The Residential School System in Canada

TEACHER'S GUIDE

The Residential School System in Canada:

Understanding the Past ? Seeking Reconciliation ? Building Hope for Tomorrow

Second Edition

Second Edition ?2013 Government of Northwest Territories, Government of Nunavut, and the Legacy of Hope Foundation

This resource was developed and published by the following Partners:

Department of Education, Culture and Employment, Government of Northwest Territories P.O. Box 1320 Yellowknife, NT X1A 2L9

Phone: 867-873-7176 Fax: 867-873-0109

.nt.ca

Department of Education, Government of Nunavut P.O. Box 1000, Station 910 2nd Floor, Sivummut Building Iqaluit, NUX0A 0H0 Phone: 867-975-5600 Fax: 867-975-5605 .nu.ca

Legacy of Hope Foundation 75 Albert Street, Suite 801 Ottawa, ON K1P 5E7 Phone: 613-237-4806 or toll-free: 877-553-7177 Fax: 613-237-4442 legacyofhope.ca

Design and Production: NationMedia + Design, Legacy of Hope Foundation

ISBN: 978-0-7708-0206-6

Reproduction, in whole or in part, of this document for personal use and in particular for educational purposes, is authorized, proived the following conditions are respected: non-commercial distribution; respect of the document's integrity (no modification or alteration of any kind); and a clear acknowledgement of its source as follows:

Residential School System in Canada: Understanding the Past ? Seeking Reconciliation ? Building Hope for Tomorrow. Department of Education, Culture and Employment (GWNT), Department of Education (GN), Legacy of Hope Foundation, 2013.

Unauthorized use of the name and logo of the Governments of The Northwest Territories and Nunavut, and the Legacy of Hope Foundation is prohibited. The Partners wish to acknowledge the support of the following institutions:

The Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre; and Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

Cover Images 1. Stephen Kakfwi shares the story of the Dene Nation logo to students Walter Black, Shania Richter-Beaulieu, and Leona Fran?ois-Simpson of

K'alemi Dene School in N'dilo, NWT. Photo by Tessa Macintosh. 2. Kate Inuktalik teaches her great-granddaughter, Darla Evyagotailak, how to make a fishnet and other string games during an overland and

ocean journey from their home in Kugluktuk, NU to Ulukhaktok, NWT. Photo by Tessa Macintosh. 3. Piita Irniq (then known as Peter Ernerk) and classmates at Sir Joseph Bernier Federal Day School in 1958. Piita is on the right, leaning on his left

hand. Photo provided of Piita Irniq.

Message from the Ministers of Education in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut

We want to extend our thanks to you, the teachers of Residential Schools in Canada: Understanding the Past, Seeking Reconciliation, Building Hope for the Future. You are doing work that brings an important, and often difficult, part of our past into the classroom.

We hope this helps all Northern people gain a deeper understanding of the impacts of residential schools, and help our young people move forward into a healthier and more positive future. It is fitting that Nunavut and the NWT worked together to develop these teaching resources. These are issues that began when we were one jurisdiction and continue to affect us all.

Eva Aariak, Minister of Education Government of Nunavut

The residential school system has had an enormous impact on the North. These schools often operated as part of an effort to break and change the culture and language of children who attended them. Students were often subjected to neglect, violence and abuse. Unfortunately, many young people have carried the effects of their experiences in school forward into their lives as adults and parents. Addressing these intergenerational effects is part of the hugely important discussions that you will undertake as you explore the activities in this module.

Many people in the North also acknowledge positive outcomes of residential schooling. Lifelong friendships and networks were established during students' years at school. There were caring and dedicated teachers who did their best for students. Gaining an education was important for accessing employment opportunities and advocating for self-determination.

This module exemplifies the approaches to teaching and learning we believe are essential to engaging students: relevance to the North, incorporating a variety of media and focusing on nurturing critical and creative thinking.

Jackson Lafferty, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment Government of the Northwest

Territories

You are not alone as you explore these issues with your students. School administrators, community counsellors, as well as local, regional and national health networks are all part of the community of people available to help you. The teaching, learning, and sharing of stories supported through this module is an essential part of the larger process of healing across the North and across Canada.

Thank you for your dedication to this very important work.

Eva Aariak, Minister of Education, Government of Nunavut Jackson Lafferty, Minister of Education, Culture and Employment, Government of the Northwest Territories

Message from the President of the Legacy of Hope Foundation

As a consequence of the residential school system, cultural and spritiual loss have been experienced by successive generations of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada ? without action, these losses will continue to affect generations to come.

Following decades of advocacy and healing efforts by Aboriginal peoples, formal apologies from churches and the federal government were made to residential school survivors, a settlement agreement was signed, and a truth and reconciliation commission was established. Although these and other efforts have increased awareness of the hsitory of the residential school system among Canadians, their intergenrational impacts are understood by too few. Education is necessary for Canadians to move forward on the path towards understanding and reconciliation, and it is our youth who will lead us there.

Healing is a gradual process ? the legacy of residential schools is still very much alive in our cities and communities and affects Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Canadians alike. We hope you share our belief that as people learn the historical context that forms the roots for contemporary social issues faced by many First Nations, Inuit, and M?tis, they can foster an environment that allows reconciliation to take place.

On behalf of the Legacy of Hope Foundation, I would like to thank you for using this Teacher's Guide, for bringing the issue of residential schools to your students, and for joining us on the healing journey.

Richard Kistabish President, Legacy of Hope Foundation

Message from Commissioner Wilson of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

On behalf of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, I want to tell you how much I admire and respect your professional humility, your courage, and your devotion in agreeing to be some of the first teachers to use the important and powerful new curriculum on residential schools, developed for students in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut.

I refer to your humility, because I know that many of you are being asked to teach about something you may have known very little, before now. I say courage, because the content of this material is not easy. This little known history speaks of hard and uncomfortable truths for those of us who did not know such things had happened to little indigenous children in our own country, during the tens of decades of residential schools. And I speak of your devotion, because it is the schools, through the dedication of teachers such as yourselves, that can make all the difference, over time, in ensuring we graduate a well-informed population, so that never again will we have a generation such as the one we have today, so widely unaware of this long and unhappy chapter of our Canadian history.

I had a chance for a brief review of the materials you have been given to work with. I was impressed by the honesty and care put into developing materials that would be relevant to the northern residential schools experience, authentic to the voices of the survivors who attended them, and considerate of the emotional needs and readiness of students and teachers alike. As you work with these materials, I am confident that you will enrich them further with the benefit of your own relationships with your students and communities

As a TRC Commissioner, and fellow northerner living in Yellowknife, I am so very proud that it is our northern elected leadership and our northern schools who are taking steps to make this residential school content become mandatory learning for all high school students. We can all be hopeful that the rest of the country will be inspired to do the same. Through your efforts to work with, evaluate, and improve the curriculum materials, you are contributing very importantly to this bold example.

To the teachers, the content developers, the former student survivors, and the elected and administrative leadership of the Nunavut and NWT Departments of Education, thank you to all of you for your respective contributions to a healthier future for all our children in the North.

Respectfully, Commissioner Marie Wilson Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada

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