September 30^th is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Decoda honours the day that marks the ongoing sorrow of children of residential schools who never returned home, as well as residential school survivors and their families. To show your support, you are encouraged to wear an orange shirt as the colour represents hope, truth-telling, healing, reconciliation and supporting the statement that “Every Child Matters.”

More information about the significance of Orange Shirt Day can be found at orangeshirtday.org.

To learn more about this tragic ongoing legacy, the Decoda library offers several resources to readers of all ages and backgrounds. Two resources are featured in this blog, with a selection of further resources listed at the end.

Truth and Reconciliation in Canadian Schools by Pamela Rose Toulouse

This book is divided into two sections. Part 1: Program Foundations, provides the necessary background on the topics emerging from those Calls to Action on education for reconciliation in the TRC final report. Part 2: Truth and Reconciliation Lesson Plans by Grade, offers lessons plans from K to 12 that translate those topics into practical teaching and learning strategies for the classroom.

Part 1 includes:

• The legacy of residential schools (information, timeline, photographs, insights)
• Indigenous peoples of Canada (statistics, value differences, effects of acts/legislation)
• Treaties of Canada (differing views, summary of treaties, oral/written histories)
• Contributions of Indigenous peoples (by geography, by First Nations, Turtle Island map)
• Sacred circle teachings (detailed descriptions, seven living philosophies, Indigenous games)

Part 2 contains lessons with the following:

• Background information, key terms, and the Indigenous concept to be shared (for example teaching, historical fact, traditional use, contemporary story)
• Time needed, materials/resources, considerations and cautions
• Step by step plans with learning goals
• Strategies for engagement and questions
• Assessment for learning and adaptations

– From Introduction of Truth and Reconciliation in Canadian Schools

Speaking Our Truth: A Journey of Reconciliation by Monique Gray Smith

and accompanying Teacher guide by Tasha Henry

This book by award-winning Canadian author Monique Gray Smith of Cree, Lakota and Scottish ancestry is divided into four chapters full of colour illustrations and contains unique sections such as online resources, a reading list, and a list of residential schools.

In this book, we are embarking on a journey of reconciliation. This isn’t a read-and-do nothing kind of book. It is an active exploration of Canada’s collective history, our present and our future. It’s about how we grow as individuals, families, communities and as a country. For some of you, this may be a time of significant change in understanding of Canada’s history. It might be the first time you’ve thought about what reconciliation means and, more specifically, what it means to you and what your role in it is. Simply reading this book is an act of reconciliation.

Speaking our truth teacher guide: a journey of reconciliation 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 a 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 a journey to reconciliation.  – From Speaking our truth: a journey of reconciliation and Speaking our truth: teacher guide

Further Resources

• 15 Staff Book Picks for Truth & Reconciliation
• Be an Ally to Indigenous Peoples
• Unsettling the Settler Within: Indian Residential Schools, Truth Telling and Reconciliation in Canada by Paulette Regan
• Indigenous Relations: Insights, Tips & Suggestions to make Reconciliation a Reality by Bob Joseph with Cynthia F. Joseph