"I have the worst fear of teachers": moments of inclusion and exclusion in family/school relationships among indigenous families in Southern Ontario.

Milne, Emily

RESEARCH HAS EXAMINED FAMILY/SCHOOL relations among families with African, Asian, and European backgrounds (e.g., Gutman and McLoyd 2000; Kim and Hill 2015; Lareau 2002, 2011; Lareau and Horvat 1999; Lee and Bowen 2006; Mau 1997). Research has considered tensions between Indigenous peoples (1) and schools rooted in legacies of residential schooling (Wotherspoon and Schissel 2003), as well as the role of Indigenous parents' education, income, and schooling expectations on the educational achievement of their children (Richards, Hove, and Afolabi 2008; Richards and Scott 2009). Scholars have also reflected on Indigenous school experiences through poetry and autobiographical and biographical accounts (e.g., Armstrong and Grauer 2001; LaRocque 1996,1997; Maracle 2003). Still, there is relatively little known about the microfoundations of the relationship between Indigenous parents/children on the one hand and schools/teachers on the other.

Indigenous families face unique challenges when connecting with schools. They have to contend with the intergenerational effects of racial discrimination in schooling (the impact of parents' negative experiences on their children; e.g., Lafrance and Collins 2003; Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada 2015). They must also contend with educator expectations that parents have trusting positive attitudes toward schools, feel comfortable at school, and are actively involved in their children's education (Lareau 2002, 2011; Lareau and Horvat 1999; Lareau and Weininger 2003; Ontario Ministry of Education 2010). Drawing on 50 interviews (26 educators and 24 parents) and cultural capital theory, this paper contributes to our understanding of the dynamics of educational inequity associated with Indigenous family/school relationships in two ways. This paper (1) calls attention to the necessity of examining how family/school relationships may impact educational inequities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Canadians (Bougie, Kelly-Scott, and Amagada 2013; Richards 2008, 2014; Statistics Canada 2013), and from this (2) offers empirical findings that highlight the important role that social class plays in Indigenous parent/school interactions. The interviews reveal that middle-class (MC) parents interacted with schools in ways that educators expected and valued, while lower-class (LC) parents interacted with schools in ways that educators viewed as unhelpful or disengaged from school interactions altogether.

This study builds on Annette Lareau's conception of cultural capital (Lareau 2002, 2011; Lareau and Weininger 2003) and, in particular, her use of the term moments of inclusion/exclusion that she uses to describe and explain the dynamics of family/school relationships (Lareau and Horvat 1999). Cultural capital refers to an individual's possession and activation of resources during "micro-interactional processes" involving institutionalized standards of evaluation (Lareau and Weininger 2003). Lareau has argued that educators have expectations of parents. "Moments of inclusion" refer to parenting behaviors that align with these expectations and "moments of exclusion" refer to those that do not (Lareau and Horvat 1999).

While Lareau's research focuses on the United States, it is relevant to Canada and the relationships between Indigenous families and schools given the similarities between the U.S. and Canada primary and secondary schooling systems (Andersen and Jseger 2015; Levin and Segedin 2011) and standards that educators use to evaluate parents (Lareau 2002, 2011; Ontario Ministry of Education 2010). Further, cultural capital has been shown to have a positive effect on academic achievement (e.g., Jseger 2010), and to be relevant in Canadian schooling contexts (e.g., Andersen and Jseger 2015; Tramonte and Willms 2010) as well as schooling experiences of various racial groups (e.g., Cobb 2014; Kostenko 2009; Stagg-Peterson and Heywood 2007; Taylor, Mehrabi, and Pillay 2016). Lareau's conception of cultural capital is frequently used in educational studies and has been termed the "Lareau tradition" in cultural capital research (Davies and Rizk 2014, 2015). However, Lareau's framework has not been applied to schooling experiences of Indigenous families in Canada.

