Port Perry teacher Nancy Hamer-Strahl has completed Project of Heart for a second year running. Once again, Nancy has found a way to connect her classroom to her own community — including her area’s First Nation community — and ultimately to the whole country through her contribution to CBC’s excellent “8th Fire” series.

This year, Hamer-Strahl’s students commemorated the lives lost at St. Michael’s IRS in Alert Bay, British Columbia, as well as Lake St. Marin IRS at Fisher River, Manitoba. They decorated over 600 tiles to honour these children. Former Residential School students related their experiences to her students and Cliff Standingready, author and Oshawa resident, spoke to Nnacy’s class and shared his story. Continue reading →

Click on image above to see slideshow of student Jake Robinson’s work

It’s never been done before, but a talented high school student from Ontario has completed the remarkable feat of decorating the commemorative tiles for an entire Indian Residential School all by himself. Most students working on Project of Heart are given a set of 10 tiles to decorate, but, as reported by Port Perry’s High School Newsletter, “Jake Robinson was so inspired by this project that he has taken on the job to commemorate 200 children on his own, during his free time. His artistic talent speaks volumes of his passion for this commemorative project.” Continue reading →

Here’s Pam on just how she did it: Continue reading →

This past semester students from Ottawa’s Nepean High School once again participated in Project of Heart, marking the second time in two years their school has partnered with POH. Four Grade 9 Geography classes designed a total of 300 tiles in commemoration of the young lives lost at the Ridgemont Home for Children in Whitehorse and Pine Creek Indian Residential School in Manitoba.

Here’s what teacher Leigh Williamson had to say about the experience: Continue reading →

In October 2011, Kim Bruton from Sir Robert Borden High School in Ottawa contacted Project of Heart after hearing an interview regarding the Project on the CBC. It took no time for her to involve her Grade 12 “Canada: History, Identity, and Culture” course. Here’s what some of her students had to say after having completed the five-part education module, which commemorated students who died while attending an IRS, including those who lost their lives at St. Paul’s IRS in Cardston, Alberta: Continue reading →

Pickering, Ontario teacher Jenny Brown recently worked with her Dunbarton HS  students to decorate over 900 tiles to commemorating the children who lost their lives at Cecilia Jeffrey IRS in Kenora, Ontario, Grollier Hall IRS in Inuvik, NWT, and St. Peter’s IRS in Hay River, NWT.

With the students as they learned about Canada’s history during this dark era was Andrew Wesley, and IRS survivor and clergyperson.  Brown states, “The visit by Andrew was great.  My students were very moved by the experience and will never forget it!”

But Brown’s students didn’t stop there. They learned about Canada’s inaction on the drinking water crisis faced by First Nations people living on reserves and how it is shaming our country internationally. They then signed the water petition (please check out Amnesty International’s easy-to-join campaign to help you take meaningful action about this calamity). Students also signed Amnesty International’s petition called, “No More Stolen Sisters” to address the epidemic of missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada.

Congratulations Dunbarton High!

In the winter of 2011, Mark Buccino from Mother Teresa Catholic High School in Ottawa teamed up with Project of Heart to give his students an experience Buccino says they’ll never forget.  In relating his experiences with the grade 11 and 12 Native Studies students, Buccino emphasized the disbelief his students felt upon learning about the abuses endured by so many young aboriginal students.  It was not uncommon to witness anger, as the students learned about the Canadian government’s complicity in the crimes committed at these schools.

Buccino states, “I was excited that the students felt this much passion for the topic.  I researched ways my students could get involved and do something.  I came upon Project of Heart.  After presenting the idea to my students — that they could decorate wooden tiles which would commemorate the lives lost at Indian Residential Schools, the students were in full support of this endeavour.”

Project of Heart answered the call by sending 600 tiles, enough to commemorate the children who died at Sturgeon Lake IRS and Grouard IRS, both in Alberta.  Upon completion of the tiles, Jamie Koebel, a multi-talented Metis performer and cultural worker, smudged the tiles and taught them what it meant, and why this was such an important activity.  “It was a powerful experience,” iterated Buccino.

