Foreword (Pt. 1)
Excerpt from, “From social justice warrior to Gospel-centered servant of God:
An educator’s reflection on critical theory and Christianity” (Linkletter, 2021).
This is not the usual knowledge translation project, but more of a reflective journey and therefore I decided to take an unusual approach in its presentation in the form of an autoethnography (more about the format later-on). By the end of this research paper, you will be very familiar with the learning journey I have been on for the past few years and the person I have matured into.
I would like to start off by giving some background information on how this all began and other aspects of my life that will provide insight and context for more formalised discussions to follow.
I am a mother, a wife, a student, and a trained teacher. I am also a daughter, sister, and friend. My husband and I moved to a remote, fly-in community in the Northwest Territories just two months after we married.
We were both graduates of the Bachelor of Education program at Tyndale University in Toronto and on the hunt for teaching jobs. At the time, teaching jobs were scarce in the Greater Toronto Area. We weren’t too fond of city living and always dreamed of living in northern Ontario, so we took our job hunt north and ended up very far North, all the way in the Northwest Territories.
We currently live 250 km north-west of Yellowknife: about a 40-minute flight. To be honest, we thought we’d only be here for a year. We thought we’d get some experience under our belt, make some money to pay off student loans and then move back South to settle down.
It is now six years later, and we have three children (as of 2024, we now have 5 children). My husband and I received a major lesson in surrendering our plans to God and experiencing His good and generous nature.
The community we live in is called Whati. It is a Dene community on Tlicho land. The population is about 500, of which about 5% is non-Dene. We are situated on beautiful Lac Le Martre. Locals have cabins that dot the islands and fishing nets are set up in all the most strategic places. It truly is a beautiful community. The land and the people have taught me so much about God and human nature.
Rebecca