Knowledge Sharing With the Maliseet of New Brunswick

Education has been used to oppress the indigenous peoples of North America for centuries. This research paper was developed to better understand the modern educational system in Neqotkuk First Nations in New Brunswick, Canada. Along with understanding the state of this system of education according to standardized educational practices in Canada, this research aimed to understand the perspectives of the people within Neqotkuk regarding their own education. This research includes a literature review addressed to the ethics of research in an Indigenous community, Indigenous epistemology and pedagogy, the history of federal education policies, and the history of education of the Maliseet people of Neqotkuk First Nations. Field research was also completed in Neqotkuk that consisted of both observations and interviews. This research was completed through a knowledge-sharing research design that implemented reciprocal sharing of information. This paper concludes that the current educational system in Neqotkuk is robust and is incorporating Maliseet culture successfully in many areas. The system is not perfect, as many participants expressed. But the people of Neqotkuk are proud of the implementation of Maliseet cultural practice in the schools and see its further advancement as positive. This is being done through summer camps and could be done more through the formal system of education. The Maliseet culture and people are strong and they are using education to become even stronger in the 21st century