#215Children #reconciliACTION

Photo credit: https://treatypeople.weebly.com/residential-schools.html

Many of us in British Columbia and across Canada have joined with the Tk'emlúps te Secwe̓pemc and other First Nations communities in mourning the 215 children found in the mass grave at the Kamloops Residential School. Since this discovery, educators have engaged in meaningful dialogue and activities with their students about the atrocities committed, needlessly. We all have a role in implementing the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report.
 
Educating our students about these Calls to Action is an excellent beginning. Political action is also needed, and many language teachers have been working with their students to urge government to implement the Calls to Action through letter writing campaigns and having discussions about the next steps. Some are also initiating fund raising campaigns to support the Tk'emlúps te Secwe̓pemc who oversaw the costs of the ground-penetrating radar technology to locate the remains of the lost children.

Below are a number of links you may wish to explore with your students which may even spark your students' imagination to develop other recommendations to pursue; either as a year-end activity or something to prepare for during Orange Shirt Day on September 30th. If there are activities or other ideas you would like to share and help inspire other langauge teachers in our province, BCATML would be more than happy to share your activity in an article in our next edition of Lingo, our newsletter. Please email us at psac51@bctf.ca along with any photos you are able to share.
Links:

• Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Resources for students and educators
• Truth and Reconciliation Commission: Calls to Action (pdf)
• #215Pledge: The Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund
• #215Pledge: Recommended resources
  
• List of Indigenous-led organizations accepting financial donations
• Template letters to Parliament
• Letter template to Prime Minister Trudeau asking government to commit to action
• Contact information: Federal Ministers
• Contact information: Provincial Ministers (Members of the Legislative Assembly)