Response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action 

 

10 ii) Improving education attainment levels and success rates.

iii) Developing culturally appropriate curricula.

62 i)  Make age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools, Treaties, and Aboriginal peoples’ historical and contemporary contributions to Canada a mandatory education requirement for Kindergarten to Grade 12 students.

 

Resources: 

 

Web- It’s Our Time: The AFN Education Toolkit. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://education.afn.ca/afntoolkit/. 

This entire website doesn’t just focus on the curriculum about residential schools, even though there’s a big selection, it also has other Indigenous resources to Indigenize any curriculum. There are 22 modules that include topics on The Blanket Exercise, Impacts of Contact, Indian Act, First Nations Education, and so much more. All these topics will ensure that students and teachers will better understand First Nations topics in all aspects of the classroom. This website alone will represent how I will use these resources to ensure I am covering each call of action. 

 

Book/article/journal– Education Connections. Strengthening Attendance and Retention of Indigenous Youth in Elementary and Secondary Schools in Canada and Beyond. Fredericton, NB: Education Connections, 2017.

“This highlights issue in analyzing Indigenous and Non-Indigenous school attendance and retention; the gap in school attendance and retention and the causes of this gap. Factors include increased absenteeism in Elementary for all students with a focus on Indigenous learners.” (Fredericton, 2017). Looking at the gap between these schools will give us Educators a chance to change this for the better. This article highlights the issue in Canada with Education being an example of genocide since the Residential Schools. So with this document, it will help me gain some understanding and empathy towards the students in my classrooms who may not attend regularly. Even though our province is working hard towards Truth and Reconciliation, there’s still a lot of hard work to be done. 

 

Book/article/journal- Toulouse, Pamela R. Truth and Reconciliation in Canadian Schools. 2018. 

Under this resource there lists of resources that can be used to teach students the history of the residential schools in Canada. This book is my favorite book so far since I began the Bachelor of Education program. There are different lessons for each grade that focus on Truth and Reconciliation through the four teachings of the Medicine Wheel. I love this book because it responds to the 94 Calls of Action, and I strongly believe in being an Educator who will do this in a holistic, meaningful way.