FACULTY RESPONSES: MY RECONCILI ACTION INCLUDES...
Claire St. Cyr-Power: The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action invite each of us to act in
some way, shape or form, in order to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian
reconciliation. We speak of reconciliation, but what is needed to achieve this reconciliation is reconciliACTION. As a faculty,
we are all now aware of the legacy of residential schools. Knowing is not enough. To answer the Calls to Action, each and
every one of us must transform this knowledge into concrete action. This action will naturally vary with our individual
strengths, talents, and experience. There must, however, be action, effort put forth to increase/spread the knowledge and
understanding and action to those around us, especially our students.
My ReconciliACTION has been a commitment to learning more about the legacy of residential schools and sharing
that knowledge. It was just a little over a year ago that I accepted an open invitation from Dr. Michael Cappello and Dr.
Shauneen Pete to participate in a Blanket Exercise. I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I was simply attending with the
hope of gaining some knowledge and understanding of Treaty Education that I could share with my students. Little did I
realize how much I would learn as a result of this experience and how it would open my eyes, inspire me to learn more
and to give others the opportunity to learn more as well.
That first little action, participating in the Blanket exercise, led to so much more. From attending #TreatyEdCamp to
searching out a French version of the Kairos Blanket Exercise (Exercice des couvertures) and presenting it to Bac students,
to attending the Manitoba Education day, participating in the planning of our own Education Day, presenting the Exercice
des couvertures to francophone teachers at the ALEF/APEF Conference, and attending the Pathways to Reconciliation
Conference in Winnipeg, to helping plan the Bac’s EDAC 2016 where pre-internship students will spend a full day of
activities inviting them to grow in their knowledge and understanding of the legacy of residential schools and give them
practical tools that they can use with their future students. My reconciliAction has really only just begun. I look forward to
continuing to grow in understanding and ensuring that Bac students, fellow francophone and French immersion teachers
and their students have opportunities to do so as well.
Marc Spooner: One of the pieces I am working on with many others in the community is to have Davin School renamed
to a more appropriate name for a school. These symbolic acts are important as we work towards the more substantial
structural changes that we so desperately need.
Gale Russell: I will be leading a session at the #TreatyEdCamp on Oct. 1, 2016 titled: Reconciliation, Mathematics, and
the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics. I will be continuing to emphasize ways in which teachers of mathematics can
address actions 7 and 10 in the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action within all of my classes and within my research
through an emphasis and focus upon the valuing and respecting of different kinds of knowledge and ways of knowing
mathematically.
@ramireel2 Twitter response to Gale's #TreatyEdCamp
presentation: "I learned a new concept at Gale Russell's workshop:
Ethnomathematics! (Now I kind of want to relearn math again! )
A card of thanks sent to the Dean of Education from Grade 8 students at École
Massey School
Education News | Page 11