Downloads

https://doi.org/10.62836/jissh.v2i2.516
Liu, E. Q. (2025). The Impact of Historical Context on Indigenous Female Leaders in Education: A Comparative Analysis of Canada and the US. Journal of Integrated Social Sciences and Humanities, 2(2), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.62836/jissh.v2i2.516
Volume 2, Issue 2, 2025

The Impact of Historical Context on Indigenous Female Leaders in Education: A Comparative Analysis of Canada and the US

Educational disparities have long shaped the schooling experiences of the Indigenous people of North America. Since the 20th century, many Indigenous female leaders have stepped forward, using various methods of advocacy to improve Indigenous education. This paper seeks to compare the methods used by Canadian and American Indigenous female leaders in education. Through analyzing the cross-generational and cross-country historical context of indigenous leadership based on literature review, individual case analysis, the research reveals no significant links between the methods of advocacy and national contexts across countries. However, across generations, there were significant links in socioeconomic contexts and the methods of advocacy used. These findings highlight how shifts in social and economic factors influence Indigenous advocacy, offering a deeper insight into the forces that shape Indigenous leadership.

female leadership education indigenous advocacy indigenous leadership systemic disparities methods of advocacy Canada United States

References

  1. Smith LT. Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples, 2nd ed.; Zed Books: London, UK, 2012.
  2. Lomawaima KT, McCarty TL. “To Remain an Indian”: Lessons in Democracy from a Century of Native American Education; Teachers College Press: New York, NY, USA, 2006.
  3. Robinson IM, White RE, Robinson DB. Indigenous Women in Educational Leadership: Identifying Supportive Contexts in Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey. International Journal of Leadership in Education 2019; 23(6): 691–711. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603124.2018.1562103.
  4. Povey R, Trudgett M, Page S; et al. Where We’re Going, Not Where We’ve Been: Indigenous Leadership in Canadian Higher Education. Race Ethnicity and Education 2021; 25(1): 38–54. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2021.1942820.
  5. Povey R, Trudgett M, Page S; et al. Paying-It-Forward: Indigenous Leadership in American Higher Education. Race Ethnicity and Education 2022; 26(2): 240–256. https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2022.2033197.
  6. Battiste M. Decolonizing Education: Nourishing the Learning Spirit; Purich Publishing: Saskatoon, SK, Canada, 2013.
  7. Kirkness VJ. Aboriginal Education in Canada: A Retrospective and a Prospective. Journal of American Indian Education 1999; 39(1): 14–30.
  8. Blackstock C, Trocmé N. Community-Based Child Protection for First Nations Children: Supporting Resilience through Decolonizing Approaches. First Peoples Child & Family Review 2015; 10(2): 52–63.
  9. Fitzgerald T. Spaces in-between: Indigenous Women Leaders Speak Back to Dominant Discourses and Practices in Educational Leadership. International Journal of Leadership in Education 2010; 13(1): 93–105. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603120903242923.
  10. Coates SK, Trudgett M, Page S. Examining Indigenous Leadership in the Academy: A Methodological Approach. Australian Journal of Education 2020; 65(1), 84–102. (Original work published 2021). https://doi.org/10.1177/0004944120969207.
  11. Brunette-Debassige C. Women Embodied Leaders: Peacebuilding, Protest, and Professions; Thompson RJ, Topuzova LN, Eds.; Emerald Publishing Limited: Leeds, UK, 2024.
  12. Blackstock C, Trocmé N. Community-Based Child Welfare for Aboriginal Children: Supporting Resilience through Structural Change. Social Policy Journal of New Zealand/Te Puna Whakaaro 2005; 24. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412976312.n7.
