Indigenous Allyship Podcast

Creating Allyship with Indigenous Peoples Podcast 

Join: Tara Emery, Dana Lameman, Nicole Ward, Breanna Webster, social workers, at the University of Calgary.

As they look at how social workers can build allyship with Indigenous Peoples who have experienced trauma. They believe that the reconciliation process is critical given the profession’s participation in the colonization and genocide of Indigenous Peoples. They also understand that colonization impacts have created an over-representation of Indigenous Peoples in our systems; social workers are frequently coming into contact with Indigenous peoples. As social workers increasingly seek to develop relationships of allyship with Indigenous Peoples, we must look critically at how we can do this without repeating the past.
Creating allyship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Peoples is difficult given the limits and barriers of our government structures erected and designed during colonization. Indigenous ways of knowing in their essence can help us to challenge oppressive structures and systems and rebalance power. However, the process of creating relationships of allyship continues to be difficult in our social work practice. Most social workers are non-Indigenous, and there has been a long history of social workers having power over Indigenous Peoples’ live’s.

Non-Indigenous social workers unjustly removed many Indigenous children during the sixties scoop. Seemingly, this mass removal was due to social workers’ own, or at least systematic, discrimination and racism. We must work to build allyship in consideration of the complex trauma healing process and this loss of power that Indigenous People have experienced. Does it not make sense that social workers now work hard to rebuild trust and empowerment relationships with Indigenous Peoples? Our podcast will take a look at ways that social workers can build authentic relationships of allyship.