Truth-telling Teachers

What can we learn about truth-telling from museums that confront difficult histories and knowledges? 

In this episode, we speak to André Péloquin-Hopfner, a Franco-Manitoban artist and heritage interpreter, who trains and supports museum educators through his role as the Education and Program Delivery Training specialist at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg.

We discuss how museums and classrooms differ as sites of learning, but also some models for how dialogic pedagogical approaches can support both. 

Andre speaks about:

The Inzovu Curve

Teaching Resources from the Canadian Museum for Human Rights

The Arc of Dialogue

In this episode, we speak to Aniishnaabe father and daughter, David Daniels and Christine Daniels, at the National Indigenous Residential School Museum of Canada.

David Daniels is an Aniishinaabe knowledge keeper, residential school survivor, and elder from Long Plain First Nation who shares traditional teachings regarding the land and indigenous food and medicine systems. Christine is marketing coordinator at the National Indigenous Residential School Museum of Canada, a land-based educator and an intergenerational Survivor, and together they work as educators and history interpreters at the Museum located by Portage la Prairie, Manitoba on Keeshkeemaquah Reserve.

In this rich conversation, they take us right back to ancient Rome and explain how colonial harms have their roots in enduring ideologies. They share about piquing curiosity, recentering knowledges that were forbidden under colonial law and understanding defensive reactions to truth. 

In this episode, we're delighted to sit and chat with proud Gunditjmara, Boandik man, Yoorrook Deputy Commissioner and inaugural Director of the Center for Truth-telling and Dialogue, Travis Lovett.

We caught Trav earlier in the year, just before he headed off on the National Walk for Truth. Trav shares his experiences with the healing work of Yoorrook and it's impact. We discuss how the impacts of colonial policies on Aboriginal people are not just historical—they continue to shape lives today, especially through systemic injustices in health, education, and justice systems. Trav reminds us that lived experience matters, and everyone has a role to play.

You can still sign the open letter calling for a national truth-telling process - see link below.

Reports | Yoorrook Justice Commission

Add your name to the open letter | Walk for Truth

Associate Professor Pearl Subban was born and raised in Durban, South Africa, under apartheid and completed her schooling in initial teacher education within that system. These experiences profoundly shape her scholarship, which centres on race, racism and equity in education.

In this episode, we discuss discomfort, unpacking the suitcase of historical pain, and the implications of knowledge erasure. 

Associate Professor Aleryck Fricker is a Dja Dja Wurrung man born in Naarm, Victoria. He works as a Lecturer in the National Indigenous Knowledges Education Research and Innovation (NIKERI) Institute of the Faculty of Arts and Education at Deakin University. Al is a former primary and secondary school history, Geography, English and maths teacher. 

In this episode, Al reflects on three essentials for truth-telling in education: preparing teachers with the confidence and support to do the work well, recognising Indigenous knowledges as a foundation for teaching rather than an add-on, and approaching truth-telling as a deeply relational practice that connects honest shared histories with more just futures.