Truth and Reconciliation Learning in Campbell River Schools

In the days and weeks leading up to the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on September 30, students, staff, and other members of our school communities took part in several activities to learn more about residential schools and their negative impacts.

You may have noticed a lot of orange in and around our schools in September. Wearing orange throughout the month and particularly on September 30, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, is one of the many ways that we symbolically honour the survivors of residential schools and remember those who did not return, with our acknowledgement that “Every Child Matters”. September 30 originally started as Orange Shirt Day by Phyllis Webstad from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation, a child who had her orange shirt taken away, as she entered the residential school she was forced to attend.

At Sayward Elementary the grade 4/5/6 class designed eagle feathers and created a feather for every Indigenous child from Vancouver Island who was forced to attend residential school but did not survive. They learned the names of these residential school victims and will be sharing their learning throughout the year with these students, in spirit.

“Each class will have a binder for an eagle feather student, and they will ‘experience’ everything we learn about and participate in,” said Sayward Principal Rob Hatfield. “Once the [school] year is finished, we will hold a ceremony to send the [eagle feather] students off in an appropriate manner and thank them for being a part of our year. This was the start of that journey.”

Every class at Ripple Rock Elementary read a different book about residential schools and their impacts on Indigenous children and families. They then did activities to build their understanding and shared their learning on a poster. Each class displayed their posters in the hallway and students went around to see each poster and hear the other classes present the ideas that were shared on their poster.

Since schools were closed on September 30, Southgate Middle School held its own Truth and Reconciliation Day on September 29 and staff and students learned more about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action and the roles that each person should take. A school-wide assembly opened with a traditional welcome and included lessons on respect of self, others, and the land that we live, learn, and play on every day, as well as traditional drumming and singing and a recital of a poem on colonization, “The Collision”.

Several other schools, like École Phoenix Middle School and Quadra Elementary held their own reconciliation walks or created art and other visual displays, like the orange ribbons lining Sandowne Elementary’s school fence, to honour residential school survivors, victims, and their families.

At the school board office, staff took part in a learning session about truth and reconciliation to increase their understanding of the shared history and ongoing effects of colonization.

This month the Indigenous Education department in partnership with CUPE Local 723 provided each school with a teddy bear project. Each bear wears an orange SD72 “Every Child Matters” t-shirt and the package includes the book, "Spirit Bear: Honouring Memories, Planting Dreams" and the Calls to Action learning materials with lessons from the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society of Canada. This curriculum is to help teachers speak about truth and reconciliation in a trauma-informed way, particularly for younger students. 

We remain committed to listening, reflecting and continuing our own learning, as well as working towards reconciliation not just on September 30, but every day.