This paper begins by reviewing the relevant literature. Next parent/teacher interactions are described along dimensions of trust and comfort, roles and responsibility, and agency (see Aurini, Milne, and Hillier 2016), categories that align with schools informal and formal institutionalized expectations of parents. Educator perspectives are then considered more directly.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Literature examining Indigenous schooling experiences tends to focus on structural level of analyses and manifestations of colonialism in education policies and practices (Alfred 2014; Hookimaw-Witt 1998; Orminston 2002). Some scholars advocate for decolonizing the education system by way of acknowledging and infusing Indigenous ways of being, knowing, and doing into student learning, which have previously been excluded from contemporary "colonial system of education" (for detailed description, see Alfred 2005, 2009, 2014; Battiste 1998, 2013; Dei 2012; Donald 2009, 2012; Munroe et al. 2013). Some advocate for other ways of learning that may be seen as valuable or more valuable than current education models, such as land-based pedagogy (Alfred 2014; Simpson 2014; Wildcat et al. 2014). These paradigms advocate for Indigenous-based approaches that draw from Indigenous culture and involve Indigenous peoples reconnecting with Indigenous lands, knowledge, languages, and ways of life (Alfred 2005, 2009, 2014; Wildcat et al. 2014).

While acknowledging the importance and value of this literature, it is also the case that many Indigenous parents value the current educational system and wish to engage with it. All Indigenous participants in the current study chose to be involved with public schools and wanted their children to attend and graduate from the public formal school system. They believed that formal schooling would allow their children to go to postsecondary school and be competitive in the labor market. Taking an approach that is different from the literature described above, this paper empirically examines how relationships between Indigenous families and schools unfold at the level of interaction.

Cultural capital theory is particularly useful for this work. Lareau and Weininger's (2003) conception of cultural capital emphasizes "micro-interactional processes whereby individuals' strategic use of knowledge, skills, and competence comes into contact with institutionalized standards of evaluation" (p. 569). Parents' cultural resources become capital when they facilitate parents' ability to comply with schools informal and formal institutionalized expectations. Cultural resources are considered to help parents acquire information about their children's educational progress, academic needs, and schooling processes. These resources can also help parents effectively intervene in schooling matters and gain access to school resources and programs (Horvat, Weininger, and Lareau 2003; Lareau 2002, 2011; Ong-Dean 2009; Useem 1992).

According to the conceptual framework of moments of inclusion and moments of exclusion, everyone possesses cultural capital (Lareau and Horvat 1999). What varies, however, is the ability of actors to activate capital and the value and legitimacy attributed to displays of capital in particular social settings (Lareau and Horvat 1999:38). Parents' efforts to gain educational advantages for their children that are successful are deemed moments of inclusion (e.g., access to an academically gifted program), while unsuccessful efforts are deemed unhelpful or inappropriate and considered moments of exclusion (e.g., placement in remedial courses).

Lareau applied this framework to examine the impact of social class and racial discrimination in family/school relations among black and white Americans (Lareau 2002, 2011; Lareau and Horvat 1999; Lareau and Weininger 2003). She found that it was more difficult for black parents, compared with white parents, to comply with standards of trusting and positive schooling relationships due to the legacies of discrimination (Lareau and Horvat 1999). Some black parents approached the school with suspicion, criticism, and distrust, whereas white parents had more comfort and trust in their school relations and this lack of suspicion held more value during schooling interactions. She also found that class mediated the way black parents expressed their concerns and, as a result, MC black and white parents had access to important forms of cultural capital to navigate schooling interactions that LC black and white parents did not. This paper extends the Lareau framework from its white-black dichotomy into the realm of Indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples may have some parallels with black Americans or Canadians; however, there are key distinctions that make for a unique analysis. The black Canadian population has not experienced residential schooling and assimilative practices in schooling that aimed to eliminate their culture. The Indigenous populations are Canada's original inhabitants who have had European values and culture imposed on them, and schooling was a powerful means of assimilation.

