Introduction
I will focus on “Improving and Expanding Upon My Path of Reconciliation,” my final project. This effort is the conclusion of the course and my understanding of Indigenous Canadian history. This project connects everything I have learned to my main topic: Indigenous people’s persistence and healing despite colonization and efforts to destroy their beautiful culture. This project seeks to learn about Indigenous peoples in Canada and explore reconciliation methods. This subject resonates with me because reconciliation must be ongoing to repair colonial harm. As a Northern College student, I need to know about Indigenous peoples in Canada and how colonization affected them. This project allows students to reflect on their class learning. It allows me to learn more about Indigenous peoples in Canada and how I can help with reconciliation.
The initiative also aligns with the course aims, which educate students about Indigenous peoples in Canada, colonization, and reconciliation. This article will have six sections. The first portion will introduce the project, its purpose, and its format. The second part will cover Indigenous Canadian history, colonization, and reconciliation. In the third section, we will explore my main idea, problem, and reconciliation steps. In the fourth section of this essay, we will investigate undiscovered learning areas and how new information may have changed existing ideas. The fifth section will discuss critical efforts that may aid learning and understanding, numerous obstacles to reconciliation, and ways to overcome them. The last section will summarize the paper’s main topics, reiterate the project’s importance and potential impact, and advocate for reconciliation and further education.
Background Information
Indigenous peoples lived in Canada for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. Canada has hundreds of Indigenous groups with their languages, cultures, and traditions (Mitchell, 2019). They lived off the land and firmly bonded with it and the environment. European explorers and settlers changed indigenous lives forever. Colonialism took territory, culture, and identity from Indigenous peoples. Indigenous people were displaced when European immigrants arrived to claim and inhabit the land. Indigenous peoples were forced to live on overcrowded, tiny reserves and pressured to embrace Western ways of life. Colonialism forced Indigenous peoples to attend residential schools, which took away their language, culture, and autonomy (Burrage et al., 2021).
Reconciliation entails admitting colonization’s impact and seeking remedies. It seeks reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians. Canada is the destination. Reconciliation requires acknowledging colonization’s harm and taking action to repair it. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) investigated residential school abuse in 2008—the TRC’s 94 Calls to Action guide Canada’s reconciliation. Reconciliation helps mend colonization’s harm by acknowledging Indigenous peoples’ suffering. Reconciliation requires devotion, understanding, and respect from all sides as it helps all Canadians build a better future.
Big Idea
My thesis will focus on indigenous languages and reconciliation. Language is so crucial to Indigenous culture and identity that tackling this problem is vital for the class and me. Colonialism caused Indigenous peoples to lose their languages; thus, revitalizing them is crucial to reconciliation. Indigenous languages were vital to their everyday life and culture. These languages were utilized for storytelling, communication, and cultural transmission. However, European colonizers eradicated indigenous languages and forced many indigenous people into residential schools, where they were forbidden to use their native language.
As a result, many Indigenous languages in Canada went extinct, and just a tiny proportion are currently spoken fluently. Revitalizing and preserving Indigenous languages is essential to reconciliation. First, Indigenous languages are crucial to indigenous cultures and identities. To achieve this aim, one must transform their attitude toward indigenous languages from a barrier to discussion to a component of Canada’s cultural heritage. Help Indigenous language revival efforts next. This includes funding language initiatives and resources, promoting Indigenous language use, and supporting language immersion projects.
Indigenous languages must be spoken and heard in schools, government offices, and public events. Giving indigenous peoples a voice requires this. Finally, indigenous peoples must have control over language revival. This involves supporting indigenous communities’ language revival initiatives and letting them determine how to do it. Finally, racial and cultural healing requires the revival of Indigenous languages. Recognizing indigenous languages, supporting language revitalization efforts, and providing indigenous communities the power to drive the process is essential. These steps may help restore Indigenous languages to Canada’s cultural past.
Areas of Learning
I learned a lot about Indigenous history and culture in this lesson. Residential schools and their impact on Native Americans and other indigenous peoples stand out. Learning about the forceful kidnapping of Indigenous children from their families, the violence and neglect in these facilities, and the intergenerational trauma caused by this system was complex but vital for my education. I was unfamiliar with Canada’s rich Indigenous cultures. After studying indigenous peoples’ traditional ceremonies, art, and storytelling, I now respect these issues. This new awareness has made me rethink Indigenous narratives, which has changed my views.
