Agora Journal Volume 11, 2020
Imagery and Identity: Exploring Curtis Gillespie’s “Learning to Unlearn”
Donelle Hadley
Winner of the Student Writer Award Silver Medal, Research Essay Category (1st-2nd Year)

An initial reading of Curtis Gillespie’s “Learning to Unlearn” reveals the journey of a man
recollecting the absence of Indigenous culture in Alberta in the 1960’s and 1970’s when the whole of his
exposure existed in visual snippets and brief, personal encounters. Gillespie’s perceptions of Indigenous
culture dramatically shifted when he was asked by New Trail magazine to “consider what (Canadians)
might actually do” regarding the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of
Canada (par. 8). His journey begins, as he recollects in the article, with a poster in his childhood
bedroom of an Indigenous man in full ceremonial dress In his youthful innocence he never deeply
considered it, despite seeing it every day. Gillespie then walks us through his experience of unlearning
his own assumption of the collective Canadian identity. In spending a significant amount of time with
Indigenous individuals, he comes to see a collective Canadian identity through their eyes, and realizes
that if we truly aspire to be identified as Canadians we must, like him, unlearn who we think we are.
Like Gillespie’s narrative on the poster, what we see presented every day of Indigenous Canadian
identity passes by us seemingly unnoticed. The media, institutions, and even Indigenous people
themselves, play a large role in creating our individual and collective narrative. I propose that to unlearn
our assumptions, we must evaluate what representative imagery has existed, from the late Nineteenth
Century to the present, and how our own personal encounters with Indigenous Canadians can help us
learn a new collective Canadian identity.
The photograph of Thomas Moore Keesick is one of the earliest representations of a narrative
that needs to be unlearned. Keesick, presented as Thomas Moore only, is pictured in a juxtaposed image
of himself just prior to admission to an Indian Residential School, and subsequently as a student postadmittance. “The Archaeology of an Image: The Persistent Persuasion of Thomas Moore Keesick’s
Residential School Photographs” by Miranda J. Brady and Emily Hiltz thoroughly deconstructs the
image, but their overall point is to assess the misrepresentations created by those who have used it in

