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...."

Orca Book Publishers Canada has compiled a number of online resources that can be used from home or in the classroom. You'll find links to free teacher guides and activities, ebooks and audiobooks, as well as information about Orca's dedicated language arts program and digital subscriptions.
This site gives information on:
Distance Learning - including information on the Story Ninja program, accessing digital subscriptions and Orca titles
Free Downloads - offers access to Orca Classroom Connections (a quarterly teacher resource with free lesson plans and activities for elementary, middle-school and high-school classrooms) and downloadable teacher guides for many titles
RESOURCE WEBSITES - including the Lucy Tries Sports website;, online resources about sustainability, environmental responsibility, and about the Great Bear Rainforest; Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation; and Seven (the Series): 3 SERIES. 21 BOOKS. 7 AUTHORS
AUTHORS READ - Watch videos of Orca authors reading from their books and learn more about the Read Aloud Canadian Books Program.

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.

The goal of this publication is to honour the 150,000 Aboriginal children across Canada who endured the Indian Residential School system and their families, while educating Canadians about the atrocious history and ongoing legacy of residential schools.

This course will help you envision how Indigenous histories, perspectives, worldviews, and approaches to learning can be made part of the work we do in classrooms, organizations, communities, and our everyday experiences in ways that are thoughtful and respectful. In this course, reconciliation emphasizes changing institutional structures, practices, and policies, as well as personal and professional

ideologies to create environments that are committed to strengthening our relationships with Indigenous peoples.

For educators, this means responding to educational reforms that prioritize improved educational outcomes for Indigenous learners. In addition, educators must support all learners to develop their knowledge and understanding of Indigenous people’s worldviews and cultures as a basis for creating equitable and inclusive learning spaces. To support these goals, teachers, administrators, young people, school staff, and researchers will learn from Indigenous Elders, educational leaders, and culturally relevant learning resources as part of their experiences in this course.

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)

Reconciliation Canada hosted a series of six short films on the theme of reconciliation, produced by young Indigenous filmmakers with the help of Wapikoni Mobile.

The videos are:
- Tio’tiake Montreal
- The Power of Laughter (Maskwesiwin Papiwin)
- At the UN – Wapikoni Mobile Speaks Out
- The Path
- Correcting the Chalkboard
- The Joy of Living

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

Residential Schools is a three-part podcast series that aims to honour the stories of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Survivors, their families, and communities.

This resource examines:
*The purpose of residential schools
*The assaults and their legacy
*Resistance and change
*Action for reconciliation
*Case studies
*Resources

This resource examines:
*Setting the stage for inquiry
*150 Years' relationship
*Research
*Resources

This impactful work is based on the Life Story of Elder Mary Courchene during her time in Residential Schools that channels her story of truth, resistance, healing and the reclamation of identity, language, culture and community for herself and her family. We are incredibly proud of this work and are excited to share it with everyone.

We see this curriculum as a living document to be used throughout the school year to help students (and staff) better understand the impacts of Residential Schools. The hope is for classrooms to engage in multiple lessons over a period of time, versus the one-day event to honour Orange Shirt Day.

The curriculum is for middle and senior years level but many pieces can be used and adapted for early years. Elder Mary's story is one of resistance, healing and love. Her truth is a gift to all that will both preserve her story and honour her life's work as an educator and elder who has always so generously shared her story so that children, youth and adults can learn truth and walk the path of reconciliation. We recognize how impactful it will be for all schools across Manitoba and Canada, to have a resource such as this one, Resistance on the Giimooch (Giimooch in Anishinaabemowin means in secret).​

Resources for Rethinking. provides immediate access to more than 1200 quality classroom resources.

Developed by Learning for a Sustainable Future, R4R.ca connects teachers to lesson plans, books, videos and other materials that explore the environmental, social and economic dimensions of important issues and events unfolding in our world today. R4R resources have been reviewed by experienced classroom teachers and matched to relevant curriculum outcomes for each province and territory. Use the search engine to find resources and read the reviews. Most of these materials can be downloaded immediately.

To begin: Select your province on the right side of the screen. Add any other filters you wish to explore to narrow your search and have fun exploring the amazing resources!

Shattering the Silence is a Saskatchewan Project of Heart interactive ebook that uncovers the history of Indian residential schools in Saskatchewan.
Written in 2017 by the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina, this document discovers the reality of residential schools in Saskatchewan. It is a great resource for teachers, students and the community that covers many topics and all the residential schools in the province.

This ebook is part of Project of Heart, which is a commemorative project that facilitates student learning about residential schools. The project is an inquiry-based, collaborative, intergenerational, and artistic journey to examine the history and legacy of Indian residential schools in Canada, leading to the acknowledgment of the losses incurred by former students, their families and communities.

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.

Global and Canadian Defenders for human rights have changed societal conditions and provide inspiration for students. The overall goal of Speak Truth to Power Canada is to raise student awareness that advances in human rights come through the actions of individuals.

In this lesson plan on Truth and Reconciliation you will find:

- An interview with Chief Littlechild including his biography.
- Student activities that support the theme of this lesson, including reflection activities on Chief Littlechild’s life experiences, Residential Schools in Canada, the Truth and Reconciliation’s findings and recommendations on how to move forward.
- Three brief community defender profiles to expand the lesson and encourage students to identify with a variety of defenders for human rights.

To support the lesson on Truth and Reconciliation, you will also find:
1. Sections or articles of selected legal instruments that are tied to the theme of Truth and Reconciliation.
2. A student activity that links the Moments in Time timeline of advancements and setbacks in human rights from a Canadian perspective.

You can, of course, choose to use any or all of the suggested student activities.

Warning: All student activities are applicable to Grade 5 to 12 students, with viewer discretion warning. Teachers should review the suggested resources prior to undertaking with their students.

*This set of lessons is also available in Cree.