Project of Heart
An artistic and student-centred project to learn about the history of Indian Residential Schools in Canada and DO something about it!
http://projectofheart.ca/
When Ottawa high school teacher Sylvia Smith was teaching her students about Indian Residential Schools, she found that the school history book only had 63 words about an atrocity that lasted over one hundred years. She and her students created “Project of Heart”, which has now been used across Canada by schools, community groups, universities and religious organizations to learn and respond to IRS. Sylvia won a Governor General’s Award for Excellence in teaching Canadian History for this work. We are honoured to use Project of Heart in our school!
Read more about Project of Heart by clicking here.
Watch the beautiful Tile Animation Video that Lisa and her students are featured in here!
Our Project of Heart Experiences
We are working on Project of Heart and researching St. Philip’s IRS. It was in Fort George, Quebec. We have also convinced 6 other classes at our school to do Project of Heart. With all those tiles, we will create an art piece to commemorate lives lost in IRS and educate Canadians about a true past of our history. In April, we will travel to Montreal to join with students all across Quebec who have also participated in the project. We will help host the artistic showcase! We decided to make a tipi with our tiles. A group of First Nation Student artists worked together to “bring the children home”
We were very honoured to have Mary-Lou and husband visit our school for the second time to share their teachings of forgiveness and wisdom. Mary-Lou is a Cree elder and Survivor of Residential School. She smudged our Project of Heart tiles and spoke to 6 classes about her experiences and the learning she has done. We wrote letters to Mary-Lou in response. We made a short film about our experience. Here it is!
Adjudication Secretariat
Due to their extensive learning about Canada’s colonial history and Indian Residential Schools, my students (grades 3-6) were invited to teach employees of the Adjudication Secretariat for Indian Residential Schools in 2013 and 2015. The Indian Residential Schools Adjudication Secretariat (http://www.iap-pei.ca/about-eng.php) is an independent, quasi-judicial tribunal that was established under the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) in 2007. Both times, Cree elder and Residential School survivor Mary-Lou Iahtail, joined us to tell the painful story of her time in residential school. My students created a presentation, decided who would take on each part, and guided adults through learning about colonialism and specifically, residential schools. My students also facilitated “Project of Heart” with the employees, answered their questions and listened compassionately. At the end of their presentations, they were honoured with a lunch that the employees had made for them. My students took active responsibility in Canadian history by teaching what they had learned. They were empowered and inspired and also made a video about their learning:
