The symbol I created for my pedagogical philosophy for this course is heavily steeped in Kaska tradition. In 2019, a workshop in my community took place around “Gukeyeh Guk’eh Gu’sani” (following our peoples’ way on the land, roughly means Constitution). The participants agreed that a Constitution is “the supreme law of the Nation”. Participants drew a symbol of the Constitution as a basket containing a number of eggs. The basket represents the Constitution; the eggs, the elements of the governance system, such as the structure of government or the Nation’s laws. For this reason, I chose a basket.

The Kaska have two matrilineal moieties, called Crow and Wolf in English, which are often referred to as clans. Most Kaska are aware of their clan affiliation, but rules governing marriage and other forms of interaction between clans are less strictly observed than in the past. A Yukon First Nations baby belongs to his or her mother’s clan. For example, children born to mothers from the Crow Clan belong to the Crow Clan. Those born to mothers from the Wolf Clan belong to the Wolf Clan. This is called a matrilineal lineage. All Yukon First Nations children are part of their mother’s lineage.

The basket represents following a First Nation approach to learning; the wolf and crow, my students and their heritage.