September 25-30th, 2023 is the National Week for Truth and Reconciliation across Canada. This year’s theme is ‘Honouring the Survivors’.
Here are some resources to help you observe this in your classes this week as well as throughout the rest of the school year:
- The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is an organization created as part of the mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Its purpose is to document and catalogue evidence from Survivors of the Residential School System in Canada. Online exhibits, educational materials, and research on the Residential School System and its impact on Indigenous peoples can be found here.
- The National Film Board has partnered with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to create an educational program free for teachers, but registration is required.
- The Orange Shirt Society is a non-profit organization that honours the stories of survivors, promotes the idea that #EveryChildMatters and seeks to create awareness of the impact of the residential schools on survivors, their families and communities.
- The Critical Thinking Consortium: What can I contribute to meaningful Reconciliation? Teaching and learning about Residential schools is a FREE downloadable resource co-developed by the Grand Erie District School Board with the Six Nations of the Grand River Education Department and the Mississaugas of the New Credit. It is a critical-inquiry unit designed for grades 6 and up to teach students about genuine commitments and help them engage in meaningful actions that contribute to reconcilation.
- The Downie & Wenjack Fund is an organization that promotes an understanding of the impact of Residential Schools on Indigenous people and to encourage educators to help their students engage in #ReconciliACTION through the Legacy Schools Project.
- Beyond 94: Truth and Reconciliation in Canada (CBC News Interactive) is a tool created by the CBC to keep track of the 94 Calls to Action which were the result of the National Truth and Reconciliation Report. Each of the 94 Calls to Action is give a status – not started, in progress (proposed and underway), and complete.