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various environments over the course of one hundred years. The images favoured the era’s notions that a
cultured Indian is the ideal in Canadian society. Brady and Hiltz also highlight the misplaced blame
towards the government regarding the agenda behind the photo, as well as the institutionally perpetuated
incorrect dating of the photo, indicating “the (role of) metadata in contextualizing visual evidence” (72).
When visuals continually appear in singular context, misrepresentations of identity tend to follow. The
Canadian Museum of History is also implicated; they do not address what should be obvious to them.
The photo is staged.
Institutions also found responsible, according to Brady and Hiltz, are education systems. Several
authors point to a similar concern; Kristi Belcourt states that the education system is currently teaching
the historical relationship between Europeans and Indigenous but leaving out the nasty parts detailing
assimilation and erasure (Keetsanak xvii). Roger I. Simon uses the term symbolic optics to describe the
introduction of the Indian Residential Schools history into current curricula, because it would have to be
taught inside the scope of an uncomfortable national identity for any social transformation to occur
(135). Curtis Gillespie himself, in his New Trail article, writes that we have power in the education
system to start early with equality and tolerance, except it first has to be a sold idea to the educators (par.
69). Educators still use the Keesick photo out of context to guide discussion on Indigenous issues.
A modern image misrepresenting Canadian identity is the photo titled “Face to Face” by Shaney
Komulainen. Shot during the Oka Crisis, it depicts what can be perceived as a standoff between a
Canadian soldier and a Mohawk warrior. It has a palpable sense of charged emotion. Rima Wilkes and
Michael Kehl in “One Image, Multiple Nationalisms” put this photo in the category of Iconic, because it
has “a particular essence” that allows it to reflect and represent “culturally resonant themes” (484).
“Face to Face” has been seen as colonial imagery, an example of enforcing the binary narrative of the
colonial and the displaced (482). Wilkes and Kehl propose that war and conflict imagery may reflect
plural nationalisms, which are presented through a preferential, often hegemonic meaning, but this
meaning is “neither singular nor fixed” (481). The initial narrative of the photo has since switched in this
manner, as the “hero” became later disgraced, and the “challenger” was discovered to not be the
individual originally implicated.
Promulgating these malleable identities is the Canadian media. Isela Perez-Torres comments on
this, saying that the media is responsible for the nationwide identity. They must avoid subscribing to a
“discourse of discrimination and contempt directed towards the victims” which weakens the possibility
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of citizen support (161). We see this happening in the case of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women
(MMIW). The Highway of Tears documentary addresses the failure of the media to provide fair and
unbiased representation of Indigenous women who are victims of the crisis. The story only gained
momentum when the disappearance of Nicole Hoar, a white girl from Red Deer, saturated the news
(09:59). Her photo appealed to the contemporary narrative of Canadian identity. Samira Saramo also
draws attention to media representation of MMIW, and in her article, describes the viral #AmINext
campaign which used pictures of Indigenous women challenging Prime Minister Stephen Harper to
action (210). Saramo’s article itself displays a Liberal Party image of Prime Minister Stephen Harper
that was used to incite bipartisanship over the issue (209).
In response to a burgeoning national awareness of the MMIW crisis, we see a resurgence of
Indigenous visual art. Louis Riel once said “My people will sleep for 100 years, and when they awake it
will be the artists who give them back their spirit” (qtd in Findlay 221). Indigenous art has long been a
part of the colonial-controlled narrative, but modern work seeks to change the Canadian perspective.
Marybelle Mitchell states that “the vestiges of colonialism are being challenged daily by artists” (93),
and what bold and beautiful work it is. On her website, Christi Belcourt explains that her extraordinary
stained glass window, Giniigaaniimenaaning (Looking Ahead), “in Centre Block of Parliament was
commissioned to recognize the survivors of Indian Residential Schools and their families, as well as the
Prime Minister’s historic Apology in 2008.” The window represents the arc of the experience of
Indigenous peoples in Canada, with the Apology at the apex. The story runs from the bottom left, precolonialism, and then up through the apex, and down the right pane, leading the way to restoration of
Indigenous identity. It is full of symbolism and realism, with culture and beliefs intertwined in creative
genius. However, Lara Fullenweider comments that the location of the window can be considered a
constraint to recognizing Indigenous sovereignty, as it is sitting in the house of the Hegemon (44).
A striking advancement in visual art is the REDress project, now nationally recognized as a
companion to MMIW awareness. A Métis artist, Jaime Black, has used the tangible imagery of
hauntingly disembodied red dresses, signifying the absence of the Indigenous women meant to wear
them (Saramo 214). Modern artists seek not only to show Canada what our reconciled identity is, but
also have created a space for people’s interaction. Gillespie points to his unlearning as coming from
joining in the experience of the people who helped him (par. 8-9). Art installations like Belcourt’s

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Walking With Our Sisters, furthermore invite us to enjoy the visual, but also a ceremonial experience, so
that non-Indigenous people can come and identify with a part of the Indigenous story (Saramo 215).
Gillespie presents us with a challenge to reorient our Canadian identity by unlearning what we
thought we knew about our Indigenous neighbours. There is a power found in imagery that influences
what we understand of a culture. We must discard the habit of seeing Indigenous visuals presented by
colonial institutions and favour those presented directly by Indigenous members. The former, seen in
media, education and government, have historically served a bias under the umbrella of a colonial
identity. Gillespie is correct that we have a personal responsibility to engage in others’ perspectives, and
we have seen the emerging opportunities presented by new Indigenous art to do so. However, our
national, social transformation faces a large barrier because of said institutions. What we thought we
knew, we will always face inside the present tense, until the momentum of new visuals and experiences
have overtaken as a new reality; a whole and reconciled Canadian identity.