I now understand colonization’s destruction and the need for reconciliation. This new knowledge may aid reconciliation by supporting Indigenous activities and strengthening Indigenous legal rights. This may involve helping Indigenous people revive languages, repatriate artifacts and cultural artifacts, and safeguard land and water. Finally, knowing new things has helped me understand Indigenous history and culture. This new knowledge has changed my perspective. Therefore I am recommitting to education and reconciliation. Educating ourselves and supporting Indigenous-led programming can promote mutual respect, understanding, and reconciliation.
Key Initiatives and Obstacles
Several crucial steps towards reconciliation may aid learning and comprehension. Attending indigenously led cultural events and ceremonies is crucial. This includes attending powwows, smudging, and learning indigenous beliefs and practices. These events help participants understand Indigenous culture and history and build relationships with Indigenous peoples. Supporting Indigenous-led groups and movements is also critical. This includes campaigning for Indigenous rights, revitalizing Indigenous languages, and repatriating Indigenous treasures and cultural objects (Bilodeau, 2023). Supporting the activities below empowers Indigenous peoples and promotes Indigenous rights and culture. However, reconciliation may face obstacles. Institutional racism and prejudice against Indigenous peoples are significant obstacles. Stereotypes, microaggressions, and cultural appropriation are examples.
One must commit to lifelong learning, reflection, institutional transformation, and justice to overcome these problems. False information and ignorance of Indigenous history and culture are further obstacles. This may perpetuate harmful perceptions and ignorance about the ongoing effects of colonialism. To overcome this obstacle, one must show a devotion to the study of information from several reputable and diverse sources and to the advocacy of educational reform that more accurately depicts Indigenous history and culture. Critical self-reflection, genuine information sources, and systemic reform and justice are some ways to address these problems. Admitting and addressing problems may help create a more fair and equal society. Respect, understanding, and healing underpin this society.
Conclusion
This study focused on Canadian Indigenous reconciliation. This essay examined Indigenous peoples in Canada, colonialism, and reconciliation as a way to repair colonial wounds. The article suggests a project idea and outlines dispute resolution procedures. It also examined new areas of knowledge, how new information may have changed previous views, and how it may aid reconciliation efforts in the future. The investigation also found crucial activities that may aid learning and understanding and several impediments to reconciliation. This project’s potential to help Indigenous peoples obtain justice and promote reconciliation must be highlighted. Both aims matter.
Continued education, critical self-reflection, and advocacy for social justice help create a more fair and equitable society. This paper concludes by passionately advocating for reconciliation and admitting colonialism’s enduring effects. If we keep learning and working together, we can only advance toward a society that honors, respects, and celebrates Indigenous contributions. Only then will we be closer to developing a society that accomplishes these things?
References
Bilodeau, L. (2023). Dreaming of an Eighth Fire Museum Practice: Indigenous voices in the Canadian Museum of History and Te Papa. https://doi.org/10.26686/wgtn.22230307
Burrage, R. L., Momper, S. L., & Gone, J. P. (2021). Beyond trauma: Decolonizing understandings of loss and healing in the Indian Residential School system of Canada. Journal of Social Issues, 78(1), 27–52. https://doi.org/10.1111/josi.12455
Mitchell, T. (2019). Colonial Trauma: Complex, continuous, collective, cumulative, and compounding effects on the health of Indigenous Peoples in Canada and beyond. International Journal of Indigenous Health, 14(2), 74–94. https://doi.org/10.32799/ijih.v14i2.32251
The Indigo Report: Leveraging Personal Insights For Career And Academic Success In Canada Free Essay
It is an essential tool that provides enlightenment and awareness of self about behaviors, strengths, and weaknesses that can help determine my motivations, skills necessary for my career, and perceptions about different aspects of life, such as society and economies. It indicates our communications through DISC assessment and states the reason we act in specific ways. It can help in deciding the soft skills to apply in life and the best courses I can do and achieve. It can help in a higher level of professional and personal development satisfaction. The indigo report will help me recognize situations that will increase my success and become better because I know myself.
