Category Archives: _Ontario

Project of Heart Makes Impact at Grassroots Community Events

First Event: Peterborough Public Library  (June 4, 2022)

Peterborough Library 2022

The Peterborough Public Library invited the community to commemorate Indigenous History Month on Saturday, June 4 for Project of Heart: An Exploration of the Legacy of Residential Schools. This inter-generational Truth and Reconciliation activity was open to adults and families with children ages 10+ and ran from 10:30 am to 12:00 noon.

In this interactive program, community members learned about the history and legacy of residential schools from Project of Heart facilitator, Nancy Hamer Strahl, and Residential School Survivor, Mary Kelly. Participants commemorated the lives of children and families affected by Residential Schools by creating two small art tiles– one to keep and one to add to the community art project at the library as starting points for continued discussion and learning.

 

Second Event: Ajax Public Library  (September 30, 2022)

Ajax Library 2022

Ajax Public Library honoured the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, where we remember the lost children and Survivors of residential schools, their families, and communities. In this interactive program, participants learned about the history and legacy of residential schools from Project of Heart facilitator, Nancy Hamer Strahl, and Residential School Survivor, Mary Kelly. Participants created two small art tiles to commemorate the lives of children and families affected by Residential Schools – one to keep and one to add to the community reconciliation project as starting points for continued discussion and learning.

Project of Heart is an initiative that calls all Canadians to action, through social justice endeavors, to change our present and future history collectively. The Library encourages their community to learn more about Indigenous history and heritage. The continued tradition of oral histories through storytelling will ensure that Indigenous peoples’ truths are not erased and historical accuracy is preserved.

 

Third Event: Annual Metis Heritage Celebration (June 25, 2022)

Metis Heritage 2022

Annual Metis Heritage Celebration participated in Project of Heart in the 13th Annual Metis Heritage Celebration on June 25 at the Children’s Arena in Oshawa. This free family event celebrated Metis culture with Indigenous vendors and food, storytelling, cultural workshops, children’s activities, arts and crafts and musical performances by fiddlers, singers, drummers, and jiggers.

The workshop was facilitated by Kathy Morgan who told the story of her grandmother who was a student at the Qu’Appelle Indian Residential School (LeBret) for 3 years. Nancy Hamer Strahl helped the participants create a commemorative pin to honour Metis Residential School survivors and their families. The story of the Metis children in Residential schools is often forgotten. It was an opportunity for the Oshawa and Durham Region Metis council to offer its members an opportunity to learn more about their history and heritage.

 

Canada’s National Cemetery exhibits 57,000 Project of Heart tiles as part of National Day of Truth and Reconciliation

Assembly of Seven Generations volunteers setting up tiles labyrinth at Beechwood Cemetery – photo A7G

The inaugural National Day of Truth and Reconciliation (NDTR) – was a landmark day in the nation’s capital. For the first time ever, Canada’s National Cemetery – historical Beechwood Cemetery in the forested east end of Ottawa – held a day of remembrance for the young victims of our country’s notorious Indian Residential School (IRS) era – the many thousands who were taken from their families and never seen again.

In partnership with long-time reconciliation resource Project of Heart and The Caring Society, on September 30 the cemetery hosted 1300 guests  in a day-long program of events to mark the NDTR. Also honoured as Orange Shirt Day, the opportunity to participate in meaningful remembrance and reflection was taken up by hundreds of educators and their students.

The day’s events included the launch of the 57,000 tile exhibit, created by learners across Canada – each tile representing the life of a child who died in an IRS.

Another highlight for many was a visit to the final resting place of Dr. Peter Bryce, the famous “good doctor” who, a hundred years ago, tried to blow the whistle on the horrific conditions in the schools, where children were starved, mistreated, and ultimately neglected to the point of death. Bryce’s dire warnings were ignored by the government of the day, most notably by the senior bureaucrat in charge of the deadly IRS administration, the notorious Duncan Campbell Scott, who promised that the schools would “kill the Indian in the child”. Scott’s grave, along with that of IRS proponent Nicholas Flood Davin, is included with Dr. Byrce’s in Beechwood’s “Reconciliation Walk”, where historically accurate gravesite plaques now tell the real story of historical personages interred in the cemetery.

“From Project of Heart’s point of view this day was a day to be cherished”, said Sylvia Smith, creator of the teaching resource that has been taught in every Canadian province and territory. “We had POH alumni from across Ontario and Quebec –  teachers and students alike – come to Beechwood to see the tiles they had created join with the 57,000 others to be displayed as an entire collection for the first time ever – it was incredibly moving. And it was a wonderful opportunity for many of the alumni to meet each other at last, instead of just seeing each other’s name on an email chain all these years.”

