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Archive for the 'POH_news' Category
June 5th, 2010
Click on image to see slideshow
This spring Ottawa’s Lester B. Pearson Catholic High School commemorated the students that died as a result of the Indian Residential School experience at the Fort Albany IRS in James Bay. This school was chosen by the class of teacher Michael Bernards for its connection with one of their Indigenous classmates.
The students complemented their classroom understanding of the impact of IRS history by attending the play Where the Blood Mixes, a powerful recounting of the aftermath of the IRSs on its survivors.
After the tiles were decorated, the students carried out the social justice component of the unit by writing letters to political leaders, expressing their concerns over the epidemic of violence against Indigenous women and girls, as well as concerns regarding the potential impact of the Harmonized Sales Tax.
The Pearson students also experienced a smudging ceremony from Greta Neepin, a survivor of two Indian Residential Schools in Manitoba.
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May 22nd, 2010
IRS survivor Chris Herodier with Kitchissippi member Laurie Joe
A church in Ottawa’s Island Park neighbourhood was the scene of a unique act of acknowledgement as members of Kitchissippi United Church remembered the dead and the surviviors of Mount Elgin Indian Residential school in Muncey, Ontario. Mount Elgin was administered by the United Church of Canada.
Christopher Herodier, an IRS survivor from James Bay, joined Elder Albert Dumont from Kitigan Zibi First Nation as they both shared their stories of the impact of residential school experience on themselves, their families, and their communities. After the group completed decorating the tiles, they were smudged by Albert. Click on the image above to see a slideshow of images from the event.
As always, the learning was followed up by social action. The actions take by members of the community after the event included writing letters to the Prime Minister to address the issue of violence against Indigenous women, postering the neighbourhood with pictures of missing Aboriginal teenagers Maisy Odjick and Shannon Alexander, signing petitions for re-instatement of funding to the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, and signing up to be a Witness in the Human Rights Tribunal hearings into discriminatory funding for First Nations children in the child welfare system.
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April 5th, 2010
Image: student Samantha Wells takes on role of courtroom artist
A federal Human Rights Tribunal in Ottawa was recently the scene of a Project of Heart “social action component” as students from Elizabeth Wyn Wood attended tribunal proceedings to show solidarity with the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society’s Executive director Cindy Blackstock, who took the stand to argue against a cynical government motion to dismiss the tribunal’s hearings into systemic underfunding of First Nations children in the child welfare system in Canada.
Under the headline “Students put classroom learning into action”, this excellent article from the EMC newspaper group in Ottawa gives a superb overview of the events of the day and gives context for the artist’s rendition above of Ms. Blackstock enduring the lengthy cross-examination from the government counsel.
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March 14th, 2010
The Friday Show is a project of Master’s students in journalism Carleton University; the show takes an in-depth at issues that are national in scope.
In this excerpt the Friday shows examines the experience of Project of Heart through the voices of traditional Elder Willy Bruce and student participant Violet Rosehart from Elizabeth Wyn Wood Alternate Site.
Also heard is POH coordinator Sylvia Smith as she indentifies what she believes is the “missing ingredient” in the historical narrative taught in our schools.
Click on the player below to hear the audio excerpt; it’s a concise piece that runs about three minutes.
Friday Show investigates Project of Heart:
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February 23rd, 2010
Picking up on the theme of “heart” the Ottawa Citizen recently ran this Valentine’s Day interview with Project of Heart coordinator Sylvia Smith. It is a well-written article that makes for as a useful introduction to what the project is all about.
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February 9th, 2010
Click on image to see slideshow from Frederick Banting event
Students at Frederick Banting Secondary School in Stittsville participated in Project of Heart as part of their Lifeskills and Aboriginal Studies courses. They chose to commemorate the Spanish Indian Residential School – formerly Wikwemikong – in Manitoulin Island. The tiles were smudged by Willy Bruce, who is a Native veteran and Carrier of the Aboriginal Vetern’s Eagle Staff. Students participated in an Honour Song at the Drum and listened attentively to Willy as he shared the Traditional Teachings on values that should govern our choices in life. As well, Willy gifted an Eagle Feather to the Banting Staff to honour all the young warriors who gave their health or lives as a result of the IRS experience.
As the social justice component of the project, students signed up to be witnesses to the proceedings of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal on First Nations Child Welfare.
John Curry from the Sttitsville News covered the event; a scan of the newspaper coverage can be seen here.
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October 26th, 2009
Project of Heart graduates from across the National Capital Region gathered at Rideau Hall this past month to help the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) launch its “five year journey” to educate Canadians about the residential school era.
In a two day program culminating with a “Witnessing the Future” encounter hosted by Governor General Michaelle Jean, POH participants David Choiniere, Kheyahna Meekis, Evana Smith, Emianna Vargatoth and Daniel Wiggins were recognized for their contribution to remembering the students who died in the care of the Mohawk Institute, a notorious residential school located in southwestern Ontario.
In preparation for the ceremony, POH students joined in a workshop along with youth from across Canada brought together through the TRC. They included five older youth affiliated with Canadian Roots, an organization working with young people to address the pressing need for reconciliation around the issue of residential schools, as well as ten young people who are grandchildren of IRS survivors. Together, the students produced clay sculptures to present to survivors as gestures of reconciliation.
Click on the photo above to see a photoset including images from both the prepatory workshop and the “Witnessing the Future” event itself.
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June 29th, 2009
Those are the words of a student from teacher Kristin Jefferies’s First Place program at Richard Pfaff Alternative in Ottawa.
The First Place students were reacting to what they had learned about the experience of being aboriginal during the Residential School era in Canada. The empathy they felt with the story of the abused students of their chosen school — Poplar Hill Residential School in Northern Ontario — showed clearly in the care and creativity with which they crafted their memorial tiles.
The competed tiles were smudged in a ceremony that included invited survivor Violet Kakekapetum from Sandy Lake First Nation. Click on the image to see a photoset from the event.
The social justice component of their POH project saw First Place students poster downtown Ottawa in support of the campaign to find missing indigenous teens Maisy Ojick and Shannon Alexander.
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May 18th, 2009
The infamous Mohawk Institute was an Indian Residential School in Brantford, Ontario, which operated for over a century, finally closing its doors for good in 1969. Earlier this month, students of Elizabeth Wyn Wood Alternative School in Ottawa commemorated the children whose lives were lost as a result of attending the “Mush Hole”, as the institute was known to generations of students. (Click on image to see the set description, click here to see the slideshow.)
Students from art teacher Emily Park’s classroom joined with others students to participate in Project of Heart. Read the rest of this entry »
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March 19th, 2009
Gabriel Dumont Institute visual arts instructor Christina Johns of the Saskatchewan Urban Native Teacher Education Program (SUNTEP) had her pre-service teachers complete the tile decoration component of the POH module during the fall term of 2008.
The SUNTEP students brought extremely compelling imagery to the exercise which commemorated the students who died at the Lebret Indian Residential School at Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan. Click on the adjacent photo to see more examples of her class’s work.
Russell Fayant of the SUNTEP program and Christina herself have also responded through verse to the ongoing colonial project of cultural extinction, as experienced by their Métis community. Christina’s poem can be read here and Russell’s here.
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