Decolonization, Love and Witnessing at Mill Bay Nature School (Cayla Brown & Kim Ondrik)

Natalie Vardabasso#EduCrush Podcast


“It’s parallel to Hul’qumi’num teaching of honoring who this person already is—that we’re not forming them, they’re something already.” - Kim Ondrik Click To Tweet

In the simplest of terms, decolonization means moving from a triangle to a circle. From a hierarchy to a community. In the episode, Natalie joins the Head Learner of the Mill Bay Nature School, Kim Ondrik, and the Smuqw’a’ (middle years) Clan Leader, Cayla Brown, to learn how they are building a decolonized school together through love and witnessing.

Show Notes:

  • Telling the story of how Kim and Cayla taught me how to show up, even when I can’t control the outcome. (1:10)
  • Kim became an educator to try to change the system, but now finds herself leading the implementation of the British Columbia competency curriculum. (9:09)
  • Cayla’s journey as an educator began in Special Education, but she now finds herself having to unlearn to align her practice with her pedagogy. (14:36)
  • How Mill Bay Nature School is q’shintul (community) through a process of co-creation and the invitation for everyone to show up as their whole selves. (19:20)
  • What is meant by the phrase, “pedagogy from the inside out.” (25:03)
  • How the educators of Mill Bay Nature School are taking up the work of decolonization. (29:22)
  • What it means to “take it up.” (35:45)
  • The power of gathering and doing something together in the quest for sustainable change. (38:48)
  • Disrupting the “triangle” of hierarchy in the context of assessment. (54:00)
  • Removing the context of competition in assessment through the process of witnessing. (1:00:45)

View full show notes here!

Cayla on Twitter: @bayla_crown

Kim on Twitter: @kondrik4

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