Wednesday, June 21st is recognized across Canada as National Aboriginal Day; an opportunity for Canadians from coast-to-coast-to-coast to acknowledge and celebrate the enduring contributions that Canada’s indigenous population has made to the nation’s history and culture.
Crestwood Preparatory College has worked to specifically to heighten student awareness of important indigenous issues throughout this past school year. The following events, lessons, and workshops are a few of the ways CPC has brought these issues to the forefront:
- Crestwood staff members attended the Na-Me-Res Traditional Pow-Wow in June and the Native Child and Family Services Pow-Wow in September, using the opportunity to learn, network, and develop important contacts within the local indigenous community.
- Crestwood students from the Me to We/YARRD club were among the first in Canada to hear songs from Gord Downie’s Secret Path when they attended We Day this past October. Students in Mr. Tanev and Mr. Hawkins’ Grade 10 Civics classes also had the opportunity to view the film version of Secret Path in class, as part of a unit on the topic of Truth and Reconciliation.
- At the annual meeting of all Council of Independent Schools, English department heads, Mr. Jull helped facilitate a discussion of the place of literature by First Nations authors in our schools’ curriculum. Crestwood was also recognized at the conference for the strong presence of indigenous voices in our Canadian Literature course.
- Crestwood hosted Towards Reconcilation, a symposium that gathered over 400 GTA high-school students and educators, and received official recognition from the heads of all three levels of government. The event was not only an important experience for the attendees, but also helped further Crestwood’s contacts and reputation amongst important organizations and members of the local indigenous community.
- During the symposium, Mr. Masters coordinated Oral History Project interviews with many of the attending speakers and workshop leaders. These interviews form the basis of the new First Nations section of the Oral History Project website (www.crestwood.on.ca/OHP)
- Ms. Young and the Crestword editorial staff devoted an entire issue to coverage of Towards Reconcilation, and topics related to indigenous issues, helping to spread lessons of the symposium within the broader Crestwood community.
- As part of an interdisciplinary project, Grade 10 English and Civics students drafted letters to their elected representatives in Ottawa and Queen’s Park on the topic of Truth and Reconciliation.
- While continuing its partnership with Haliburton-Kawartha Family Services, Crestwood Gives added Native Child and Family Services of Toronto as a recipient of the annual holiday giving drive.
- Students in Mrs. O’Connor, Mr. Birrell, and Ms. Williamson’s Grade 8 Canadian History classes participated in a variety of lessons and activities incorporating indigenous perspectives, including a class visit from a survivor of the Residential School system.
- Many Grade 10 Career Studies students chose to research and represent charities working with Toronto’s indigenous community for their Youth Philanthropy Initiative presentations, with the group representing Native and Child Family Services Toronto winning in the finals. Crestwood and YPI sponsored a $5000 grant to the winning charity, which will be put to use helping send foster children in the care of NCFST to summer camp this year.
- In May, cultural workers from Native Child and Family Services led workshops for Ms. McCourt’s Grade 12 drama students on traditional drumming and “myth-busting” common cultural stereotypes regarding Canada’s indigenous population. Also, much tinier visitors from the NCFS daycare attended Ms. McCourt’s Grade 10/11 drama class to serve as an audience for a morning of student-produced puppet shows.
- Mr. Masters and Mr. Hawkins were invited to present the story of Crestwood’s Oral History Project, and their vision for its role in reconciliation, to the Ontario Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation’s annual All Staff Meeting and Circle of Honour Awards.
Building better relationships with our Aboriginal population is a challenge that will, in many ways, shape Canada’s coming years and decades. At Crestwood, we are confident that our students are being outfitted with the skills and awareness to tackle this- and all- future challenges.