  13. Hill L, Foxworth M, Sisson D. Reclaiming American Indian Women Leadership: Indigenous Pathways to Leadership. Open Journal of Leadership 2018; 7(3): 225–236. https://doi.org/10.4236/ojl.2018.73013.
  14. Fraser-Saddleback KE. Acimowina: Indigenous Women Leaders Telling Stories, Doctoral Dissertation, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada, 2024. Available online: https://hdl.handle.net/10388/16050 harvest.usask.ca (accessed on 20 August 2025).
  15. Harper AV. A Cultural Metamorphosis: From Indigenous School Dropout to Educational Leadership, Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK, Canada, 2024. Available online: https://hdl.handle.net/10388/16050?locator=a945e9c9-372e-434d-ad95-b63eb3475d76 (accessed on 22 August 2025).
  16. Government of British Columbia. Indigenous-Focused Graduation Requirement. 2023. Available online: https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/graduation/graduation-requirements/indigenous-focused-requirement (accessed on 25 August 2025).
  17. Miller JR. Residential Schools in Canada. The Canadian Encyclopedia. 11 January 2024. Available online: https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/residential-schools (accessed on 1 September 2025).
  18. Archived-Let’s Talk on-Reserve Education: Survey Report. Indigenous Services Canada. 29 October 2024. Available online: https://www.sac-isc.gc.ca/eng/1509019844067/1531399883352# (accessed on 1 September 2025).
  19. Lower Education-#2 of 8 Key Issues for Indigenous Peoples in Canada. Indigenous Corporate Training Inc. 31 January 2023. Available online: https://www.ictinc.ca/blog/lower-education-2-of-8-key-issues (accessed on 1 September 2025).
  20. Parrott, Z. Indian Act. The Canadian Encyclopedia. 23 September 2022. Available online: https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/indian-act (accessed on 1 September 2025).
  21. Beaudoin GA. Sparrow Case. The Canadian Encyclopedia. 21 August 2017. Available online: https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/sparrow-case (accessed on 1 September 2025).
  22. Historic Milestone in Landmark Human Rights Case. Canadian Human Rights Commission. 26 October 2023. Available online: https://www.chrc-ccdp.gc.ca/resources/newsroom/historic-milestone-landmark-human-rights-case#:~:text=In%20January%20of%202016%2C%20the,families%20and%20communities%20were%20heard (accessed on 1 September 2025).
  23. US Indian Boarding School History–NABS. (n.d.). National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. Available online: https://boardingschoolhealing.org/us-indian-boarding-school-history/ (accessed on 1 September 2025).
  24. Hillard G. Urban American Indians Rewrite Relocation’s Legacy. NPR. 7 January 2012. Available online: https://www.npr.org/2012/01/07/143800287/urban-american-indians-rewrite-relocations-legacy (accessed on 1 September 2025).
  25. Tribally Controlled Schools. Bureau of Indian Education. Available online: https://www.bie.edu/topic-page/tribally-controlled-schools (accessed on 2 September 2025).
  26. It’s Our Vision, It’s Our Time First Nations Control of First Nations Education. Assembly of First Nations. July 2010. Available online: https://www.afn.ca/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/2010-AFN-First-Nations-Contol-of-First-Nations-Education_sm.pdf (accessed on 2 September 2025).
  27. Kirkness, V. J. Creating Space: My Life and Work in Indigenous Education; University of Manitoba Press: Winnipeg, MB, Canada, 2013.
  28. Wiebe MM. Native Studies Colloquium Honours National Leader in Education Verna J. Kirkness. UM Today News. 2 November 2013. Available online: https://news.umanitoba.ca/native-studies-colloquium-honours-national-leader-in-education-verna-j-kirkness/ (accessed on 2 September 2025).
  29. Celebrating 50 Years of NITEP. The University of British Columbia. Available online: https://educ.ubc.ca/celebrating-50-years-of-nitep/ (accessed on 7 September 2025).
