This book offers an in-depth study of a remarkable school for native students, the Joe Duquette High School in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

The key to the school's success is its commitment to aboriginal spirituality as a guiding principle for both curriculum and human behaviour. The sacred circle, a recognition of the inter-relatedness of all things, is the foundation of the school's philosophy. Sweet grass circles, trips to the sweat lodge, feasts, and respect for the teaching of Elders are central elements of the Duquette educational experience.

Making the Spirit Dance Within offers a model for educating native students that stands in stark contrast to the ignorance of First Nations history and culture typical of mainstream Canadian schools.

An Our Schools/Our Selves book.

Celia Haig-Brown is an educator and the author of the 1988 Resistance and Renewal: Surviving the Indian Residential School, winner of the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize (BC Book Prizes). The book will be published in a new edition in fall 2022 as Tsqelmucwilc: The Kamloops Indian Residential School―Resistance and a Reckoning. Her other books include Taking Control: Power and Contradiction and With Good Intentions: Euro-Canadian and Aboriginal Relations in Colonial Canada (both UBC Press). Recently, she has turned to documentary film and has been shown at the Smithsonian Film Festival in New York and the Irving International Film Festival in California.

Celia Haig-Brown's profile page

KATHY L. HODGSON-SMITH is a faculty member of the Saskatchewan Urban Native Teacher Education Program.

Kathy L. Hodgson-Smith's profile page

ROBERT REGNIER is an associate professor in the Department of Indian and Northern Education at the University of Saskatchewan.

Robert Regnier's profile page

Jo-ann Archibald Q’um Q’um Xiiem, PhD, is a member of the Stó:lō First Nation and has kinship in St’at’imc First Nation in British Columbia. Over a 45-year educational career, Q’um Q’um Xiiem has served as a school teacher, curriculum developer, researcher, author, university leader and professor. She is Professor Emeritus in the Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia (UBC).

Q’um Q’um Xiiem’s scholarship relates to Indigenous knowledge systems, storywork and oral tradition, transformative education at all levels, Indigenous educational history, teacher and graduate education, and Indigenous methodologies. She is the author of Indigenous Storywork: Educating the Heart, Mind, Body, and Spirit as well as many other publications.

In 2018, Q’um Q’um Xiiem was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada for her lifelong contributions to advancing Indigenous education in K–12 and post-secondary education through policy, programs, curricula, and research.

Jo-ann Archibald's profile page