Building on Lareau's work, this paper considers instances where Indigenous parents' efforts to interact with schools do/do not align with schools' expectations of parents and, therefore, are/are not awarded legitimacy within the school setting, contributing to educational (dis)advantages. Ontario schools have institutionalized informal and formal expectations of parents (e.g., Aurini et al. 2016; Ontario Ministry of Education 2010). Parents who assume an active and leading role in education, display positive attitudes toward schooling, establish relationships with schools/teachers rooted in comfort and trust, feel entitled to interact with educators as relative equals, and defer to educators' professional judgment would comply with schooling standards of family/school relations (Lareau 2002, 2011; Lareau and Horvat 1999; Lareau and Weininger 2003). Social class and legacies of racial discrimination in schooling may complicate parents' ability to align with school standards.

Social class differences may reproduce variation in the ability of parents to comply with dominant standard schooling expectations (Lareau 2002,2011; Lareau and Horvat 1999; Lareau and Weininger 2003). Lareau (2002, 2011) observed how MC parenting practices tend to align with schooling expectations of active involvement in children's education, by way of actively monitoring, intervening, supplementing, and supporting children's schooling. In contrast, she found that LC parents tend to assume a more passive role, leaving the responsibility of their children's education to the school. Parents with different social class backgrounds may also differ in the ways they promote educational success in terms of perceptions of appropriate family/school relationships, as well as the resources they have and how they draw on them during school interactions (Boethel 2003; Lareau 2002, 2011; Lareau and Horvat 1999).

Legacies of racial discrimination against Indigenous Canadians in schooling have led to intergenerational mistrust of the school system (Perley 1993; Wotherspoon 2006, 2008; Wotherspoon and Schissel 2003). In the past, education policies and practices in Canada removed family representation, decision-making ability, and cultural influence from the education of Indigenous children. Residential schooling, in particular, suppressed Indigenous language and culture; imposed Christian ideologies and belief systems; and had common problems of student health, child labor, and abuse (Chansonneuve 2005; Miller 1996; Wotherspoon and Schissel 2003). The residential school system left hundreds of Indigenous children and families broken, created intergenerational legacies of social dysfunction linked to "residential school syndrome" (Miller 1996) and "generations of damaged people" (Wotherspoon and Schissel 2003). Controlled by provincial and federal jurisdictions, the formal education system may be perceived as a means of continued assimilation and colonial oppression (Hookimaw-Witt 1998; Orminston 2002; Perley 1993) by transmitting and legitimating dominant culture and knowledge through what is taught, how it is taught, and how learning is measured (Battiste and Henderson 2009; Donald 2009, 2012; McCarthy 1990; Orminston 2002; St. Denis 2011). Distrust and tensions may create barriers for Indigenous parents to establish quality connections with schools, affecting their ability to comply with educator expectations of active involvement and positive attitudes toward schools/educators.

Social class and legacies of discrimination may play a complex and interconnected role within the educational experiences of Indigenous children and families. LC families from a variety of racial backgrounds have lower levels of involvement in schooling processes than their MC counterparts (Henderson and Mapp 2002; Lareau 2011; Lareau and Horvat 1999; Mau 1997; McGrath and Kuriloff 1999). Therefore, it is possible that social class will operate differently in MC and LC Indigenous parent/school relationships.

METHODS

This study focuses on provincial off-reserve schools and draws on in-depth interviews with 50 participants (26 educators and 24 parents/guardians) within four southern Ontario school boards. In this sample, 20 teachers and 20 parents/guardians identify as Indigenous (mainly Haudenosaunee, Anishinaabe, and Metis, based on those who identified a specific cultural group). Many educators provided dual perspectives, responding to questions as teachers and as parents. Six non-Indigenous educators have Indigenous education as an area of specialization and four non-Indigenous parents have children who identify as Indigenous. Parents defined as LC have not completed high school, or have high school as their highest level of education, and earn a total annual household income below the lower income cutoff (LICO) $30,000 (Statistics Canada 2014:16). Parents defined as MC have completed postsecondary schooling (e.g., college, university) and earn a total annual household income between the LICO and 150% of the median ($112,335; Heisz 2007).

