahtu Dene activist who had been a leader in the campaign to change the name of the Langevin School.

He reached out for advice, and one of her suggestions was to have the student lead the effort 鈥斅燤akena and her peers were more than happy to take the charge.

鈥淓ven judging him by the standards of the day, he was not a good person,鈥 reads a letter Makena sent to the CBE. 鈥淗e was the lawyer and supporter of PRO-slavery activists. A recent National Post article reported that 'over his career Macdonald would pursue an Indigenous policy so draconian that even his contemporaries would come to accuse him of going beyond the pale.'鈥

Halvorsen says he鈥檚 proud of his daughter for taking on a leadership role that鈥檚 seen her take the lead on such initiatives as an art action held outside the school this past May, as well as fielding several media appearances in support of the cause. Makena herself reports that her peers and teachers have all been respectful and supportive regardless of their position on the issue.

Feeling frustrated: Indigenous activist Michelle Robinson

That said, one member of the Halvorsen鈥檚 Reconciliation Action Group isn鈥檛 feeling very positive about the experience. Michelle Robinson says that with the renaming issue now having gone to what she views as yet another superfluous committee, the experience has left her feeling frustrated.

While she cites structural racism ingrained within bureaucracies as a source of contention, she鈥檚 just as dispirited by settler Canadians who claim to be allies but are unwilling to move beyond surface-level commitments. For example, they鈥檒l take part in performative land acknowledgements but are unwilling to engage in serious land-back discussions.

鈥淧eople are interested in our trauma and grief, but not in our solutions, and that's demoralizing,鈥 says Robinson, who hosts the and a monthly .听

There are lots of ways we can share the land and have equity but structurally we choose not to.

Halvorsen, though, is striving to do better, going so far as to structure his PhD thesis on white men's allyship. With guidance from Robinson and an advisory committee of Indigenous, Black, and racialized men and women, he鈥檚 come to realize that as much as he must learn, he鈥檚 also had to let go of previously ingrained assumptions.

鈥淚 had been taught that a lot of these things like colonization, race, gender, all these things were about other people, not about me as a white man,鈥 he says, recounting his previous degree in international development as well as overseas missions he undertook as a then-practising Christian.

Since embarking on a social work journey, he says he has attempted to recognize his complicity within the colonial framework on which this country rests.

鈥淚 thought of my family's history, coming from Norway and Germany and Scotland to settle and farm,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 thought, 鈥極kay we were just a family on a boat coming to farmland' and missed the truth of whose land it was and what happened鈥 the genocide that happened to clear that land for my family.

"Adding in those pieces that weren鈥檛 part of my family's history really changed my whole perspective. Now, I have a responsibility for reconciliation.鈥

Join the Indigenous Social Work Circle and Lodge for the Sept. 29 webinar Creating a Plan for ReconciliAction. Noon to 1:30 p.m. .


Sign up for UToday

Sign up for UToday

Delivered to your inbox聽鈥 a daily roundup of news and events from across the 草莓污视频导航's 14 faculties and dozens of units

Thank you for your submission.