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Truth and Reconciliation Week
BY CINDY HUDSON PRINCIPAL
Lynnmour/Xá7elcha students and staff are committed to listening, learning, teaching, and sharing the full authentic history of the Indian residential school system in Canada.
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Over the course of Truth and Reconciliation Week, all classes participated in age-appropriate
Initiative grant. Beyond Pride Week, the grant provided students in the club an opportunity to participate in an anti-racism activist workshop and select 20 new books about inclusion and diversity for the school library, and also helped to fund an Indigenous art installation. ■ learning inside and outside the classroom (highlights follow).
Intermediate classes travelled to UBC for stops at the Reconciliation Pole and Museum of Anthropology. Students learned about the carving of the pole, the sharing that occurred when the pole was raised, and the traditional territory of the Musqueam, Sḵwxwú7mesh and Tsleil-Waututh peoples.
At school, story was used to help students gain new understandings about what residential schools were and the impact they had and continue to have.
One class read and discussed Shishi-etko by Nicola Campbell. The story is about a young girl who on her way to school, collects items from around her community so she does not forget all the wonderful pieces of home. Following the reading and discussion, students created memory bags and added items from our natural surroundings to hold as memories.
Using a variety of resources, including The Orange Shirt Story by Phyllis Webstad, Stolen Words by Melanie Florence, and Amik Loves School by Katherena Vermette, primary students explored a variety of thoughts and feelings to understand what a child their age may have felt like being taken from their family.
To end the week, Division 2 students led the school in a powerful assembly to mark National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (Orange Shirt Day). Student leaders shared descriptions of what residential schools were and what students experienced when they attended. An important take away was, “The National Day for Truth and Reconciliation is not a celebratory holiday, but a day to remember, acknowledge, listen, and learn.” ■
