The Challenges of Getting to Okay in the Telling of Forbidden Stories: Intergenerational, Multiracial, Complex Trauma

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The presentation will identify aspects of the history of contact between Indigenous People and Settlers that contribute to the contemporary inequitable position of Indigenous People. Amendments to the Indian Act, which explicitly forbade all practice of traditional culture, including storytelling, continue to cause irreparable damage to the core of individuals, families and communities. Equally damaging are the informal, unspoken rules imposed upon individuals, families and communities. Reflecting upon these challenges, Richard Vedan will draw on the work of Indigenous scholars and his own experience as a second-generation residential school survivor, whose great grandparents, grandparents and father all attended residential schools. Indian Reserves and Indian Residential Schools are total institutions that manifest the features of other total institutions such as military organizations. Richard will also speak from his clinical experience as a Social Work Officer in the Royal Canadian Air Force/Canadian Forces.

Richard Vedan is an Associate Professor Emeritus and First Nations Advisor in the School of Social Work at The University of British Columbia. To learn more about Richard, his research, and his background as a social worker and social educator, visit: https://socialwork.ubc.ca/profile/richard-vedan/