Access to research sites and participants was granted as a result of my involvement in a broader study that focuses on summer learning. To recruit parent participants, I attended parent meetings organized by the schools. I presented this research and distributed recruitment flyers inviting parents to participate in an interview. I also distributed recruitment materials to teachers at the school sites. Interviews were conducted face to face and were semistructured using open-ended questions. Interviews were conducted during July and August 2012 to 2014 and range from 45 minutes to three hours in length. All interviews were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. This study has been reviewed and received ethics clearance from a University of Waterloo and University of Toronto research ethics board. No remuneration was provided for participation, although results of this study were made available. Pseudonyms have been assigned to the school boards and interviewees to protect participant confidentiality.

Interview questions reflected three themes: (1) how educators and parents understand and define parent/school relationships; (2) how educators and parents define roles and expectations of educators and of parents; (3) what educators believe are the biggest challenges faced by struggling students (i.e., individual, family, or community level challenges) and what strategies have been the most successful in reaching students and families.

QSR NVivo Version 10 (QSR International Pty Ltd., Burlington, MA) was used to organize the qualitative data. Structural, descriptive, eclectic, and pattern coding strategies were used (Saldana 2013). Structural coding was used to code the materials based on the interview schedule and descriptive coding was used to assign labels to topics discussed in the data. Subcodes were then added to these primary codes to detail the entries. Next, eclectic coding was used to refine, recode, and synthesize primary codes, and pattern coding was used to group the previously identified summaries. Data were then organized and re-organized multiple times according to emerging themes and concepts, as well as more abstract and theoretically informed categories of cultural capital. Additional phases of coding aimed to refine the contents of each code.

TRUST AND COMFORT

I have the worst fear of teachers, to be honest with you. Even if the teacher's the same age as me, I'm nervous around them. (Alexa, Indigenous parent)

The history of Indigenous education in Canada has led to deep-rooted distrust of teachers and the education system. As Jocelyn, an Indigenous teacher, explained, "some of the [Indigenous] parents won't even come to the school door ... There are generational effects because of the things that happened to them in school." She went on to question, "how do we expect them to come into the classroom and have a positive experience with their child if they themselves have not had a positive experience?" Feelings of distrust may complicate parents' ability to display positive attitudes toward educators and schooling.

LC Families

A number of LC parents described feeling comfortable interacting with educators in more informal terms (e.g., saying hello during pickup and drop-off) but were not empowered to question or challenge educators, advocate for educational considerations or services, nor entitled to interact with educators as relative equals (e.g., teachers seemed "unfriendly" and "unapproachable").

Erika's contact with teachers is fairly typical. Erika is an LC Indigenous parent. She is a widow and has two children, ages 4 and 8. Erika has a high school diploma and earns between $0 and $29,000 annually. She has "very minimal" contact with her children's teachers, and has had "a couple conversations" with school staff regarding her daughter's frequent "lates" and absences. In the past, Erika has tried to communicate directly with educators about how to help her daughter make up for the missed class time. However, "they kept blowing [her] off' and "never gave [her] anything helpful." Erika's efforts to establish written communication with the teachers have also been unsuccessful. She is reluctant to write notes to the school because, in the past, a few teachers have "felt compelled to circle with red pen" spelling and grammatical mistakes. Erika told me she feels helpless.

Erika had a negative and traumatic schooling experience that has made it difficult for her to feel comfortable attending the school and communicating with teachers. Recalling her experiences at school, Erika started to weep.

   I got beat up a lot. I had brown skin and it was as simple as that.
   I didn't blend in with the others ... I try not to cry when I'm in
   the school talking to the teachers. That's one of the reasons why I
   make minimal contact ... Sorry, I can't stop crying.

Erika encourages her children to have a positive attitude toward school and tries not to let her children know about the discrimination she experienced. Alexa, quoted above as having "the worst fear of teachers," had much in common with Erika. She recalls how her own teachers "hated kids" and would demonstrate their authority over the students by using "the strap." Negative schooling experiences were common among LC parents, experiences that appeared to be compounded by legacies of racial discrimination in schooling; interviewee perceptions of schooling were also deeply affected by past mistreatment family and community members had experienced in residential schools.

