This week we are recognizing a fantastic educator from Merivale High School in Ottawa — she is Tanya Rafuse, who introduced the project to her students in November and then led her students through a unit on Indian Residential Schools in Canada. Her classroom ultimately choose to commemorate the deaths of the children at the Sandy Bay Indian Residential School in Manitoba with beautiful works of art.

Grandmother Greta Neepin, survivor of the IRS in Manitoba, came to the school to talk about her experiences at two different schools, and to share her knowledge with students who, until this point in time, had very little information about the topic. Grandmother Greta also smudged the tiles outdoors, sharing with the students a part of her Cree culture.

As the social justice action component of the Project, some learners put up flyers in downtown Ottawa for missing Kitiganzibi/Maniwaki Indigenous youths Shannon Alexander and Maisy Odjig http://www.findmaisyandshannon.com/. Some students signed petitions while others wrote letters to their Members of Parliament regarding the lack of human rights protections afforded to Aboriginal youth and women.

Meegwetch, Merivale High School!