Welcome to the Teachers’ Resource Guide for Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation by Monique Gray Smith.
The guide follows the book, chapter by chapter, making it easy for teachers and students to dig deeper into the text and make personal connections to the material. Each chapter of the guide features a
summary, essential questions, metaphors for learning, key concepts and vocabulary
and detailed learning activities.

There is bonus material about making art, keeping a journal and doing research. Activities are laid out clearly, with instructions for teachers and for students as they embark together on the journey of reconciliation.

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.

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."

This guide is a resource for educators at all levels to introduce the value of Indigenous women’s and girls’ lives into the classroom and into the minds and hearts of young people. It will prepare educators to use a decolonizing pedagogy and a trauma-informed approach in their teaching.

 On August 30, 2022, a Flag Ceremony was held at the Sun West Learning Centre in Rosetown to welcome the Treaty 6, Treaty 4 and Métis Nation flags to Sun West School Division. Welcoming the flags to the Sun West Learning Centre, which is directly adjacent to the Sun West Division Office, recognizes that Sun West is on Treaty territory as well as the School Division’s commitment to the Calls to Action of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, in particular those that relate to education.  The Flag Ceremony was held in conjunction with the first Sun West Administrators Meeting (Principals and Vice-Principals) of the 2022-23 school year and so the Administrators of all of Sun West’s schools participated. Most Sun West schools are within Treaty 6 Territory except for Davidson and Loreburn Central Schools that are in Treaty 4 Territory. The entire school division falls within the Métis Nation Homeland.   

The Kindergarten to Grade 9 Treaty Education Learning Resource is designed for teachers to assist them in integrating the Treaty content and perspective with Saskatchewan’s curricula and is based on the inquiry method of teaching. It provides information about Treaties, First Nations people and the history of what is now known as Saskatchewan, as well as sample learning experiences, assessment ideas and suggested resource materials to support teachers in the development of their lessons.

Resources are organized by grade and outcome.

Visit the site to download the resource.

How to get started, and who can help.
This is a great read!
This article also provides a list of other resources to teach Truth & Reconciliation.

This infographic aims to empower teachers, principals and administrators across Canada with four key steps to begin implementing truth and reconciliation initiatives immediately into K-12 classrooms.

This guide is a teacher resource containing several classroom activities that explore the stories shared in the Voices from Here video series. Download the education guide and use the worksheets

First Nations, Métis and Inuit Perspectives in Curriculum - Alberta Education

The digital resource Walking Together: First Nations, Métis and Inuit Perspectives in Curriculum was designed to help teachers understand the holistic nature of First Nations, Métis and Inuit ways of knowing; to provide opportunity for Inuit, First Nations and Métis peoples to share their perspectives on topics important to them; and to demonstrate First Nations, Métis and Inuit perspectives in teaching and learning experiences.

In this condensed life history, Wes FineDay, Nehiyaw Knowledge Keeper, discusses his resistance to colonial violence and his lifelong work and extensive knowledge of medicines, oral history, and ceremony.

Inspired by a woven blanket, the Witness Blanket is a large-scale work of art. It contains hundreds of items reclaimed from residential schools, churches, government buildings and traditional and cultural structures from across Canada.

Here, you can explore the items and stories carried by the Witness Blanket. They are accompanied by the voices of Survivors who talk about the experience of being forced into residential schools. Their generous and insightful stories convey the reality of anti-Indigenous racism, colonialism and genocide. They reveal the ongoing harms caused by Canada’s residential school system.