The most important elements of the report are DISC (Dominance, Influence, Steadiness, and Conscientiousness) reference guide that shows personality at workplaces and school. It assists in improving productivity, communication, and conflict management at work. It will help identify the best communication style while working with others and how to adapt to new communication styles. It can be used to understand the environmental needs of working or studying, creating more success. My skills element is important to show which areas I have capabilities in and where I may need assistance while working. Knowing strengths will help identify the roles I may want to pursue and areas I should avoid or work as a team. It shows areas that I will need to further my knowledge and ask for help and jobs that I should specialize in because I have the right skills. The driving characteristics element is essential in determining the tendencies of taking risks on new ventures and being innovative, which can show if I am a risk taker and innovative, a crucial characteristic of an entrepreneur. They must always be innovative and risk-takers to remain competitive in the market. Also, the elements showing my competencies summary are crucial as they indicate essential things to achieving my goals. It indicates areas I should focus on and what will ensure my success. It explains in detail every competency which can help identify the areas where an individual is well off and which areas they need help.
The indigo report provides information on an individual’s strengths, weaknesses, preferences, and interests, which can be used in selecting the best academic program that matches abilities and provides more success. It saves individuals from learning courses that do not match their interests and for they do not have passion about. For example, the report indicates that I am better at solving problems and analyzing and may advise taking mathematical or technology such as programming courses. It also indicates the best courses that align with personality traits and learning styles to determine the suitable course. For example, the report indicates that the student is better at numbers than theory and may focus on taking a mathematics, accounting, or finance course. The interests, personality, and strengths help develop a unique profile used in decision-making about the best career path that will not strain your brain.
Indigo report helps in determining extracurricular activities, communication, and collaboration. Indigo report can assist in determining the best extracurricular activities that provide professional development opportunities if the person is good at leadership skills and talking. They might join a debate club. Alternatively, if they are good at reading and writing stories, they might join blog writing clubs, which will develop their skills. The report indicates if the individual is good at communicating with others and working as a team. Communication will help you determine how to interact with the teachers and other students and determine participation in class discussions and debates. The report may assist in ways to work with professors and other peers to give the best results and grades.
Career
The Indigo report assists in career and professional development by identifying the areas you are best in and which require improvement for better outcomes. It can help determine the focus of professional development on skills and competencies that will boost a career to be the best. For example, my report indicates I am good at problem-solving and collaboration of working with others, which means that I should find a job that champions team working. It can help determine if you love working on already set instructions or are better at taking risks by doing things your way. It saves individuals from working in an environment that will affect their mental health and promotes a conducive working environment.
Moreover, the Indigo report can help identify leadership development, communication, and workplace collaboration. It shows leadership qualities, strengths, and weaknesses. It indicates How influential an individual is, which translates to leadership skills. It states areas that show your effectiveness in leadership and how well you can lead. For example, good leadership must show you are good at communication, emotional intelligence, decision-making, and problem-solving skills. A leader must show collaboration, and they can effect change through better communication skills. Also, it shows if the person can mentor or coach others because leadership is about influencing and mentoring others. A person unable to influence or mentor others is not an effective leader, showing they have traits to work on.
Potential Business
Childcare services are a potential business that will thrive well in Ontario, Canada. Most parents in Canada are working class, and making money is their daily goal, while others try to achieve their career goals and contribute to the local and national economy (Picincu, 2020). Therefore, childcare services are in demand in Canada, and providing care services to children is in demand to ensure that parents look for money as they raise their families. Other parents believe that taking their children to high-quality childcare will keep children safe and healthy as they develop essential skills crucial for success (Picincu, 2020). Childcare creates employment for staff taking care of the children.
Therefore, childcare services are a good business that will likely make it in Canada due to many potential parents with children who want to work or continue studying. There is demand for childcare services in Canada, providing a good market for our services. Also, it will provide employment opportunities to the trained staff who will take care of the children’s welfare (Prentice, 2007). The business will be a facility with proper playing grounds and internal and external games that children will have to enjoy (Halfon & Langford, 2015). Parents must bring their children and take them anytime they want. Payments for the services will depend on the parent’s preferences to pay monthly, weekly, or daily, depending on their capabilities. Our goal is to ensure that we follow all the licensing procedures and adhere to the guidelines provided by the government.
