Thanks to teacher Jean Moir and Aboriginal Support Worker Tara Helps, learners from Grade 4 through Grade 6 at Langley Meadows Community School (BC) had the chance to partner with Project of Heart this past term. They responded by giving heartfelt responses to their new knowledge of a what it meant for generations of young learners like themselves to be forced to attend the Residential Schools, now infamous for their “lasting and damaging impact on aboriginal culture, heritage and language”, in the words of Prime Minister Harper. The following document is a sample of those student responses: Continue reading Langley Meadows elementary students’ response: “Powerful and Compassionate” →

St. John’s Sunshine Coast United Church and St. Hilda’s By the Sea Anglican Church in Sechelt, B.C., teamed up to immerse themselves in the history and legacy of the Indian Residential School in their community.

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The students in Social Justice 12 at Tamanawis Secondary in Surrey, BC, have garnered National attention with their recent Project of Heart commemoration efforts. The Student’s learned about the history of the Indian Residential School System in Canada before embarking on in-depth research into the Coqualeetza Lake Indian Residential School in Sardis, British Columbia. The class examined the history of the school as well the traditions and customs of the Sto: lo First Nation who mostly attended the school. We uploaded our research to missinghistory.ca as well as registered our class as 1 of 1000 Conversations.

The Unit culminated in the designing of our 50 commemoration tiles and 6 survivor cards as well as a brief look at the current funding issues concerning Reserve Schools. The Students wrote letters to their local Member of Parliament, Jinny Sims, outlining their understanding of the current conditions at Reserve Schools such as the one on the Attawapiskat First Nations Reserve. Ms. Sims was so impressed by their concerns and will be meeting with the students in the new year before making a statement in the House of Commons; using their letters in her statement. The entire experience has been a phenomenal one for the students, the level of their inquiry and engagement was inspiring. As a student teacher the success of this unit was tremendous and has been replicated with other classes within the school already.