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Works Cited
Belcourt, Christi. Giniigaaniimenaaning (Looking Ahead). (Website) n.d.,
http://christibelcourt.com/stained-glass/. Accessed 02 Dec. 2019.
---. Giniigaaniimenaaning (Looking Ahead). (Image) n.d., http://christibelcourt.com/stainedglass/. Accessed 02 Dec. 2019.\
---. Prologue. Keetsahnak: Our Missing and Murdered Indigenous Sisters, edited by Kim
Anderson, et al, U of Alberta P, 2018, pp. xi - xviii.
Brady, Miranda J. and Emily Hiltz. "The Archaeology of an Image: The Persistent Persuasion of
Thomas Moore Keesick's Residential School Photographs." TOPIA: Canadian Journal of
Cultural Studies, vol. 37, Spring 2017, p. 61-85. Project MUSE,
muse.jhu.edu/article/709385. Accessed 02 Dec. 2019.
Findlay, Len. “Redress Rehearsals: Legal Warrior, COSMOSQUAW, and the National
Aboriginal Achievement Awards.” Reconciling Canada: Critical Perspectives on the
Culture of Redress, edited by Jennifer Henderson, Pauline Wakeham, U of Toronto P,
2013, pp. 217-235.
Fullenwieder, Lara. “Framing Indigenous Self-Recognition: the Visual and Cultural Work of the
Politics of Recognition.” Postcolonial Studies, vol. 20, no. 1, 2017, pp. 34-50. Routledge
Taylor and Francis Group, https://doi.org/10.1080/13688790.2017.1357219. Accessed 02
Dec. 2019.
Gillespie, Curtis. “A Hard Walk.” New Trail, University of Alberta, Spring 2017,
https://www.ualberta.ca/newtrail/spring-2017/features-dept/a-hard-walk. Accessed 02
Dec. 2019.
---. “Learning to Unlearn: It’s Time to Discard the Myths about Canada and Indigenous
Peoples.” Essay Writing for Canadian Students with Readings, Edited by Roger Davis,
Laura K. Davis, Pearson Canada, 2016, pp. 187-189.
Highway of Tears. Produced by Matt Smiley, Finesse Films, 2013.

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Komulainen, Shaney. “Face to Face.” 1 Spetember, 1990.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1f/Oka_stare_down.jpg/300pxOka_stare_down.jpg
Mitchell, Marybelle. “Connecting the Artists With the Art.” Hidden in Plain Sight:
Contributions of Aboriginal Peoples to Canadian Identity and Culture, Vol. 1, edited by
David R. Newhouse, et al, U of Toronto P, 2005, pp. 89-95. 2 vols.
Pérez-torres, Isela. “The Duty of the Canadian Media in Relation to the Violence Against Native
Women.” Forever Loved: Exposing the Hidden Crisis of Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women and Girls in Canada, edited by D. Memee Lavell-Harvard, Jennifer
Brant, Demeter Press, 2016, pp. 160-174.
Saramo, Samira. “Unsettling Spaces: Grassroots Responses to Canada’s Missing and Murdered
Indigenous Women During the Harper Government Years.” Comparative American
Studies, vol. 14, no. 3/4, Sept. 2016, pp. 204–220. EBSCOhost,
doi:10.1080/14775700.2016.1267311. Accessed 02 Dec. 2019.
Simon, Roger I. “Towards a Hopeful Practice of Worrying: The Problematics of Listening and
the Educative Responsibilities of Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.”
Reconciling Canada: Critical Perspectives on the Culture of Redress, edited by Jennifer
Henderson, Pauline Wakeham, U of Toronto P, 2013, pp. 129-142.
Wilkes, Rima, and Michael Kehl. “One Image, Multiple Nationalisms: Face to Face and the
Siege at Kanehsatà:Ke.” Nations & Nationalism, vol. 20, no. 3, July 2014, pp. 481–502.
EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/nana.12067. Accessed 02 Dec. 2019.

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