The Indian Residential Schools and Reconciliation Teacher Resource Guides for grades 5, 10 and 11/12 were developed by the First Nations Education Steering Committee and the First Nations Schools Association. They are our response to the call by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada for education bodies to develop age-appropriate educational materials about Indian residential schools.
It is our hope that these resources will help students of all cultural backgrounds gain an understanding of the history of the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people over Canada’s history, with a focus on the BC experience. The materials are also designed to engage young people to take part in the journey of reconciliation.
These unique, BC-specific, resources for grades 5, 10, 11 and 12 use age-appropriate literature, archival resources, and videos to increase students’ understanding of the historical context of residential schools and to develop students’ awareness about the reconciliation process as a way to move us all forward.
The units and lessons support the BC Ministry of Education curriculum learning standards. In addition, due to the nature of the subject matter, the resources contain suggestions for how to deal sensitively with the topic of residential schools.
The development of these resource guides included input from an advisory committee of FNESC, FNSA, Ministry of Education, BC Teachers’ Federation representatives, as well as 35 pilot schools.
FNSA and FNESC would like to recognize the invaluable role that the Vancouver Foundation has played in its support of this project.