Project of Heart was invited to the University of Ottawa this past week, and made a presentation to a class of teacher candidates enrolled in Dr. Patricia Palulis’ “Holistic and Non-Traditional Approaches to Education” course. Thirty-five keen educators were on hand to hear from Sylvia Smith, coordinator of the project, who explained why it is important for our learners to know about our shared history, and to understand the reasons as to why this history has been marginalized, glossed over, or not taught at all.

Students decorated over a hundred tiles, each tile representing the life of a child who never returned home from the Birtle Indian Residential School in Manitoba. They were moved by the presentation; in fact, by the end of the morning, many were so enthusiastic about “walking the talk of reconciliation” that they signed up to witness a session of the Federal Court, where from February 13th to the 15th, an historic hearing is taking place.

Human Rights Tribunal Chair Shirish Chotalia’s decision to dismiss a Tribunal discrimination case regarding the chronic underfunding of First Nations children on reserves is being appealed to the Federal Court by the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society and the Assembly of First Nations.

Dr. Pat Palulis and many of her students will be in court and bearing witness as the case is heard. Bravo to the Holistic Education class for your caring, and “Having a Heart”!

November 30 and December 1, 2011 saw Project of Heart take part in two special sessions at the University of Regina.

POH Co-ordinator Sylvia Smith was honoured to receive an invitation from Dr. Marc Spooner of the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina to speak with the graduate students in his ED 808 “Teaching for Social Justice” classroom. Most of his students are themselves teachers in the Saskatchewan public school system.

Sylvia spoke to the educators about the core mission of Project of Heart: incorporating indigenously-influenced pedagogical methods in all subject areas, bringing “heart and spirit” into the classroom.

The next afternoon, Smith addressed a mixed audience of students, professors, teachers, and community leaders as current Project of Heart participants –SUNTEP students at the Gabriel Dumont Institute and their instructor, Christina Johns –  joined in the discussion while their gorgeously decorated wooden tiles were displayed for the group to see.

The authentic and thoughtful response emanating from both sessions was a clear signal concerning the urgent need for curricular initiatives that meaningfully engage young learners in Indigenous and settler-shared history. We are thrilled that POH’s two-part call to learn from the experts (survivors of the IRSs) and to teach for justice by “doing justice” in the classroom found such a warm reception in Saskatchewan.

Project of Heart is grateful to the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina for hosting the two events, and to all the attendees of the both sessions. We also gratefully acknowledge the financial support given by the Associate Dean, Dr. Jennifer Tupper, and the warm welcome from the faculty’s Dean, Dr. James McNinch.
 

In October of 2011, students at Elizabeth Wyn Wood Alternative School in Ottawa put their books to the side, and instead studied a living history that until then few of them had known anything about.

Students watched videos, examined historical documents, and learned about the intergenerational trauma that is the legacy of the Indian Residential Schools. They  then poured their hearts into decorating the tiles, each one symbolic of a death due to the Indian Residential School experience.  The set of tiles the Wyn Wood students decorated were in memory of Innu children who did not survive the IRS at Sept-Isle. Students then heard first hand from the IRS survivor Christopher Snowboy Herodier, who continues to live with his own memories of Residential School, finding solace through musical expression and by returning to his cultural traditions.

As the photos above vividly document, Wyn Wood students put their feelings and words into action by attending October 4th’s “Families of Sisters in Spirit” Vigil on Parliament Hill  to commemorate and remember the missing and murdered Aboriginal women in Canada. After the march from Parliament Hill to Victoria Island, students became part of the extended family of those missing and murdered women, coming together in support of those who had lost daughters, mothers, sisters and aunties.

By the end of the day’s program, Wyn Wood students knew they had been a part of a very special event, and were committed acting upon their new learning. Students sent letters of concern to parliamentarians and petitions and emails to  cabinet ministers, adding their voices to the call for justice for Canada’s missing and murdered aboriginal women.