Indigenous Knowledges and History Education: A Dialogue on Teaching and Learning History

Friday, November 13, 2026 | Afternoon Session

Panorama Room, Canadian Museum of History

What does it mean to teach and learn history through Indigenous Knowledge Systems? How can Indigenous ways of knowing, understanding, and relating to the past inform and enrich history education? And what responsibilities do educators have when bringing Indigenous Knowledges into their classrooms?

These questions are at the heart of the Indigenous Knowledges and History Education Dialogue Session, a special gathering that brings together Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Holders, researchers, educators, and other members of the Thinking Historically for Canada’s Future (Thinking Historically) partnership for an afternoon of reflection, learning, and dialogue.

Building on a series of dialogue sessions held throughout 2025 and 2026, this gathering will reunite Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Holders who have generously shared their knowledge, experiences, and perspectives to help shape new approaches to teaching and learning history in Canada. These earlier conversations explored how Indigenous Knowledge Systems can inform history education, including the importance of relationships, oral histories and traditions, connections to land and place, Indigenous languages, teaching colonial truths, and the responsibilities associated with engaging with Indigenous histories and knowledges.

A central focus of the afternoon will be a forthcoming bilingual guidance document for educators, developed from the insights and contributions of participating Elders and Knowledge Holders. Intended to support K–12 teachers, this resource will offer guiding principles, considerations, and recommendations for approaching history education in ways that respect and are informed by Indigenous Knowledge Systems. The session will provide an important opportunity for Elders and Knowledge Holders to review and offer further feedback on the document, helping ensure that it reflects their contributions and perspectives.

The afternoon will also create space for dialogue among all participants about the possibilities, complexities, and responsibilities of bringing different knowledge systems into conversation. Rather than seeking a single approach to teaching history, the session will encourage participants to consider how Indigenous Knowledges can challenge, complement, and expand established approaches to historical thinking and history education, while respecting the distinctiveness and integrity of Indigenous Knowledge Systems.

This session is open to all participants attending Milestones and Futures: Celebrating Thinking Historically for Canadas’s Future. Whether you are a classroom teacher, researcher, graduate student, museum educator, or community partner, you are invited to listen, learn, reflect, and contribute to this important conversation.

As one of the culminating activities of the Thinking Historically partnership, the session represents both a significant milestone and a commitment to the future: building respectful relationships, deepening understanding across knowledge systems, and advancing more inclusive, meaningful, and responsible approaches to teaching and learning history in Canada.