Product
The product we shall be offering is daycare and night care services to our working or learning clients. It aims to provide high-quality daycare services to the customers while listening and working closely with the parents (Prentice, 2007). To increase customer satisfaction, we aim to provide children with basic education to facilitate their emotional and cognitive development. Safety, fun and educative is our priority for all children, and we also have cameras to monitor children in all areas of the facility. To ensure parents are involved, we shall involve technology where parents can call anytime and see their children. This is to ensure that parents can access their children at any time. It is also the best chance for children to socialize and interact with others.
Price
Our services will be subjected to different prices than they will depend on the services the parents want for their kids. We shall have different prices for parents who want their kids to take food from our facility and those who provide food for their kids from home. Therefore, placing specific prices will be impossible. Also, we shall be providing commission to parents who refer our services to their friends, and a discount will be offered to all first-timers to encourage more parents to bring their children to our facility for childcare services. The prices for parents who want night care for their children will pay a different amount.
Promotion
To promote our business, we shall host an opening event free to the public that will market our business. It will help parents notice and inspect the new facility and determine if it is okay for their children (Gallagher, 2018). Engage the social media marketing in the parents-only forums and contribute to the conversation. Social media is important because parents can locate the business quickly. Also, providing simple educational tips to parents in social media spaces is an important marketing strategy. Encouraging our clients to refer their friends. Parents will receive rewards or receive a one-time commission for every friend they refer. It will encourage other to bring parents to recommend our services to others (Gallagher, 2018). Also, participate in different local events to interact with people and communicate with people about the new venture.
Competitors
There are many well-established childcare services centers in Ontario, Canada, which is the main competitor to the business. For example, the Ontario Municipal Social Services Association is a well-established daycare center in Ontario (Gallagher, 2018). However, my competitive advantage is hiring highly qualified caregivers and offering affordable services with various games and places where children can rest well. We are also using technology to ensure that parents and children are always in touch, where parents can monitor their children at any time (Halfon & Langford, 2015). Also, offering flexible childcare services gives parents ample and flexible time to work or study. We shall be offering care both at night and during the day.
References
Picincu A (2020). How to Start a Home Day Care in Ontario, Canada. Small business. https://smallbusiness.chron.com/start-home-day-care-ontario-canada-17478.html
Gallagher, A. (2018). The business of care: Marketization and the new geographies of childcare. Progress in Human Geography, 42(5), 706-722. https://doi.org/10.1177/0309132517702970
Prentice, S. (2007). Childcare, the’business case’and economic development: Canadian evidence, opportunities and challenges. International Journal of Economic Development, 9(4), 269.
Halfon, S. H. A. N. I., & Langford, R. (2015). Developing and supporting a high quality child care workforce in Canada. Our Schools/Our Selves, 24(4), 131-144.
Innovative Leadership Report University Essay Example
Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. is the selected organization based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Company produces welding equipment and consumables, cutting equipment, and regulators. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc.’s mission is to ensure that it offers high-quality goods and services that meet the demands of clients and meet its vision. Therefore, the needed change within this organization is to focus on enhancing employee engagement and satisfaction by providing a positive and supportive work culture. Also, this change will be attained by adopting an effective leadership style which will adopt an implementation strategy characterized by creating cross-functional groups that offer training and development and promote an open communication culture that aligns with the Company’s goals. Therefore, this paper seeks to use Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. as an example to show how the journey to successful organizational change can be long and requires demonstrating a leader’s innovative leadership skills to support sustainable change.
There are various leadership styles in the context of the organizational culture and proposed change. One of these leadership styles that I have explored is the transformational leadership style, which describes leaders who use optimism, intelligence, charm, and other important personal qualities to transform employees in an organization to high-performance levels. Transactional leadership is another leadership style discussed in the context of the organizational culture and proposed change. This leadership style involves the leaders focusing on exchanges between them and the followers or employees in the workplace.
According to Aydin (2018, p. 271), the transactional leadership style is one in which the leaders promote compliance by followers through rewards and punishments. Furthermore, the rationale for considering these two leadership styles is that they are essential in the context of the organizational culture and proposed change in most organizations. First, these two leadership styles will play a significant role in aligning with the organizational culture. Transformational leadership focuses on inspiring and motivating employees through a shared vision and values. Therefore, this will be effective for an organization like Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc., as it has a culture that values innovation, creativity, and continuous improvement.
