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2026 DEHR Conference
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Friday, June 5
 

1:00pm MDT

Breakout #1 - Sitting in Story: Healing, Identity and the Wisdom of Elder Laurie MacDonald
Friday June 5, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm MDT
In this deeply relational session, participants are invited to sit in circle, listen with humility and receive the teachings of Elder Laurie McDonald from Enoch Cree Nation. Through story, reflection and lived experience, Elder Laurie will share aspects of his residential school journey, his path of healing, and his proud work supporting Two-Spirit and 2SLGBTQIA+ communities.
This session is grounded in the understanding that story is not simply something we hear; it is something we are called to witness, honour and carry with care. Elder Laurie’s sharing will offer participants an opportunity to deepen their understanding of the intersections between Indigenous identity, residential school experience, healing, gender, sexuality, belonging and human rights.
Rather than a traditional presentation, this gathering will take the form of a listening circle: a respectful space for presence, learning, truth-telling and reflection. Participants will be invited to slow down, listen deeply and consider how educators, allies and leaders can create schools and communities where Two-Spirit and 2SLGBTQIA+ Indigenous people are affirmed, protected and celebrated.
Speakers
avatar for Elder Laurie MacDonald

Elder Laurie MacDonald

Elder Laurie McDonald of Enoch Cree Nation (Maskêkosihk) is a Two-Spirit Elder, Residential School Survivor, and long-standing community leader whose life and work reflect courage, cultural strength, and deep commitment to healing. A survivor of Ermineskin Residential School, Elder Laurie has shared that... Read More →
Friday June 5, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm MDT
Room 218

2:05pm MDT

Breakout #2 - Making Invisible Labour Visible: Building Collective Care for 2SLGBTQIA+ Teachers in Hostile Policy Landscapes
Friday June 5, 2026 2:05pm - 3:05pm MDT
2SLGBTQIA+ teachers often shoulder invisible labour in schools—navigating in/visibility, managing microaggressions, and sustaining inclusion work—labour that is intensified in hostile policy landscapes. This workshop explores the idea of heteroprofessionalism and how expectations of gender coherence and heterosexuality have become sedimented within norms of teacher professionalism, creating invisible labour for 2SLGBTQIA+ teachers. Participants will consider how to move beyond powerlessness in the face of political hostility toward collective care and institutional forms of support for 2SLGBTQIA+ teachers.
Speakers
avatar for Jamie Anderson

Jamie Anderson

Jamie Anderson (he/they) is a trans educator, parent, SSHRC scholar, and doctoral candidate at UCalgary’s Werklund School of Education. He has more than 14 years of experience teaching and consulting in the Alberta K-12 education system, and his current research examines anti-trans... Read More →
Friday June 5, 2026 2:05pm - 3:05pm MDT
Room 218
 
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