'It is the belt!' This is how middle school teachers in a science teaching professional development program rationalized why they believe Orion is the most recognizable of all constellations in the night sky. It was from this foundation that we chose Orion to be the focus of a four-phase ethnoastronomy-based project reported here. Ethnoastronomy,…

First Nations tricksters, Coyote and Raven, work to indigenize Environmental Education but run up against mainstream languages, technologies, and educational practices. They try to do an end-run around the cognitive backfield, then portage through marginal spaces, but find that working between Indigenous languages and mainstream ones can work best…

In a country as diverse as Canada, spread over an incomprehensibly large land mass, the connections between citizens may require more imagination. One way that these connections have been traditionally imagined in Canada is through national myths, including the myth of the wilderness. This myth draws the Canadian identity out of an…

This essay is a response to a question about school desegregation in Nova Scotia, Canada posed by my sister in 2008. I argue that the question itself illustrates the extent to which critical analysis of the politics of race in Canadian schools, particularly in rural areas, is seldom taken up. This feeds into a persistent mythology of a racially…

This beginning paper attempts to explicate the myth of autonomy and individuality and the impact of this myth upon people in Western society. Focusing upon the work of the Dutch philosopher Gerrit Manenschijn, the authors briefly explore: (1) the history of autonomy as a myth as well as (2) how the West's monomythical culture shapes human…

Indigenous oral narratives are an important source for, and component of, Coast Salish knowledge systems. Stories are not only to be recounted and passed down; they are also intended as tools for teaching. Jo-ann Archibald worked closely with Elders and storytellers, who shared both traditional and personal life-experience stories, in order to…

Myths that have grown up and persisted about Canada's involvement in World War II are examined. It is a mythodology heavy in self-congratulation, contemptous of politicians, suspicious of outsiders, and uncertain about the possibilities for Canadian independence in a complicated world. (RM)

In light of U.S. health care reform, notes that myths and exaggerations abound about health care in the United States and Canada. Briefly examines assertions and facts about financing, waiting, rationing, government intrusiveness, physicians and consumer satisfaction, technology, choice, and quality as they relate to both systems. (NB)

Exposing fables, testing new interpretations, and discovering the true complexity of myths can make history come alive. That a Methodist clergyman was put in charge of recruiting in Quebec, that Canada was unprepared for war in 1917, and that the Canadian government hopelessly mismanaged recruiting are examples of myths examined. (RM)

North American men die about 10 years younger than their female counterparts. This difference is not based on biological differences but on behavioral differences. Men are taught not to take care of themselves and to deaden themselves emotionally. Men are incurable romantics. They are addicted to the hero myth which is a wonderful inspiring,…

Describes creative expression workshops using myth to facilitate storytelling and drawing activities for recently arrived immigrants and refugee children. Analysis suggests that the use of a wide variety of mythic references frequently helps children better represent the gaps between home and school, past and present, and offers the possibility of…

This paper analyzes religious, psychological, artistic, and environmental elements in one Naskapi myth, and provides a means of understanding the world of the Montagnais and Naskapi hunting tribes of the Labrador Peninsula. In "Ayas'i's Son," the (unnamed) hero is falsely accused of rape by his father's youngest wife. The son is exiled…

Examines two instances where European based folklore has made its way to Canada via immigrant storytellers, Alice Kane's "Songs and Sayings of an Ulster Childhood," and Eva Martin and Laszlo Gal's "Canadian Fairy Tales." (RBW)

The state of ESL in Canada has been a looming, mishandled entity. Canadians espouse the benefits of diversity and have politically correct policies concerning racism and equity for the linguistically disadvantaged, but in reality something has gone terribly wrong. This article outlines specific myths and delusions that plague educational…

Non-Native scholarly interpretations of The Three Bears--a traditional story of the Nlha7kapmx Nation--focus on mythology as simplistic science to explain the physical world. In contrast, a Nlha7kapmx interpretation illuminates connections of land to people. Such stories reinforce cultural identity and teach young people about the spiritual power…