Adding to its symbolism, the display of tiles was installed by young members of the Assembly of Seven Generations, an organization dedicated to empowering Indigenous youth.

The day’s events were well covered by various news media outlets – links to a some of the coverage are below.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/indigenous-project-heart-tiles-beechwood-cemetery-residential-schools-1.6192284

 

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/project-of-heart-on-display-at-beechwood-cemetery-in-ottawa-1.5605848

 

https://www.saltwire.com/atlantic-canada/news/if-this-isnt-a-genocide-then-what-is-it-indigenous-residential-school-students-honoured-at-beechwood-cemetery-100640214/

 

Brock concurrent education students given perfect opportunity to become “agents of reconciliation”

image credit Emily Hoch

When I began learning, conversing, looking, reflecting, and listening to and about Indigenous lives outside of the school context, I was able to connect the historical and contemporary facts with raw trauma and growth and healing. These are the moments that connect factual information with real people and real lives… I have learned through Project of Heart, I can be an agent for reconciliation by standing with Indigenous people.

Through listening, learning, growing, and opening my mind and sharing my experience and knowledge with my  peers, I continually move towards a greater understanding of the truth, and towards reconciling relationships based on this truth and recognition. These are learnings that extend far beyond the four walls of the classroom.

So says concurrent education student Emily Hoch in her reflections about a new initiative at Brock University, embedded into Professor Bobby (Stanley) Henry’s “Pedagogies of Indigenous Arts” teacher ed course.

Professor Henry incorporates Project of Heart to help concurrent education students bridge the gap between taking on new understandings and actually becoming “agents of reconciliation” in their own classrooms. With Professor Henry’s permission, the course description and learning expectations are the latest addition to POH’s Teaching Resource section and are ready to be adapted into teacher ed courses across a range of disciplines.

Professor Henry is no stranger to the discussion around the legacy of Indian Residential Schools ; here he is in an interview with CP24 News, talking about the devastating discovery of mass graves this past summer.

Maple Creek Public School has a reconciliation gem for teachers

Early this year, Maple Creek Public School (Maple, ON), pulled out all the stops and participated in a Project of Heart learning piece that we couldn’t be more proud of. If you’re a teacher scrolling through this post, you will find the report on Maple Creek’s learning journey a valuable learning resource as a case is made for why it was important for Maple Creek Public to do Project of Heart, then states how they did it and the preparation that was involved. It concludes with a description of their collaborative, school-wide mural display “Bricks of Belonging”, but not before explaining how and what they fund-raised for…’Geronimo Henry’s Dream’. Teacher Heather Naftolin-brandes concludes her school’s report thusly:

“This Bricks of Belonging art piece represents Maple Creek Public Schools’ commitment to reconciliation in Canada. It was a school wide initiative that acknowledges the horrifying and
traumatic effects of the Residential School system on Indigenous Peoples and was created by sharing and learning the truth about our collective history.

As a school, we continue to educate ourselves about the long lasting impact of these schools and are dedicated to learning about Indigenous Peoples both past and present through building relationships. Encouraging children to feel proud and comfortable with their identities is integral to their well being and school is a place where we strongly believe they must feel they belong.”

A heart-felt thank you to Maple Creek Public School in the York Region District School Board for your ongoing contributions to building relationships within your classrooms and beyond. Chi meegwetch.

Westmount Public in Thunder Bay shows its love on Valentine’s Day

Westmount Valentine's

Students from Westmount Public School continue their reconciliation journey by bringing candy grams and a message of solidarity to Dennis Franklin Cromarty (DFC) on the most loving day of the year, Valentine’s Day. They also delivered a $1,000.00 cheque along with the candygrams to top off the day! Thunder Bay Newswatch has a great article about this event and the other excellent reconciliation initiatives that are going on within the Thunder Bay District School Board.

The young advocates have written some amazing letters as part of The Caring Society’s Have a Heart Day that hundreds of schools across Canada participate in to pressure the Government of Canada to stop discriminating against First Nations students. Beware Canada. The students of Dennis Franklin Cromarty have vocal allies and they are tired of our leaders not carrying out their responsibilities!

Thank you Westmount Public for showing your love on Valentine’s Day. Project of Heart dittoes what your teacher, Jaime Murdoch says, “We are very proud of the interest and the commitment from our students. Makes you feel like you can make a difference.” And you are. Chi meegwetch!

