LEGACY SCHOOLS PROGRAM
The Legacy Schools program is a free national initiative to engage, empower and connect students and educators to further reconciliation through awareness, education and action (#reconciliACTION).
All schools (daycares, K-12 and post-secondary), clubs and groups that work with youth throughout Canada are encouraged to join us by signing up. We provide educational resources and program development for Legacy Schools to help ensure that the unique interests, rights, and perspectives of Indigenous peoples are recognized and implemented in schools and communities throughout Canada
TWO ROW WAMPUM
Walking Together: The Two Row Wampum Haudenosaunee and Anishnabek
The Two Row Wampum belt is the symbolic record of the first agreement between European settlers and Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island, over 400 years ago. This first covenant formed the basis for the covenant chain for all subsequent treaty relationships between the Haudenosaunee and the settler governments. Unfortunately, the settlers did not uphold their end of the agreement.
The Two Row Wampum displays a mutual commitment to:
· Friendship
· Peace between peoples
· Living alongside each other
The Four Sacred Medicines of the Anishinaabe
The four sacred medicines are used in everyday life and in ceremonies. All of them can be used to smudge with. It is said that tobacco sits in the eastern door, sweetgrass in the southern door, sage in the west and cedar in the north.
Tobacco is the first plant that creation gave to the Anishinaabe. Three other plants, sage, cedar and sweetgrass, follow tobacco, and together they are referred to by the Anishinaabe as the four sacred medicines.
Métis Sash
“One of the most prominent symbols of the Métis Nation is the brightly coloured, woven sash. In the days of the voyageur, the sash was both a colourful and festive item of clothing and an important tool worn by the hardy tradesmen. Doubling as a rope when needed, the sash served as a key holder, first aid kit, washcloth, towel, and as an emergency bridle and saddle blanket. Its fringed ends could become a sewing kit when the Métis were on the land. The art of sash weaving was brought to the western regions of Canada by Voyageurs who encountered the bright ‘scarves’ through contact with French Canadians.” (2021, metisnation.org)
Photo: Machine woven sash. Gabriel Dumont Institute Collection. The Virtual Museum of Métis History and Culture.
Secret Path by Gord Downie & Jeff Lemire
The Secret Path began with ten poems, which became ten songs, then became an animated film and graphic novel that tells the story of Chanie Wenjack. Chanie was a young Anishinaabe boy who died walking on railroad tracks while trying to escape from the Cecilia Jeffrey Residential School to walk home to his family—over 600 kilometers away.
With Downie's poetry and music and Lemire’s powerful visuals, Chanie’s story has come to life in the ten-chapter film. Each chapter is accompanied by a song from Downie's musical retelling of Chanie's story – from his escape from the Cecilia Jeffrey Residential School to his subsequent and heartbreaking death from hunger and exposure to the harsh weather. The final product is a uniquely immersive emotional experience - an insight into the life of a little boy who, as Gord has said, he never knew, "but will always love."
Cecilia Jeffrey Residential School
From the 1870s up until 1996, approximately 150,000 Indigenous children were forcibly taken from their homes and families and sent to residential schools throughout Canada. At the schools, 90 to 100% of children reported suffering from some form of abuse, with a 40 – 60% mortality rate. One of these schools was Cecilia Jeffrey Residential School in Kenora, Ontario, which was operated by the Presbyterian Church from 1900 until 1964, after which it was run by the federal government.
At the age of 9, Chanie Wenjack, along with his two sisters and about 150 other children, was sent to school in Kenora where he was renamed “Charlie.” On October 16, 1966, Chanie ran away from the school to return home to his family, but while he tried to walk the 600 km distance, he died from exposure and hunger. Chanie was buried on October 27, 1966, on the reserve beside the Albany River and the Cecilia Jeffrey Residential School was closed ten years later in 1976.
Use CBC’s interactive map to find out where other residential schools were located.
Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action
Included in the 6-volume report created by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), are 94 Calls to Action created from the testimonies of Survivors of the residential school system. They are meant to serve as a guide to begin repairing the damaged relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada. The Calls to Action are an appeal to mobilize all levels of government, organizations, as well as individuals to make concrete changes in society. They list specific actions to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of reconciliation in Canada.
Reconciliation Begins with You
The Reconciliation Begins with You (RBWY) video series is a creative project led by the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund in collaboration with four Indigenous visual artists, Corrina McKay, Lucia Laford, Alina Pete, Blake Angeconeb, and Justin Stephenson, the director and animator of the Secret Path.
Other artistic collaborators include Buffy Sainte-Marie, Humble the Poet, Eekwol, and Isaac Murdoch. By showcasing young Indigenous artists, the video series not only raises awareness of the importance of reconciliation but helps Canadians understand their personal responsibility to our collective journey toward reconciliation.
Honouring the Truth, Reconciling the Future
Summary of the Final Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was created as part of the 2007 Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the largest class-action lawsuit in Canada’s history. Often described as a ‘truth-collecting’ process, the commission was responsible for hearing and documenting the atrocities that took place during, and as a result of, residential schools. This was meant to allow for a nation-wide healing journey for Survivors and Canada to begin. It ran from 2008 – 2015 and collected the testimonies of over 6,500 survivors and witnesses. The 6-volume final report was published in December 2015.
Canada’s ‘Eskimo Identification Tag’ System
Between the 1940s and 1980s, the federal government used ‘Eskimo ID Tags’ to track Inuit. Note that the term Eskimo is considered derogatory today and Inuit or Inuk (the singular of Inuit) is the culturally appropriate term in Canada.
Continued learning:
Eskimo identification tags replaced traditional names Indigenous Corporate Training Inc. | September 16, 2016
Exhibit puts faces, names to Canada’s Eskimo ID tag system Nunatsiaq News | May 27, 2016
Photo: Barry Pottle/Art Gallery of Hamilton, retrieved from cbc.ca
Documentary filmmaker, Alanis Obomsawin
Abenaki filmmaker, Alanis Obomsawin, is one of the world’s most critically acclaimed Indigenous directors. In 1967, she was hired by the National Film Board as a consultant and has since written and directed several documentaries that focus on Indigenous Issues, communities, and culture. Although she is best known for her documentary about the 1990 Oka Crisis, Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (2003), Obomsawin has an extensive body of work, with 50 films and counting, and has been awarded numerous international honours.
“My main interest all my life has been education,” says Obomsawin, “because that’s where you develop yourself, where you learn to hate, or to love.”
Legacy Spaces are safe, welcoming places where conversations and education about the true history of Canada and our collective journey toward reconciliation are encouraged and supported.
Each unique Legacy Space provides an opportunity to bring Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples together to build connections and understanding while ensuring that Indigenous perspectives are represented and celebrated in the workplace.
Legacy Spaces partners receive dedicated support, exclusive resources, and training opportunities to empower them in taking reconciliACTION as a team throughout the year, both within their organization and surrounding communities.
