Earth dance and fire song: A journey towards transformative reconciliation in nursing education

G̱ilakas'la, Nugwa'a̱m Joanna Elizabeth Fraser. I was born in East Africa to parents of European ancestry. I have been an inhabitant of the West Coast of Canada since I was two years old. This inquiry offers a vision for co-creating healing learning spaces for transformative reconciliation in nursing education. Oriented by Indigenous research methodologies, I draw from métissage and, portraiture to share the story of finding ya'xa̱n yiyaḵ̓wima (my gifts from the Creator). Starting with finding ya'xa̱n dłig̱a̱m (my name), I ask who I am in relation to the places and people who I have learned from. In finding ya'xa̱n ḵ̓a̱ngex̱tola (my blanket), I ask where I am from as I weave, unweave and reweave understandings of what I have learned as a nurse and as an educator. In finding ya'xa̱n ya̱xw'a̱nye' (my dance), I ask where I am going and share my experiences from over 13 years of co-facilitating immersion learning field schools in remote First Nations communities. Finally, I share the learnings of my inquiry for educators more generally as I find ya'xa̱n ḵ̓a̱mda̱m (my song) and ask myself why I am here. My learnings from the field schools are about following the lead of Indigenous people, orienting myself to relationships and always seeking out wellness. These learnings are applied to nursing education more generally as my inquiry leads me through three landscapes: bearing witness, being an inhabitant and becoming Indigenist. Transformative reconciliation happens when we naḵi'stamas (make things right) and tlaxwalapa (lift each other up with love). We can do this through living in relationally accountable and ecologically reciprocal ways. My lessons are of the Sisiutl, seeing everything in complexity, and of the he'istalis (world around us) experiencing everything as relationship. Ultimately, my vision is to reimagine nursing and nursing education so that we can heal ourselves, each other, and the land to become synala (whole).