Every Child Matters Banner for National Truth and Reconciliation Day.Print or use on virtual bulletin boards or Powerpoint presentations.
Missing children and the existence of unmarked burial sites at Residential Schools across Canada have been well-known for decades among Indigenous communities. However, Canadians are still grappling with the truths about Residential Schools, spurring long-overdue conversations inside and outside the classroom.
Remembering the Children, the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation’s publication for students, offers a way to begin those conversations. It takes readers to a variety of Residential Schools across time and space, opening a door into a past that reverberates today, while also celebrating the resilience and resurgence of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples’ culture.
The publication Remembering the Children and this complementary educator’s guide
were designed to help students achieve the following goals:
• gain a more complex understanding of the history and reality of residential schools in Canada, recognizing that children who attended Residential
Schools, day schools, industrial schools and boarding schools had their own
unique experiences and that these experiences varied across the country and
across time
• gain an appreciation for Indigenous knowledge and the diversity of traditional
cultures, languages and teachings of First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities
• understand the depth of loss that occurred as a result of the Residential
School system
• learn about contemporary people and organizations who are engaged in cultural revitalization efforts
• understand that they have an individual and collective role in reconciliation
Students and teachers all over Canada will be at different stages of learning. We hope
that the Remembering the Children publication and educator’s guide provide you
with content, resources, voices and ideas so that you can continue these important
conversations all year long.
With appreciation to all educators who are taking on this important work