NFB Education is proud to partner with the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to help teachers educate students about Indigenous realities during National Truth and Reconciliation Week, as well as throughout the year.

This year, the theme of National Truth and Reconciliation Week is “Remembering the Children,” where we memorialize the children lost to the residential school system and honour Survivors and their families. The expanded program features age-appropriate material for students in Grades 1–12.

All sessions will be held virtually on Hubilo. Registration is required to stream live or pre-recorded sessions and to participate in the Q&A segment. The link for registration is provided on this page.

Reconciliation is about exploring the past and choosing to build a better future. Sharing stories of understanding helps one another to build trust. We want to hear about your moments of reconciliation.

Head to the "Education" Tab to access resources.

Level 1 - Grade 5+

Learning Outcomes: • I can articulate the purpose of Orange Shirt Day, and how symbols and testimony work to encourage social change. • I can articulate the history of residential schools in Canada and the ongoing intergenerational impact on Indigenous communities.

Essential Questions: • What does Orange Shirt Day symbolize? • What is the Truth and Reconciliation Commission? • What is the work of reconciliation, and what does it mean to you?

This Orange Shirt Day Activity Pack is ready to use in any intermediate (Gr.4-6) classroom to support important conversations around Orange Shirt Day. It includes:PowerPoint Fact files about Orange Shirt Day and Truth and ReconciliationResearch project templateArt activities and more!

5 Films...

"Orange Shirt Day was launched in 2013 to call attention to 165 years of residential school experiences (1831-1996). For residential school survivor Phyllis Webstad, the severing of the threads connecting her to family, community, and culture began in 1973, when the beautiful orange shirt she wore to her first day of school was stripped from her and never seen again. The removal of the orange shirt was the first of a series of destructive methods enforced to deplete her sense of self-worth, erase her culture, and suppress her spirit. Her story is just one of the experiences described by countless survivors, but many others did not live to tell their own story. Intergenerational experiences rooted in the trauma inflicted through residential schools and other forced-assimilation policies continue to ripple through communities today...."

This resource, as the disclaimer says, is a continuing work in progress mapping out territories, languages and treaties. On this website you are able to click on an area and find out about related treaties and Indigenous languages. They have also developed a teacher’s guide.

This resource guide and facilitator's book was created with Walking Together, Education for Reconciliation and The Alberta Teacher's Association.

The resource examines Awareness, Acknowledgement, Atonement, Action, and Truth in Reconciliation.

Check out these great video/curricular resources for Grade 5. The ROVER videos all indicate the curriculum outcomes that they address.

ROVER (Recommended Online Video Education Resources) is a video streaming service for Saskatchewan teachers and students in the PreK-12 education system. It is managed and maintained by the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education. ROVER is a video-on-demand service that provides teachers and students with the convenience of immediate access to streamed, educational videos that support curricula.

This site also offers all of the curriculum documents for all grade levels.

If you are unable to access the site, it may be because a Saskatchewan Ministry of Education Blackboard login is required. All students have an Edonline account, so contact your child's school or the Ministry of Education’s Support Desk at 1-866-933-8333 or email at stans@gov.sk.ca for login information. Your child's student number will be required.

This is a self-guided PD opportunity from the SK Ministry of Education.

Start by downloading and reviewing the PPT "Reconciliation and Treaty Education: Curricular Connections and Resources"

Then review some/all of the other opportunities including:

Introductory Module - Supporting the Journey Towards Reconciliation (also available here: https://resourcebank.ca/courses/supporting-the-journey-towards-reconciliation)

Module 1 - Starting the Conversation (also available here: https://resourcebank.ca/courses/module-1-starting-the-conversation-from-the-sk-ministry-of-education)

Module 2 - The Sixties Scoop (also available here: https://resourcebank.ca/courses/sixties-scoop)

Concentus Citizenship Education - Moving Toward Reconciliation (also available here: https://resourcebank.ca/courses/k-12-resources-for-citizenship-education-from-concentus)

This resource examines:

*Learning and relationship with the land
*What were Indian residential schools?
*The Indian residential school experience
*The healing journey
*Resources

Residential schools were boarding schools for Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit and Métis) children and youth, financed by the federal government but staffed and run by several Christian religious institutions.  Children were separated from their families and communities, sometimes by force, and lived in and attended classes at the schools for most of the year. Often, the residential schools were located far from the students’ home communities. The schools were in existence for well over 100 years, and successive generations of children and families from the same communities endured this experience.
Understandably, the impacts were severe. This history was hidden for many years, until Survivors of the system were able to find the strength and courage to tell their stories.  This lead to one of the largest class action lawsuits in Canada’s history. Though it will take time and commitment to heal the relationship between Indigenous Peoples and Canada, the reconciliation process has begun.

Rupertsland Organization for Teaching and Learning has developed some excellent resources to learn about the Métis history in Alberta that are recommended for all educators. Resources are continually being added as they are created and approved in support of educators’ learning and teaching.

The Sixties Scoop refers to a period in Saskatchewan’s history when Indigenous children were removed from their parents and communities by provincial child welfare services. Status, non-status, Métis and Inuit children were placed for adoption and/or foster care and were raised outside of their communities without the influences of their Indigenous culture, values and languages. This section contains a list of resources and curriculum connections for teachers to address with their students.

This is a link to the Ministry of Education's site and Sixties Scoop Resources.

Educational Resources for Justice and Reconciliation

Spirit Bear and Children Make History film (26 minutes)

Spirit Bear and Children Make History read by Dr. Cindy Blackstock

Spirit Bear and Children Make History read in Carrier by Dorothy Patrick

Additional educational resources and links to our initiatives

This booklet is written by Spirit Bear as a youth-friendly guide to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) 94 Calls to Action.

In 2008, a group called the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was made. Their job was to listen to stories about residential schools and then write the stories down so we can learn from our mistakes. In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission announced their 94 Calls to Action. These are 94 activities all governments, courts, businesses, schools, and people living in Canada can do to help fix the mistakes of the past and present so that all children – including First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children – can grow up happy, healthy, safe, and proud of who they are.

A teacher’s guide from the 2022 Treaty Education Summer Institute which uses storytelling as a portal to explore Treaties.

This site has been created to support school staffs to work together to expand their understanding of truth and reconciliation as well as the history and legacy of residential schools. It contains tools and resources to support important conversations and professional development opportunities.
This space will continue to grow and evolve as resources are identified and experiences are shared. The intent is that this site will be created collaboratively, in the true nature of reconciliation. Please join the discussion to share what your school is doing to support student understanding and to help bring about reconciliation in our province and our country.

Use the navigation on the left to get started.

Learn more by navigating the more detailed menu below.

"This learning module is designed to help teachers and other educational professionals become comfortable with the topic of reconciliation so that they can begin incorporating this important topic into their work with their students.

Estimated Completion Time: 30 to 60 minutes

This learning module was developed by Joanna Sanders while working to complete a Certificate in Reconciliation Studies that is offered by the First Nations University of Canada."

Treaties and the Treaty Relationship Educational Package.

Visit the site to download the information.