MC Families

Many MC parents expressed feeling comfortable interacting with educators but their interaction went beyond informal conversations that were common among LC parents. MC parents felt entitled to question teachers and make requests and demands regarding their children's schooling. These parents sought out the advice from educators and were comfortable bringing forward concerns and issues. Efforts of MC parents to intervene in schooling were not always successful (see also Lareau 2011; Lareau and Horvat 1999; Lareau and Shumar 1996). However, the active approach taken to negotiate school matters and the resources parents drew on to do so were markedly different than their LC counterparts.

Sophia is an MC Indigenous parent of three children who prioritizes supporting her children's learning in and outside of school. She has a university education, earns between $30,000 and $69,000 a year, and works as the parent coordinator at a local Indigenous organization. Her daughter Evelyn experienced learning difficulties and was frequently at odds with teachers. Sophia described a conflict between Evelyn and her grade 3 teacher:

   The teacher said to me, "she is the only one who is different." And
   I said, "aren't you lucky to teach someone who is going to
   challenge you?" He couldn't see it. I said, "you're fired. I will
   find someone else who can work with my child." He started laughing
   at me and said, "you can't fire me." And I said, "watch. You will
   be fired. You will no longer be teaching my child."

Sophia went directly to speak with the principal following this conversation. She told the principal that "by the end of the day [she] expected [her] daughter to be in another classroom." Her efforts were successful. The principal made the necessary arrangements and the next day Evelyn was to join another grade 3 class in the school. Although Sophia was comfortable confronting the school when issues such as this occurred, she had negative feelings toward teachers and had "never had a positive relationship with the school."

ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

We have so many [Indigenous parents] that went through that residential school experience ... They want their kids to have good lives but they don't see how education can help with that. (Heidi, non-Indigenous educator)

Educators expect parents to play an active and assertive role in their children's education and assume responsibilities that include showing interest in school work and maintaining regular communication with the school (Lareau 2002, 2011; Lareau and Horvat 1999; Lareau and Weininger 2003). According to interviewees, some parents play an "extremely engaged" role in their children's education while other parents are "nonexistent," taking the perspective that "school is school and home is home, it's very separate" (Natalie, Indigenous liaison worker; also see Lareau 2011; Lareau and Shumar 1996).

LC Families

LC parents struggled to align with schooling expectations due to economic barriers (e.g., inflexibility in work schedules preventing attendance at schooling events) and limited educational knowledge and skills (e.g., unable to help children with homework; see also Lareau and Shumar 1996). These parents had little involvement at school and with learning at home, and inconsistent communication with teachers. LC parents were highly dependent on teachers to guide and direct the education of their children (see Lareau 2011).

Similar to other parents, Lindsey was more reserved and hesitant when engaging with schools as a result of her own negative schooling experiences and, for generations, her family feeling excluded from children's education. Lindsey is an Indigenous LC mother of twin seven-year-old girls. Lindsey and her husband, John, both completed high school. They own a thrift store and have little time to dedicate to their children's education. Once Lindsey picks up her children from an after-school program, makes dinner, and gives them baths, "there isn't time to be doing other things." Lindsey and John also struggled to help their children with homework.

   My husband's not a speller. He doesn't like reading with them
   because sometimes he gives them the wrong words when he's
   correcting them. It's difficult if you don't understand what the
   kids are doing, and that's in grade two. How are we supposed to
   help them? And who wants to admit to your child that you don't know
   what they're doing?

Lindsey and John were reluctant to help their children with reading and math homework because they were concerned with teaching them incorrectly. They were also unsure how to approach the teacher for direction. At the time of the interview, Lindsey had recently found out that both of her children were behind and reading below grade level. This news came as a complete surprise.

MC Families

MC parents assumed a more active role in their children's schooling. These parents tended to have the financial resources to purchase educational materials (e.g., tutors, books), flexibility in their work schedules to support schooling at home and at school, and educational knowledge to help guide their children's learning (also see Lareau and Shumar 1996). MC parents were informed about what was happening at school, monitored children's progress, supported and supplemented learning at home, and instilled postsecondary expectations more so than parents from LC backgrounds.