  30. Cindy Blackstock. Canada.ca. 10 February 2025. Available online: https://www.canada.ca/en/women-gender-equality/commemorations-celebrations/women-impact/human-rights/cindy-blackstock.html (accessed on 7 September 2025).
  31. Boyko J. Cindy Blackstock. The Canadian Encyclopedia. 25 October 2023. Available online: https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/cindy-blackstock (accessed on 7 September 2025).
  32. Cindy Blackstock: Kids before Anything. Trudeau Foundation. 3 October 2019. Available online: https://www.trudeaufoundation.ca/updates/news/cindy-blackstock-kids-anything (accessed on 7 September 2025).
  33. Armstrong, S. The Shame of Our Home and Native Lands. EZ-Everything Zoomer. 21 July 2006. Available online: https://everythingzoomer.com/style/home-garden/2006/07/21/the-shame-of-our-home-and-native-lands/ (accessed on 7 September 2025).
  34. Nickol, A. Indigenous Perspectives Society 30 Year History. Indigenous Perspectives Society Centre of Excellence in Community Education. 18 March 2024. Available online: https://ipsociety.ca/indigenous-perspectives-society-30-year-history/ (accessed on 7 September 2025).
  35. Cindy Blackstock. The Governor General of Canada Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon. 2012 Available online: https://www.gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/126-211776 (accessed on 7 September 2025).
  36. Ms. Cindy Blackstock. The Governor General of Canada Her Excellency the Right Honourable Mary Simon. 2002. Available online: https://www.gg.ca/en/honours/recipients/125-8894 (accessed on 7 September 2025).
  37. Spillett, T. Hair and the Ties That Bind. CBC. 25 April 2021. Available online: https://www.cbc.ca/newsinteractives/features/hair-and-the-ties-that-bind (accessed on 7 September 2025).
  38. College of Education. Seeking to Connect Urban Indigenous Girls with Land-Based Knowledge. University of Saskatchewan. 17 November 2016. Available online: https://education.usask.ca/news/2016/tasha-spillett.php (accessed on 7 September 2025).
  39. Desrosiers J. About • Tasha Spillett. Tasha Spillett. 15 March 2023. Available online: https://tashaspillett.com/about/ (accessed on 7 September 2025).
  40. FLC Elder-in-Residence Program Welcomes Alyce Spotted.... Fort Lewis College. 8 February 2012. Available online: https://www.fortlewis.edu/fort-lewis-college-news/article/flc-elder-in-residence-program-welcomes-alyce-spotted-bear-to-campus (accessed on 8 September 2025).
  41. Andrews SR. Creation Stories: Survivance, Sovereignty, and Oil in MHA Country. Transmotion 2018; 4(2): 80–112. https://doi.org/10.22024/UniKent/03/tm.488.
  42. ICT Staff. Three Affiliated Tribes Former Chairwoman Alyce Spotted Bear Walks On. ICT. 23 August 2013. Available online: https://ictnews.org/archive/three-affiliated-tribes-former-chairwoman-alyce-spotted-bear-walks-on/ (accessed on 8 September 2025).
  43. Alyce Spotted Bear. Minot Daily News. 7 September 2025. Available online: https://www.minotdailynews.com/obituaries/2013/08/alyce-spotted-bear/ (accessed on 7 September 2025).
  44. Johnson, H. Alyce Spotted Bear, Tribal Leader and Obama Appointee, Remembered as Inspiration. The Bismarck Tribune. 16 August 2013. Available online: https://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/alyce-spotted-bear-tribal-leader-and-obama-appointee-remembered-as-inspiration/article_480fcd84-06bb-11e3-a2ee-001a4bcf887a.html (accessed on 8 September 2025).
  45. Spotted Bear JR. MHA Nation Honors Spotted Bear for Indian Education Presidential Appointment. Buffalo’s Fire. 21 January 2011. Available online: https://www.buffalosfire.com/mha-nation-honors-spotted-bear-for-indian-education-presidential-appointment (accessed on 8 September 2025).
