It is with great sorrow that I learned this weekend about the finding of the remains of the 215 children on Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc on the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School. It is another haunting reminder of the cruelty and legacy of the residential school system in Canada. As a Faculty of Education, we hold a great responsibility to create and lead education about the oppression and brutality of Canada’s treatment of Indigenous peoples and provide learning opportunities about the rich histories and vibrant cultures of Indigenous peoples across Turtle Island.
If you are a classroom teacher or a parent, our Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression Resources for Educators has tools for talking and learning about residential schools for different age groups.
If you want to make an impact beyond your classroom, there are organizations that you can support that work tirelessly to develop resources and programs with residential school survivors: the Indian Residential School Survivors Society and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.
For those of you in the Queen’s community, ITEP is hosting an Indigenous Wellness Circle to support those are grieving this immeasurable loss.
Rebecca Luce-Kapler,
Professor and Dean, Faculty of Education