Abbygail is an Indigenous MC mother of five children. Both Abbygail and her husband attended university and earn a combined income that exceeds $120,000 per year. Abbygail is in charge of an alternative secondary school program for Indigenous students and her husband is a social worker at a local high school. They emphasize the value of education at home and spend a considerable amount time supporting their children's learning outside of regular school time.

   My family is very academic. "You're going to learn." We give out
   treats out to people who are doing their times tables. Math and
   science is what we really focus on ... the kids have been
   surrounded by this their whole life ... And we make sure that
   they're doing their reading. We read every day to them; reading's
   important.

Abbygail describes herself as "very proactive" in the education of her children. She is in constant communication with her children's teachers to inquire about their progress and frequently approaches teachers for advice about how to support her individual children's learning needs. Although, according to Abbygail, parental support in education "is not the norm within the Indigenous community" because many families have had negative schooling experiences and are now intimidated by educators as a result.

AGENCY

Education is a right, not a privilege. Your driver's license is a privilege, not a right. There's a difference. (Ayanna, Indigenous grandparent)

Many parents varied in their ability to make decisions and act in ways that institutionally aligned with schooling expectations. Some parents were assertive and proactively supported their children's development, while other parents took a more passive role (see also Lareau 2002, 2011; Lareau and Horvat 1999; Lareau and Weininger 2003).

LC Families

LC parents tended to accept educator decisions and actions without question and did not attempt to exert influence on the course of schooling events. Some LC parents had concerns about their child(ren)'s development and educational progress but they do not recognize these as problems and did not try to find solutions.

Kirsten is an Indigenous LC parent and refrains from interacting with educators and attending the school due the negative schooling experiences she and her family have had. She has four children, ages 6, 5, 3, and a newborn. She is a single, stay-at-home mother, and had her first child when she was 16 years old. As a young mother, she attended high school on and off and recently graduated from high school at the age of 24. Growing up, her parents were not involved in her schooling; they never attended school events, helped her with homework, or engaged her in conversations about her schooling. When asked about the role she has in her children's education, she said that because her children have only been in school for a few years, "[she] doesn't know how to go about that kind of stuff."

   I personally have not gone to classroom or school stuff. I didn't
   know that we could go in and watch a play or anything during
   school. I thought we were supposed to bring our kids [to school]
   and that's it.

Her children have experienced many issues at school, mostly related to bullying. At first, she "didn't really know how to go about addressing the issue" and she "didn't want to go and talk to them [at the school]." After the bullying happened multiple times she eventually did speak with a teacher; however, the bullying continued.

MC Families

Compared with parents like Kirsten, MC parents were more likely to intervene in schooling matters, guide and direct their children's schooling, and take charge of school matters. MC parents were familiar with the inner workings of the school system. They were able to draw on their own experiential knowledge of schooling to effectively navigate school processes and gain educational advantages for their children. Not only did they know how to source out information about resources, supports, and programs, they felt empowered to advocate for what they believed was best for their children and insist on change.

Ayanna is an MC Indigenous grandparent. She is a university graduate, employed as a child and youth worker, and earns between $50,000 and $60,000 per year. Her youngest son is 18 years old; he lives at home and has a child of his own, Emilia, whom she is now helping to raise. Ayanna has been involved with committees and councils at the school board and at the schools her children and grandchild have attended. Being part of these groups has been the "greatest asset" for her in terms "a free education about the school system."

Ayanna has been the main advocate in the board pushing to have Indigenous programming incorporated into elementary schools. Initially, the way schooling was set up, Emilia would be exposed to Indigenous programming and language instruction at preschool but would not have access to any further programming until high school. Ayanna initiated a petition with the intent to start a Mohawk language program at Emilia's elementary school.

