Courses Taken

  • HRSJ 5010-01: Foundations of Human Rights and Social Justice
  • HRSJ 5020-01: Indigenous Ways of Knowing: Pedagogies and Practices
  • HRSJ 5030-01: Problem Solving in the Field
  • HRSJ 5150-01: Truth to Power
  • HRSJ 5120-01: Settler Colonialism and Decolonization
  • HRSJ 5110-01: Genocide in the 20th Century
  • HRSJ 5140:01: Art, Media, and Dissent.
  • HRSJ 5220-01: Trauma, Rights, and Justice
  • Practicum Summer 2025: BC Law Institute

Reflection: Assigned Reading

One of the most impactful readings in HRSJ 5020-01 Indigenous Ways of Knowing: Pedagogies and Practices was the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (2019), Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report.

https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/final-report/: Courses Taken

This report stood out because it reframed violence against Indigenous women, girls, and 2SLGBTQ+ people as part of ongoing systemic and colonial violence, rather than isolated incidents. It brought together testimony and lived experience in a way that challenged the usual legal and political narratives that tends to individualize harm. What stayed with me most was how strongly it centered Indigenous voices as knowledge in their own right. It really reinforced for me that truth telling is not just about documentation, but about challenging systems and pushing toward real accountability and change. Overall, it deepened my understanding of how colonialism, gendered violence, and systemic neglect are connected, and it shaped how I continue to think about trauma-informed and decolonial approaches to justice and healing.

Reflection: Assignment

One of the most meaningful assignments I completed during my MA journey was the final paper for HRSJ 5020-01 Indigenous Ways of Knowing: Pedagogies and Practices. In that paper, I focused on the neurobiological effects of trauma, specifically how trauma becomes embedded in the body and continues to impact people over time. I came to the topic with the question, “Why can’t we just ‘get over it’?” I wanted to understand trauma not just psychologically, but biologically as well, especially in relation to Indigenous peoples and the impacts of intergenerational and ongoing colonial violence. During this course, I was introduced to Dr. Michael Yellow Bird’s work on the neurobiology of trauma and oppression, and that shaped how I approached the entire paper. I also had guidance from Tracy Sylvester, who helped connect some of those ideas and frameworks for me. It was encouraging to see an Indigenous scholar co-teaching alongside Dr. Jenna Woodrow, who was also very impactful in this course.

That assignment ended up being a turning point for me. It pushed me to think more deeply about how trauma is held in the body, how that connects to larger systems of harm, and the gaps that still exist in research. It also carried forward into my other courses, especially HRSJ 5220-01 Trauma, Rights, and Justice, where I kept building on those ideas in a more structured way. In this course, I expanded my thinking into the spiritual side of the Medicine Wheel and healing, looking at balance and wholeness as part of trauma recovery. I also continued working with Yellow Bird’s theory, but started to understand it more through a spiritual lens, not just a biological one. More than anything, this progression across courses made it clear to me that trauma can’t really be understood in one way. It has to be looked at through the body, the mind, the emotional world, and most importantly, the spiritual.