I knew government policies and promises are typically advertised as helpful, or performative, while having many barriers, yet prior to this semester I did not understand the extent of it. The presentation my group did on Jordan’s Principle was a helpful ‘a-ha’ moment. Jordan’s Principle was created because of the death of a young child and on the surface the policy appears to be helpful, and Indigenous focused. Yet, further investigation revealed the multitude of structural barriers to make it difficult for Indigenous Peoples and communities to access funding and the racist, colonial injection into the policy. I looked at various definitions between 2002-2025 to see any patterns or significant changes and found it surprising the number of Canadian Government definitions of Indigenous still use or refer to derogatory terms, “Aboriginal” and “Indian”. A pattern I saw was that 77% of the ones I read used either “Indian” or “Aboriginal”. I recognize that a reason these terms may be used is language in the Indian Act and other legislations prior to moving to Indigenous and adding the term could aid in referencing. I still get a sense that part of the definitions and use of “Indigenous” is more of a performative action to pretend the government is progressing. Another area which screams performative is the 94 calls to action. These Calls to Action came out almost a decade ago, yet only 14 out of 94 are considered complete. I knew there was an intense lack of progress, but this shocked me. The 22 items that are currently stalled also caught my attention; these are either related to child welfare or Indigenous culture and cultural safety. The extent that systemic oppression, discrimination, and lack of care for Indigenous culture and children is astonishing, however it is all masked by policies, actions, and words that appear helpful or supportive. 

            The story about the wolf and the duck by King is something I will keep at the forefront of my interactions. The quick visual of how colonizers and the systems pretended to be helpful while knowing they are not, demonstrates how easy it can be to disguise ill intent. The story makes me realize how essential reflexivity is in social work; not only reflecting on how we practice as an individual but reflecting on our organization and the profession as a whole. I keep coming back to ‘good intentions do not guarantee good impacts’ as a key takeaway from this course, and I think this fits here. One size does not fit all and as a non-Indigenous Social Worker it is imperative that I am aware of how my actions may be received or perceived. I never know if what I am doing may trigger a trauma response and as the one with ‘power’ it is my responsibility to consistently ensure, as best I can, that I am not hiding behind good intentions instead of impacts.