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Orange Shirt Day and Truth & Reconciliation Week

Orange Shirt Day is now a national day of Remembrance (similar to Remembrance Day).This guide goes over resources that can be used to promote the spirit of Orange Shirt Day on or off the day itself as part of Truth & Reconciliation work.

Introduction

Hadih, Ts’uhoont’i Whuzainya hodul'eh 

Hello, we are happy you have come to learn from this resource.

This guide addresses the following Core Competencies:

This guide addresses the following First People's Principles of Learning:

Learning ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community, the land, the spirits and the ancestors.
Learning involves recognizing the consequences of one's actions.
Learning requires exploration of one's identity.
Learning is holistic, reflexive, reflective, experiential and relational (focused on connectedness, on reciprocal relationships, and a sense of place).

 

This guide addresses the following curriculum areas:

  • Good health comprises physical, mental, and emotional well-being (Physical and Health Education)
  • Learning about ourselves and others helps us develop a positive attitude and caring behaviours, which helps us build healthy relationships. (Physical and Health Education)

Ways to use this guide:

  • Discuss what Residential Schools were, their purpose and why it was wrong
  • Discuss how Residential Schools hurt culture, language and family connections
  • Discuss how Orange shirt day started, and why Phyllis' story is important
  • What does a safe school look like? How do we all feel safe and included?

This guide addresses the following Dakelh Holistic Lifelong Learning Model areas:

Click pictures to open full size printable PDF

Impacts on Protocol

Impacts on Land & Experiential Learning

Impacts on Language

Want to learn how to use the Dakelh Holistic Lifelong Learning Model? Click here

Like the core competencies the Dakelh Holistic Lifelong Learning Model is a central strand to curriculum within School District 57. The planning guide is a reminder for teachers to use the model as a teaching lens when planning their lessons. They should ask themselves how they can incorporate these concepts into their lesson and do the research to ensure these concepts and practices are included. This includes explicitly reminding students when they are used to raise students' awareness of these considerations.

So when planning a lesson a key question would be what, where and how can/should I incorporate Protocol, Land & Experiential Learning and Language into the lesson. As well, how can I weave in the Dakelh Ways of Knowing and Enduring Understandings (Values) into day-to-day practice. It's important to recognize that it is all interconnected and we don't necessarily need to focus on all of them (just like the core competencies) but start with one, two or three etc. Bringing light to, naming, and consciously considering the Dakelh perspective is part of the process and gives us time to reflect, build relationships and develop these competencies.

Do Not ask Residential School Survivors to speak, without prior arrangements in advance. While this work is acknowledging and honouring survivors we kindly remind you to not ask survivors to share their personal experience to protect their mental health & wellness.

Books to Support Orange Shirt Day

Orange Shirt Day Story

Colouring Pages and other materials

eBooks