  46. Ives J. The Way Forward Report of the Alyce Spotted Bear & Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children. Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy. 29 February 2024. Available online: https://udallcenter.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/2024-07/TheWayForward.pdf (accessed on 8 September 2025).
  47. Mason H. On This Day in 1985: Wilma Mankiller Sworn in as Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. Medium. 15 December 2017. Available online: https://amysmartgirls.com/on-this-day-in-1985-wilma-mankiller-sworn-in-as-principal-chief-of-the-cherokee-nation-of-oklahoma-8b6f28a342cd (accessed on 8 September 2025).
  48. About Wilma Mankiller. Wilma Mankiller. Available online: https://www.wilmamankiller.com/about (accessed on 8 September 2025).
  49. Life Story: Wilma Mankiller-Women & the American Story. Women & the American Story. Available online: https://wams.nyhistory.org/end-of-the-twentieth-century/a-conservative-turn/wilma-mankiller/(accessed on 8 September2025).
  50. Biography.com Editors. Wilma Mankiller. Biography. 18 May 2021. Available online: https://www.biography.com/activists/wilma-mankiller# (accessed on 8 September 2025).
  51. Ramirez S, Fogden K. Wilma Mankiller Led as the First Woman Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation. Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum. 6 June 2022. Available online: https://womenshistory.si.edu/blog/wilma-mankiller-led-first-woman-principal-chief-cherokee-nation(accessed on 8 September2025).
  52. Wilma Mankiller. Mutterhood | Every Woman Is a Story. 13 October 2020. Available online: https://mutterhood.com/wilma-mankiller/(accessed on 8 September2025).
  53. Zylberberg N. A Q&A with Model Quannah Chasinghorse and Her Mother. The Cut. 20 April 2023. Available online: https://www.thecut.com/2023/04/model-quannah-chasinghorse-sustainability.html (accessed on 8 September 2025).
  54. Strainchamps, A. Quannah ChasingHorse’s Two Worlds–Native Activist and Supermodel. To the Best of Our Knowledge. 1 March 2025. Available online: https://www.ttbook.org/interview/quannah-chasinghorses-two-worlds-native-activist-and-supermodel (accessed on 8 September 2025).
  55. Bossley, E. 40th Anniversary Elders & Youth Welcomes Keynote Speakers. First Alaskans Institute. 11 October 2023. Available online: https://www.firstalaskans.org/40th_anniversary_elders_youth_welcomes_keynote_speakers (accessed on 9 September 2025).
  56. Potts J. Quannah Chasinghorse: An Indigenous Model and Climate Activist | Atmos. Atmos Magazine. 29 November 2021. Available online: https://atmos.earth/quannah-chasinghorse-climate-activist-indigenous-model/ (accessed on 9 September 2025).
  57. DeSilver D. Which States Observe Columbus Day or Indigenous Peoples’ Day? Pew Research Center. 5 October 2023. Available online: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/10/05/working-on-columbus-day-or-indigenous-peoples-day-it-depends-on-where-your-job-is/ (accessed on 9 September 2025).
  58. Pierson C. Quannah Chasinghorse Named USA Today Honoree for Women of the Year. USA Today. 29 March 2023. Available online: https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/life/2023/03/19/model-quannah-chasinghorse-women-of-the-year/11033199002/ (accessed on 9 September 2025).
  59. Records Relating to the Indian Reorganization Act (Wheeler–Howard Act). National Archives. 8 January 2025. Available online: https://www.archives.gov/research/native-americans/indian-reorganization-act (accessed on 9 September 2025).
  60. Parks Canada. The Residential School System. Canada.ca. 1 September 2020. Available online: https://www.canada.ca/en/parks-canada/news/2020/09/the-residential-school-system.html (accessed on 9 September 2025).
  61. Mejia, M. The U.S. History of Native American Boarding Schools—The Indigenous Foundation. The Indigenous Foundation. 30 May 2021. Available online: https://www.theindigenousfoundation.org/articles/us-residential-schools (accessed on 9 September 2025).

Supporting Agencies

  1. Funding: This research received no external funding.