   I wrote to politicians saying, "you need to get behind this and you
   need to support it. We can have First Nations people protesting
   here, that's not an issue, but we want this to be positive and
   proactive. So work with us and go forward" ... We've had to educate
   politicians, the school board, and school staff about why this is
   needed ... They say, "you're lucky to have your programming." I'm
   just the opposite, saying, "no I'm not lucky, I demand that this be
   part of these kids education."

Ayanna was able to mobilize other parents, community members, and school board personnel in her network to create desired change in her granddaughter's school. Due to her efforts, Emilia's elementary school was selected to pilot the Junior Kindergarten and Senior Kindergarten Mohawk language program that has now been in place for four years. The program has grown in enrollment every year and now focuses on students in grades 4 through 8. Ayanna continues to be involved with the program, "keeping tabs on what going on."

EDUCATOR PERSPECTIVES

Examining Indigenous educational experiences at the level of interaction has revealed dynamics of educational inequity that are unique to Indigenous peoples. Interviewees believed that due to the legacies of discrimination in schooling there are lower levels of parent involvement in schooling as well as parent-teacher communication among Indigenous families than white families. (2) Annika is an Indigenous educator. She explained that educators have difficulty communicating with Indigenous parents due to their "mistrust in education." In comparison, white parents are seen to "trust the education system" and are therefore "accessible," communication is "easy," and they are "more involved" in schooling. Caitlyn, also an Indigenous educator, said that "overall Indigenous parents do want to be involved with their kids' education but there's still that fear and intimidation because of the history [i.e., residential schooling] that holds them back."

Some school boards in Ontario have an Indigenous liaison worker who is employed by the board and works jointly with local Indigenous organizations. These positions focus on supporting Indigenous families and students interact with schools; there are no equivalent positions for any other racial groups. The existence of such positions suggests Indigenous and non-Indigenous families are not on a level playing field regarding interactions with the schools. Filling one of these positions, Natalie is an Indigenous liaison worker for a school board. She said "numerous" Indigenous families experience issues in school but parents are "really scared" and "too uncomfortable" to approach educators and address these situations, "lead[ing] to a horrible experience for the child." Many Indigenous parents "don't know what they can say, what they can't say" to educators and "won't challenge the teacher or ask questions." Lyla shared this perspective. Lyla is an Indigenous educator and recalls how her parents would tell her, "just go to school and listen."

   We have to go back historically, why we are this way, which brings
   us to the residential school. My parents both went there. When I
   was going to school, my parents taught me what they learned from
   their experience--you better go there, you better listen, and you
   better do whatever they say. My parents were this way [when I was
   in school]. My mother would never ever ask [the school or teachers]
   questions because that's the way she was taught.

Interviewees described this experience as common in many Indigenous communities and, as a result, parents are often unaware they can take an active role in their children's education. The historical context of Indigenous education in Canada may limit some parents' ability to establish quality connections with schools based on trust, comfort, and active involvement. I was told that non-Indigenous educators may be sympathetic to family circumstances but often have difficulty helping Indigenous students progress academically when parents are seen as not strongly supporting and participating in children's schooling. According to interviewees, some educators perceive a "lack of engagement" in schooling among Indigenous parents as contributing to a "downward spiral" in their children's education.

CONCLUSION

This study finds that Lareau's conceptual framework of cultural capital and moments of inclusion/exclusion is relevant and useful to the study of Indigenous family/school relationships in Canada. Recall, this framework involves parents' ability to successfully gain schooling advantages for their children (e.g., access to an academically gifted program) by way of activating cultural capital in a way that is deemed legitimate by school officials. Building on the work of Lareau, this study finds that legacies of racial discrimination in schooling directly impact patterns of interactions between Indigenous families and schools. There were strong social class differences in the ways that parents in this study interacted with schools, which led to variation in how parent efforts aligned with institutionalized schooling expectations, and the legitimacy attributed to such displays within school settings. MC families demonstrated a high degree of sophistication when confronting educators, accessing resources, and advocating for their children, whereas LC families were less engaged with children's schooling and less successful in developing strong home/school relationships. MC parents more often drew on cultural resources to negotiate schooling processes in ways that aligned with institutional norms of schooling and were more likely to experience "moments of inclusion" as their efforts were valued by educators (see Lareau 2002; Lareau and Horvat 1999).

