Fatty Legs: A True Story is a chapter book geared at middle years students. It is about the experience of one girl at a northern residential school. This book has been used by teachers at my school and in my division to introduce the topic of residential schools. The students have all enjoyed the novel and come out with good discussions.
I have been researching the peoples of Fort McKay recently as I believe that their struggle epitomizes the struggle of First Nations people. It is a story of loss of language, culture, and many traditional ways of living to the economies of our nation. Their story shows how treaty rights are being ignored and I am keen to learn how the indigenous residents of Fort McKay are using technology to combat the quiet oppression they face every day by mass corporate practices.
This video summarizes much of what the peoples of Fort McKay are up against. I will refocus my final project to highlight the issues surrounding the peoples of Fort McKay and how they are fighting back.
Mel Burgess.
In grade four, students across Canada learn about their home province. Saskstories.ca is a website geared towards grade four students in Saskatchewan. It is about the history of Saskatchewan and it has excellent information about First Nations peoples and settlers of this province. The information is well balanced and user friendly. I have used this website with students for the past five years and it is always well-liked by the kids. We always have good discussions about the stories they read on the website. My only potential complaint is the lack of information of First Nations people today on the website however it is not meant to be comprehensive and the information it has is excellent.
Many of the sources I’ve been looking at have been written but there are a number of video sources that are equally as valuable. This link is to a channel that has 10 videos about the residential schools, with some good information.
In looking at the impact of the residential schools on the culture of aboriginals in Canada some of the most in-depth and revealing information (no surprise) comes from personal, family and whole community accounts of their experiences.
There is obviously a great deal written on this topic and I am finding some of the best resources are coming out of papers written by others as the information is being ‘honed’ in on. The paper linked below is from a University of Calgary doctoral candidate and he is exploring the post traumatic syndrome (more information linked in my previous posts). In looking at this, he looks closely at the impact on aboriginal culture as children were forbidden to wear their own clothing, speak their own language, forced to pray and into religion, etc.
I felt it was an appropriate time, during Remembrance, to show how technology, and the media, can be used to honour Aboriginal accomplishment. Too often, great people are forgotten or not recognized, due to the colour of their skin or their ethnical background. (I am not saying this is the case with Tommy Prince). But I’m certain there are many other native heros that have not be recognized.
I have shown the Canadian Military Heritage minutes previously to my students, with discussions on where soldiers originate. Here is the vignette on Tommy Prince. I have just found a second Youtube video, Tommy Prince: Canadian Hero at War, which offers more infrmation on Tommy Prince’s exploits. Together they make a great discussion and informational piece.
This paper is from the Aboriginal Healing Foundation and deals with resiliency and the legacy of the residential school system. It provides sections pertaining to the distinct impacts on individuals, families and communities – recognising the atrocities inflicted on aboriginals with these forced school systems but also discussing healing and moving forward.
Aboriginal People, Resilience and the Residential School Legacy
A paper written by Cheryle Partridge detailing the intergenerational impact of residential schools and her own experiences and the experiences of her family. Cheryle discusses what aboriginal education was like before the residential schools, what it was like during, and what she hopes it will continue as for generations to come.
Residential Schools: The Intergenerational Impacts on Aboriginal Peoples
Looking more into the effects on culture from the impact of residential schools (in general), there are a number of good resources to consider. This article from the Canadian Journal of Law and Society, titled Introduction: Residential Schools and Decolonization, provides a good introduction (as you would expect from the title) to many of the issues that had such a direct impact on the culture of First Nations children.
Canadian Journal of Law and Society
Volume 27, Number 1, 2012
After viewing the numerous short films and documentaries offered in Module 3, and in my continuing research to understand the role of digital media in Indigenous culture and education, I have been seeking out resources having to do film making and new media creation. One such source of these resources that I have recently discovered is the National Indigenous Media Arts Coalition (NIMAC). NIMAC is the Indigenous branch of the Independent Media Arts Alliance (IMAA).
NIMAC promotes and advocates for the work of Indigenous media artists and arts organizations. The coalition has a variety of initiatives including advocacy, the commissioning of works, artistic residencies and the maintenance of resources for Indigenous media artists on the NIMAC website. Two very helpful sections of the NIMAC website are the Training and Education page and the Tool Kits. These two areas of the site provide a very thorough idea of the organizations and programs across the country that support the development of new media materials by and for Indigenous people.