Teacher Michael Bernards from Lester B. Pearson Catholic High School in Ottawa joined a host of learners for a second year by involving his grade 11 Native Studies class in the commemoration of the children who died at  the St. Eugene Indian Residential School in British Columbia and the Fort Alexander Indian Residential School in Manitoba.

As the invited guest to the event — he was asked to come and to give testimony to his experiences — Christopher Herodier Snowboy spoke from his heart about the loss, the anger, and constant “coming to grips” with the long-lasting impact of the IRS experience on him, his family, and his community. Continue reading →

An 18,549 kilometer walk around the Great Lakes came through Ottawa on May 20th. The goal? To call attention to the sacred gift of water and to raise awareness about the need to care for it.

Anishnawbe women, as givers of life, are responsible for speaking for, protecting, and carrying the water, for 20 000 kilometers–a walk to protect that which we all rely upon.

This year’s Water Walk “unites all the waters of our Mother Earth. Water from the vast Pacific Ocean, from the Gulf of Mexico, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Hudson Bay will be gathered in copper pails and carried by hand. (The walkers will converge on the shores of Lake Superior (on June 12).” Continue reading →

A few weeks ago Durham District School Board employees completed a Project of Heart workshop under the leadership of Education Officer for Aboriginal Studies, Bill Littlefair. The board office atrium in Whitby was set up to accommodate employees who wanted to know more about their own history with respect to the IRSs, and express their feelings through their art work after learning about the schools.

The visual set-up followed the theme of “Apology”. There were 3 TV/DVDs running for the display including the Official Apology video, the “Where are the Children” DVD, and the Legacy of Hope’s “Our Stories, Our Strength” video. Jan Longboat from Six Nations allowed scans and poster to be made and displayed from parts of her book, entitled Coming Home: Stories of Residential School Survivors, by Jan Kahehto:io Longboat. Continue reading →

Port Perry student Jake Robinson working on his tiles.

In January of 2011, Port Perry High School student Jake Robinson, took Project of Heart “to heart” in a unique way.  You can read about his endeavour in the following excerpt from the Port Perry High School Newsletter of February 10th, 2011.   Congratulations Jake!

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Port Perry High School participates in a national project:  Project of Heart.

“Project of Heart” (P.O.H.) is a hands-on, collaborative, inter-generational, inter-institutional artistic endeavour.  Its purpose is to commemorate the lives of the thousands of Indigenous children who died as a result of the residential school experience. It commemorates the families and communities to whom those children belonged.  This year, our students have adopted three Residential Schools and created over 600 tiles to honour these children.  We have been very fortunate to have former Residential School students relate their experiences to our students.  This year Cliff Standingready, author and Oshawa resident, spoke to our class and shared his story.  Jake Robinson, a grade 11 student was so inspired by this project that he has taken on the job to commemorate 200 children on his own and during his free time.  His artistic talent speaks volumes of his passion for this commemorative project. To date our students have commemorated over 1100 children and we won’t stop until every child is honoured.  The tiles are sent to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission meetings held all over the country for the next four years.  Our tiles to date were shown at the first National Event held in Winnipeg at The Forks from June 16 to 19, 2010.  The final resting place for our tiles will, hopefully, be at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights currently being built in Winnipeg.



Native Studies teacher Stacy Villeneuve from St. Pius X H.S. in Ottawa and her
students commemorated the lives of the students of Desmarais Indian
Residential School as well as Joussard IRS both run by the Catholic
Church in Alberta. After students decorated the tiles, Christopher
Herodier Snowboy, a James Bay Cree, was invited to speak to the class
and recounted some of his IRS experiences.

Stacy’s students were energized by their experience with the
process; for the social justice component of the project, they witnessed the Federal Court hearings as the Aboriginal People’s Television Network (APTN) appealled the Human Rights Tribunal decision to not allow the network to broadcast the Tribunal Hearings. St. Pius X students arrived at the Federal Court on March 7th dawning their “I Am a Witness” t-shirts. They were an impressive sight as they filled the Federal Court, demonstrating an overwhelming support for First Nations children and their families in their fight for fair and equitable access to government services.

St. Pius X students were rewarded for their support by a visit to their school by Cindy Blackstock from the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society. She brought with her Wesley Prankhard, age thirteen, who spoke of his activism in raising money for a playground for the children of Attawapiskat. Each student was also given a certificate, signed by Cindy and Charlie Angus, Member of Parliament for Timmins-James Bay. Continue reading →

On Monday, April 4th, 2011, Project of Heart interviewed Tara and Olivia, both students at Summit Alternative School in Ottawa. Tara and Olivia chose to learn about the Indian Residential Schools for a Geography project.

Project of Heart attended the presentation they gave during Mr. Farley’s geography class in January of 2011. We were amazed at the research that Olivia and Tara had undertaken and the skill with which they presented their findings to the class of grade 8 students.

We caught up with these enthusiastic learners a month later, to find out what they learned while doing their research and to hear their ideas about what could be done to address the lasting legacy of residential schools. Continue reading →

This week we are recognizing a fantastic educator from Merivale High School in Ottawa — she is Tanya Rafuse, who introduced the project to her students in November and then led her students through a unit on Indian Residential Schools in Canada. Her classroom ultimately choose to commemorate the deaths of the children at the Sandy Bay Indian Residential School in Manitoba with beautiful works of art.

Grandmother Greta Neepin, survivor of the IRS in Manitoba, came to the school to talk about her experiences at two different schools, and to share her knowledge with students who, until this point in time, had very little information about the topic. Grandmother Greta also smudged the tiles outdoors, sharing with the students a part of her Cree culture.

As the social justice action component of the Project, some learners put up flyers in downtown Ottawa for missing Kitiganzibi/Maniwaki Indigenous youths Shannon Alexander and Maisy Odjig http://www.findmaisyandshannon.com/. Some students signed petitions while others wrote letters to their Members of Parliament regarding the lack of human rights protections afforded to Aboriginal youth and women.

Meegwetch, Merivale High School!