RESOURCES FOR INDIGENOUS TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION
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These resources have been designed and compiled to aid secondary teachers in introducing their students to the historical significance and impact of residential school in Canada, and their connection to the 2008-2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and resulting Calls to Action.
Resources and activities have been designed with secondary students in mind but can easily be adapted for other age groups. Social Studies 9, 10, and Explorations 11 provide good opportunities for learning about TRC and Indigenous Residential Schools. Primary source documents come from a variety of educational, news and media collections. Specific effort has been made to include sources from Lejac Residential School. It is hoped that these sources will provide a jumping off point for teachers and students to further explore the legacy of Residential Schools in B.C. and Canada and the need for Indigenous Reconciliation. |
What is Truth and Reconciliation?
Why do we need this journey? (by Monique Gray Smith)
"So... why do we need to go on a journey of reconciliation? In order to answer this question, we must first understand what we are reconciling. Unitl the last few years, most Canadians knew very little about Residential Schools. Young people like you were not taught about them in school, and in many cases neither were your parents and grandparents. Some people had never heard of them. But for over 150 years, Indigenous children were taken from their homes and paced in Residential Schools."
"For these children, the initial trauma of being away from family and loved ones was intensified by:
"So... why do we need to go on a journey of reconciliation? In order to answer this question, we must first understand what we are reconciling. Unitl the last few years, most Canadians knew very little about Residential Schools. Young people like you were not taught about them in school, and in many cases neither were your parents and grandparents. Some people had never heard of them. But for over 150 years, Indigenous children were taken from their homes and paced in Residential Schools."
"For these children, the initial trauma of being away from family and loved ones was intensified by:
- Being separated from siblings or cousins of a different gender.
- Being hungry. Children and staff received different meals. This children's food was not nourishing, and at times was rotten and full of maggots.
- Being abused. Physical, verbal, emotional, sexual and spiritual abuse was commonplace in the schools.
- Being forbidden to speak their own languages or practise their own spirituality."
What were Indigenous Residential Schools?
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Indigenous Residential Schools - Background Learning Resources
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Residential School Education - Life Without Family
Lejac School in 1963 during a measles epidemic
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- A Blog about the Lejac Residential School. Contains personal recollections and photographs from residential school survivors and others.
- Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre - site for Lejac School. Excellent primary source documents.
- National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation - site fore Lejac School/Stuart Lake; includes photographs and names in memoriam.
- Facebook has a Group for Lejac Residential School. Easily found on search. It is intended for survivors, relatives, allies, and others, and educators are welcome to put in a request to join. Includes many personal recollections and photographs, including stories which might be upsetting to some.
Legacy of Residential Schools
Here is a case study on the Colten Boushie court case. Joe Pereira developed this for use in BC Law Studies 12.
The Lejac Residential School appears in a variety of news articles in North Central BC over time. Here's a relatively recent one on "Lejac Residential School survivors attend healing ceremony" (PG Citizen, 2021) and another on "Remembering Lejac residential school" (Smith Interior News, 2018).
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Additional Resources
This is a link to Pacific Slope's Share Folder for Residential Schools. It is a somewhat random collection of weblinks, images, documents, and reports. We make no copyright claim on any of it -- this is simply what we have found and some cases what we use to teach. Feel free to contact us if you'd like to comment on the collect or add some resources that you think would be useful for other teachers.
The Lejac Residential school operated from 1922 to 1976 by the Roman Catholic Church. Photo: Lejac Residential School Facebook Group
Site of former Lejac Residential School on Fraser Lake, BC. To the east is West Fraser's Fraser Lake Sawmill. Photo: Google Earth