Experienced educator and activist Charlene Bearhead has joined the Residential school History and Dialogue Centre as the new head of Education and Programming as of July 1.
Charlene is a mother, grandmother and education activist with 30 years of regional, national and international experience.
“I am absolutely honoured to have the opportunity to work with the committed, ethical and talented team at the Residential School History and Dialogue Centre here at UBC. It is such a gift to work with a survivor centered, community focused team that values and practices humility and collaboration and strives to ensure accessibility of records and resources to everyone,” says Ms. Bearhead.
“It’s amazing what can happen when ego and personal agendas are absent and only love of the people and hope for the next generations frames the work.”
Most recently Charlene served as Education Coordinator for the National Inquiry into Murdered and Missing Indigenous Women, and as the First Nations, Métis and Inuit Relations Coordinator for the Alberta Schools Board Association.
She recognizes that the shift to work with Centre, although Indigenous focused and Survivor-centered, comes with challenges, simply by virtue of the fact that it is situated within the colonial structure that is a university. “But that also offers the greatest opportunity to affect structural change,” says Bearhead. “We can impact thousands of young peopleat a crucial time as they are beginning to shape their lives.”
“I was excited about the approach the Centre is taking,” says Ms. Bearhead. Working with Survivors, and ensuring the work is community focused, Indigenous grounded, and based on the experiences of Survivors is “the only reason we should be involved this.”
As an experienced educator, she serves on several working groups at the national and provincial level. She serves on the Canadian Museum for Human Rights Indigenous Education Working Group, the Pathways to Education Canada Indigenous Education Advisory Circle, the National Film Board Education Advisory and as Education Advisor on the Indigenous Peoples’ Atlas of Canada. Ms. Bearhead is a member of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society College of Fellows and maintains her role as the vision keeper for the National Indigenous and Reconciliation Education Network Gathering annually on a volunteer basis.
She continues to support the Moose Hide Campaign in the area of education and serves as an Indigenous Education Advisor with College of Alberta School Superintendents, which she began directly following her time as the first Education Lead for the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation at the University of Manitoba. Prior to that Charlene coordinated the Education Days within the National Events for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
Welcome, Charlene!