This study also finds that legacies of discrimination in schooling affect family/school relations among MC and LC Indigenous parents in different ways. The history of Indigenous education appears to drive MC parents to intensify interactions with the school. These parents felt they needed to be more involved with monitoring schooling processes and more forceful in advocating on their children's behalf. For LC parents, the history of discrimination in schooling appears to magnify feelings of distrust, discomfort with schooling, and parents had more difficulty displaying positive attitudes toward schooling/educators. Experiences connected to legacies of racial discrimination in schooling affected LC parents' ability to comply with the expectations that educators have of parents in ways that proved to be less difficult for MC families to overcome.

Educators expect parents to be involved in their children's schooling (Lareau 2002, 2011) as parental involvement is considered to facilitate academic success (e.g., Barnard 2004). Yet standard expectations of parent involvement and family/school relationships are problematic due to built-in cultural and class-based assumptions that may have negative implications for socially vulnerable groups (Baquedano-Lopez, Alexander, and Hernandez 2013; Lareau and Horvat 1999; Theodorou 2007). Parents' ability to be involved in their children's schooling in the manner desired by schools may not be uniform, since there are class (e.g., Lareau 2002, 2011; Sirin 2005) and race (e.g., Henderson and Mapp 2002; Lee and Bowen 2006; Mau 1997) differences in the degree and type of parent involvement in schooling. Little research has considered the influence of racism in association with parental strategies or schooling involvement, nor the unique obstacles (e.g., prior negative contact with school staff, perceptions of racism, clashes of cultural values) experienced by low-income racial minority parents which potentially discourage parental involvement at school (McKay et al. 2003:107-108). In the current study, legacies of residential schools and racial discrimination in schooling shaped the approach that MC and LC Indigenous parents took in children's education. Research is needed to better understand culturally distinct ways that Indigenous parents are involved in schooling and promote academic achievement, and how Indigenous home/school relationships intersect with social class. Further, education policy and practice need to consider problems inherent in standardized expectations of parents as not all parents are able to participate in their children's education in the same way.

Schools and school staff can play an active role in strengthening Indigenous family/school relationships by making schools more meaningful and welcoming for Indigenous families (Kovach et al. 2015). The Ontario Ministry of Education (2007) has implemented various Indigenous-focused initiatives such as integrating content that reflects First Nation, Metis, and Inuit cultures, perspectives, and histories throughout the Ontario curriculum, and increasing Indigenous representation in the workforce. Although the Ontario Ministry of Education (2007) has taken steps to ensure schooling is meaningful for Indigenous families, much more work needs to be done. Interviewees agreed that more effort is needed to allow for and encourage active participation of Indigenous parents and community in children's education. This may take the form of engaging Indigenous parents, families, and local communities in school-wide programs and classroom activities or requesting assistance to embed Indigenous content into schooling in an authentic and respectful way. As I discuss elsewhere (Milne 2015), further research is needed to investigate successful public school initiatives that are actively engaging Indigenous communities and families within children's education and strengthening family-community-school bonds. More work is needed to identify such initiatives and document their processes in order to provide examples of successful practices for other schools/school boards to follow.

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(1.) The term Indigenous is used to refer to descendants of the original inhabitants of North America. Participants voluntarily identified their cultural background and identified themselves as "Indigenous," "Aboriginal," "Native," "Haudenosaunee," "Anishinaabe," and "Metis." Although the term Indigenous obscures cultural variation, this is the most appropriate term for the analysis.

(2.) For example, according to Whitney, who is an Indigenous parent, "in a non-Native family, kids don't do homework, report cards are bad, then parents' red flags go up and they do something. That might not happen in an Indigenous family. So it's not necessarily priority."

Emily Milne

University of Waterloo

Emily Milne, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, MacEwan University, City Centre Campus, 10700-104 Avenue, Edmonton, AB T5J 4S2. E-mail: milnee4@macewan.ca