residential schools
What was the main purpose of Canada's residential school system?
What does the word assimilation mean?
Pressuring a group to adopt another group's culture and way of life.
What is land-based learning?
Learning through relationships with the land, nature, culture, and community.
Who are Elders in many Indigenous communities?
Respected community members who hold and share cultural knowledge, teachings, and experience.
What does reconciliation mean in Canada?
Building respectful relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples while addressing the harms of the past and present.
Who were indigenous children separated from when they attended residential schools?
Their families and communities.
What is settler colonialism?
A system in which settlers take control of Indigenous lands and try to replace or weaken Indigenous systems, cultures, and ways of life.
Name one skill students might learn through Indigenous land-based education.
Fishing, harvesting, identifying plants, traditional crafting, or caring for the environment.
How can Elders help students learn?
By sharing stories, traditional skills, cultural teachings, language, and knowledge passed down through generations.
Name one way schools can support Indigenous students and cultures today.
Teach Indigenous histories, include Indigenous perspectives, support Indigenous languages, or invite Indigenous educators and Elders to share knowledge respectfully.
Name one part of indigenous identity that residential schools tried to suppress.
Indigenous languages, traditions, cultural practices, or beliefs.
How did colonial education affect Indigenous languages?
Indigenous children were often punished or discouraged from speaking their languages, contributing to language loss.
Why is land considered an important teacher in Indigenous education?
The land holds knowledge about culture, history, language, relationships, and responsibilities to the environment.
What is oral tradition?
Passing knowledge, history, teachings, and stories from one generation to another through speaking and listening.
Why is teaching Indigenous history important for all Canadian students?
It helps students understand Canada's history, recognize injustices, and develop respect for Indigenous peoples and cultures.
How did residential schools affect indigenous communities across generations?
They disrupted families and cultural traditions and caused lasting harm that affected survivors, their children, and later generations.
How was colonial education different from many traditional Indigenous approaches to learning?
Colonial schools often imposed European beliefs and classroom systems, while many Indigenous approaches emphasized community, land, oral teachings, and learning from Elders.
How can land-based learning help preserve Indigenous cultures?
It allows knowledge, stories, languages, and cultural practices to be passed from one generation to the next.
Why is it important to include Elders in schools and universities?
They help preserve Indigenous knowledge and culture and give students opportunities to learn from community knowledge holders.
How can schools help revive Indigenous languages and traditions?
By supporting language programs, cultural activities, land-based learning, and teachings shared by Indigenous communities.
Why is learning about residential schools important to understand today?
It helps Canadians understand the harm caused by colonail polices, recognize survivors' experiences, and support efforts to address the lasting impacts
Why is it important for schools to teach the history of colonial education?
It helps students understand historical injustices, their effects today, and the importance of respecting Indigenous peoples and cultures.
Why is Indigenous land-based education more than simply taking a class outside?
It connects learning to Indigenous worldviews, cultural knowledge, relationships with the land, and responsibilities to the community and environment.
How can traditional Indigenous knowledge and Western scientific knowledge work together?
They can provide different perspectives and complement one another when studying topics such as the environment, climate change, and caring for the land.
What is one major difference between assimilation-based education and culturally respectful Indigenous education?
Assimilation-based education tried to replace Indigenous cultures, while culturally respectful education values and supports Indigenous identities, knowledge, languages, and traditions.