On the contrary, transactional leadership entails setting clear expectations and providing rewards or punishments according to performance (Aydin, 2018, p. 271). Therefore, this leadership style will create a task-oriented culture at Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. Additionally, the two leadership styles are effective and crucial for the organization to navigate the complexities of change initiatives. Transformational leadership is vital during change as it helps leaders articulate a compelling vision and communicate the need for change. Also, this will motivate the workers to embrace the change by aligning it with their values. Moreover, transactional leadership, emphasizing task-oriented performance, will provide structure and stability during times of change by ensuring that tasks are carried out efficiently and effectively.
After assessing Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc.’s need for change, I recommend transformational leadership as the best style to support change. Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. maintains a solid focus on sustainability and social responsibility by driving forces to quality products and services. Therefore, transformational leadership will promote sustainability by creating an organizational culture whereby the leaders and followers will focus on advancing each other to a high level of motivation, promoting high-performance levels (Shahzad et al., 2022, p. 2).
Additionally, a transformational leadership style will support sustainable organizational success within Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. by empowering its workers and making them work collectively. The workers will be inspired by their leaders’ charisma and vision (Shahzad et al., 2022, p. 2). Another notable aspect of this leadership style is that transformational leaders typically enhance organizational sustainability, which plays a significant role in influencing organizational performance. Also, organizational performance will be achieved by the transformational leader creating a knowledge-sharing environment that will successfully integrate and support different strategy implementation models (Shahzad et al., 2022, p. 9). For instance, this leadership within the Company will promote sustainability by creating an environment characterized by job engagement whereby the employees will have respect and confidence in their leader, which will motivate them and result in improved performance (Vila-Vazquez et al., 2018, p. 10).
Transformational leadership focuses on the changes within a company that result in the enhancement of the organization’s goals. Moreover, integration into the Company’s vision and mission will be through the leader influencing change through the adoption of open communication, which will play a significant role in ensuring that there is a flow of information while maintaining meaningful connections between the management and workers (Ligon, 2020, p. 2). For example, Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc. leaders will integrate into its mission and vision by creating cross-functional groups, providing training and development, and promoting an open communication culture that will align with the Company’s goals. Therefore, this leadership style will be able to integrate into the Company’s mission which is to provide high-quality goods and services that meet the demands of clients that will enable meet the vision.
In conclusion, transformational leadership will increase value for stakeholders through competitive advantage. After ensuring sustainable organizational success, this type of leadership will ensure the Company gains a competitive advantage over competitors and the clients due to their products, values, and high-quality products, among others. Moreover, competitive advantage will allow the leaders and workers to treat shareholders like “owners and partners,” leading to the best outcomes (Ligon, 2020, p. 25). Also, it will increase the value for stakeholders by ensuring change management that integrates Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc.’s goals and ideas from distinct shareholders. For example, through the transformational leadership style, the leader will integrate the Company’s goals with the resources. Therefore, it is important to argue that the transformation will result in the collaboration of all stakeholders to achieve the organizational goals and objectives and will add value to the stakeholders as there will be enhanced outcomes in the effectiveness and organizational efficiency.
Another example is that transformational leaders will establish open lines of communication, focus on feedback and concerns, and show empathy toward their team members (Ligon, 2020, p. 36). It will foster a positive work environment based on trust, respect, and collaboration, where team members feel comfortable sharing ideas, opinions, and feedback. Trust and positive relationships will contribute to stakeholder value by promoting teamwork, innovation, and a supportive culture that enhances productivity and performance.
References
Aydin, B. (2018). The Role of organizational culture on leadership styles. MANAS Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, 7(1), 267-280. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/578231
Ligon, A. (2020). The Role of transformational leadership in organizational innovation and sustainable success. Murray State’s Digital Commons. Retrieved April 19, 2023, from https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1292&context=bis437
Shahzad, M. A., Iqbal, T., Jan, N., & Zahid, M. (2022). The Role of Transformational Leadership on Firm Performance: Mediating Effect of Corporate Sustainability and Moderating Effect of Knowledge-Sharing. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.883224
Vila-Vázquez, G., Castro-Casal, C., Álvarez-Pérez, D., & del Río-Araújo, L. (2018). Promoting the sustainability of organizations: Contribution of transformational leadership to job engagement. Sustainability, 10(11), 4109. DOI: 10.3390/su10114109