Using a Foucauldian and postcolonial lens, this case study examines the ways in which leadership styles used by lifeguards and supported by the structure, rules and regulations at a northern Canadian swimming pool influenced Aboriginal people's experience of the facility. Participant observation, semi-structured interviews and a focus group were used to identify the ways in which Eurocentric lifeguard training, exercises of power, institutional racism and an absence of cultural competency can intersect to influence Aboriginal people's use of a local pool and their considerations of lifeguarding as a potential employment opportunity. On the basis of these findings, the study suggests that the development and implementation of anti-discriminatory policies and procedures for swimming pools and the inclusion of cultural competency teachings in lifeguard training are necessary measures to enhance Aboriginal people's experiences at northern swimming pools, to foster opportunities to become lifeguards and to augment Euro-Canadian lifeguards' capacity to maintain a safe and welcoming aquatic environment in a cross-cultural context.

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Western theories of knowledge and research exclude Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. Such omissions are also prevalent in research regarding Indigenous peoples, as well as, in the study of racial prejudice and identification of effective ways to ameliorate its impacts. In response to the dearth of reliable, trustworthy, culturally appropriate, research concerning the negative impacts of racial prejudice, this article discusses a community-based program in Alberta that was grounded in and used Indigenous theories of knowledge and practices. The learning program was intended to mitigate impacts of racism on Nehiyaw students in grades 7, 8, and 9 through a renewal process termed Kisewatotatowin Kiskisohkemowin. This renewal process revitalized a specific aspect of the Nehiyaw students' identity, Sakihitowin. To conclude, the article draws on Linda Tuhiwai Smith's (2012) postcolonial theory. The article argues that the community-based, renewal process depicted a locally informed process of decolonization.