Project of Heart leads to Reconcili-ACTION at Bayside Secondary School

Finished tiles

report by Stacey Dunning, Secondary Teacher, Bayside Secondary School, Belleville, Ontario

On May 24, 2019, approximately 80 students at Bayside Secondary School took part in the nationally recognized “Project of Heart”, an inquiry-based, hands-on project that reveals truth about the history and legacy of Canada’s Indian Residential Schoolsystem. Students painted wooden tiles to commemorate the thousands of Indigenous children who died as a result of their experiences at the schools after being torn from their homes, many as young as 5 years old. The edges of each tile are painted black to represent the mourning of thousands of children who lost their lives because of the depredations of the IRS. Each tile projects a word or a symbol to demonstrate the learner’s heart-felt response to what they have learned and to act as a gesture of reconciliation to the families and communities to whom these children belonged.

Bayside students

Students from 6 English classes, plus a group of grade 12 students who took the NBE3C course last year, engaged in this artistic project with meaning and purpose, many feeling compelled to explain the significance of their tiles and paint more. The “Project of Heart” has definitely contributed to enriching the school culture at Bayside Secondary School. It has also helped us further understand the devastating impacts the Canadian government’s policy of forced assimilation was.

This hands on project has allowed students to become a part of the reconciliACTION process which calls Canadians to action, through social justice endeavours, to change our present and future history collectively. With over 500 tiles painted, this beautiful mosaic has formed the new tabletop in Bayside Secondary School’s parlour, a meeting place where people come together to solve problems and reconcile differences on a regular basis. Each year, students enrolled in the Indigenous Studies program will contribute to the tiles on the table until it is complete.

Tile table

On May 31, 2019, students attended a presentation by Tanya Maracle-King, Odawa, Crane Clan and member of Wikwemkoong First Nation. Tanya is an intergenerational survivor of parents who attended Indian Residential Schools. She is a skilled presenter, well- versed in many areas involving First Nations people. Students took part in a smudging ceremony to begin the morning and had an opportunity to ask Tanya questions and hear her stories before presenting her with their tiles as a gesture of reconciliation.

The reconciliation plaques of Beechwood Cemetery

Bust of Nicholas Flood Davin in Ottawa’s Beechwood Cemetery

 

A steadily growing initiative can be observed taking root in public spaces across Canada since the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) issued its report in 2015. It’s a collection of local campaigns that seek to address the way Canadians think about their collective history in the light of what we now understand to be a century-long attempt by Canada to carry out cultural genocide on Indigenous peoples; this period is now known as the Indian Residential School (IRS) era. Continue reading The reconciliation plaques of Beechwood Cemetery

POH honoured to be part of Connaught Public School’s Evening for Reconciliation

On February 13th, Ottawa teachers Kim Bruton and Amanda Anderson presented Project of Heart at Connaught Public School’s Evening Towards Reconciliation. The event was put on by the school and parent council to continue a dialogue regarding Indigenous culture and history. The first part of the programme included a dinner, and keynote addresses by Peter Garrow and the Caring Society’s Daxton Reid. Continue reading POH honoured to be part of Connaught Public School’s Evening for Reconciliation

U Ottawa teacher candidates support Justice for Indigenous Women, make links to POH social justice actions

IMG_8553

 

In February of this year, professors Warren McBride and Sylvia Smith presented Project of Heart and Justice for Indigenous Women to the University of Ottawa’s teacher-education candidates in their first year FNMI course of study (First Nations, Inuit, and Metis Education: Historical Experiences and Contemporary Perspectives). Continue reading U Ottawa teacher candidates support Justice for Indigenous Women, make links to POH social justice actions

“Teachers teaching teachers” uOttawa’s Faculty of Education embraces Project of Heart

"Teach the teacher" at Ottawa U

April 24, 2017 was a special day for the Education Faculty at the University of Ottawa as experienced educators joined with BEd. Teacher Candidates to “teach them how to teach” Project of Heart to their future students. It was a “Teachers Teaching Teachers” seminar.

The seminar was organized by the Faculty of Education’s Director of Teacher Education, Dr. Nicholas Ng-A-Fook. Nicholas was aware of the strength of Project of Heart from past presentations, and this past term he created the opportunity to offer it as part of a teacher training symposium.

The Teacher Candidates heard the stories from survivors Mary Lou Iahtail and Chris Herodier Snowboy and were given detailed guidance on how to offer Project of Heart. Continue reading “Teachers teaching teachers” uOttawa’s Faculty of Education embraces Project of Heart