Welcome & Introduction (15 min.)

Contextualizing the Film (30 min.)

Opening Activity: Framing Resilience (15 min.)

Break: (15 min.)

Screening & Viewing Activity: Bursts of Thoughts, Reactions and Feelings (82 min.)

The Gift of Silence (4 min.)

Break: (15 min.)

Checking-in Activity: (30 min.)

Footprint Activity: Heroes and Heroines Who Walk Amongst Us (15 min.)

Closing Circle: Looking Back Upon the Day Sharing Our Insights (10 min.)

Evaluation (5 min.)

Session GoalsThe activities in this workshop are designed to create a reflective learning space. The main goals of the activities are to:create understanding of our shared Canadian history;respectfully engage in dialogue about the experiences of Survivors;create an inquiry-based learning environment;discuss resilience development;recognize and understand contemporary manifestations of the legacy of the Indian Residential School System; andcollectively consider and discuss our role in reconciliation.

On March 31, 1998, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation (AHF) was created. It was given 10 years to disburse this $350-million fund beginning March 31, 1999, and ending March 31, 2009. Since June 1999, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation has been providing funding support to community-based initiatives that address the intergenerational legacy of physical and sexual abuse in Canadas Indian Residential School System. In 2007, the AHF received $125M from the federal government, extending the life of the Foundation to 2012. In 2000, the Aboriginal Healing Foundation established the Legacy of Hope Foundation a national charity whose mandate is to educate and raise awareness about residential schools and to continue to support the ongoing healing of Survivors.

The Residential School System and Why It MattersFrom the early 1830s to 1996, thousands of First Nation, Inuit, and Mtis children, some as young as four years old, were forced to attend residential schools. Known as the Residential School System, this was an attempt to assimilate Aboriginal people into the dominant culture. These children suffered abuses of the mind, body, emotions, and spirit that have had a deep and lasting impact on the Survivors, their families, and their communities.

The Residential School System in Canada:A BackgrounderFor over 300 years, European settlers and Aboriginal Peoples regarded one another as distinct nations. In war, colonists and First Nations formed alliances, and in trade each enjoyed the economic benefits of co-operation. By the mid-19th century, however, European hunger for land had increased dramatically, and the economic base of the colonies shifted from fur to agriculture. Alliances of the early colonial era gave way to direct competition for land and resources. Settlers and the government began to view Aboriginal Peoples as a problem.

.In 1920, Duncan Campbell Scott, Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs from 1913 to 1932, summed up the governments position when he said, I want to get rid of the Indian problem. [...] Our object is to continue until there is not a single Indian in Canada that has not been absorbed into the body politic, and there is no Indian question, and no Indian Department.

In 1844, the Bagot Commission produced one of the earliest official documents to recommend education as a means of assimilating the Indian population.

The commission proposed implementing a system of farm-based boarding schools situated far from parental influence, the separation of children from their parents being touted as the best means by which to sustain their civilizing effects.Gradual Civilization Act (1857)An Act for the Gradual Enfranchisement of Indians (1869), The Nicholas Flood Davin Report of 1879, which noted that the industrial school is the principal feature of the policy known as that of aggressive civilization.

A product of the times, this report by Davin disclosed the assumptions of his era that Indian culture was a contradiction in terms, Indians were uncivilized, and the aim of education must be to destroy the Indian in the child. In 1879, he returned from his tour of the United States Industrial Boarding Schools with a recommendation to Canadas Minister of the Interior, John A. Macdonald, that a system of industrial boarding schools be implemented in Canada.

Although policies to manage Indian Affairs were being devised in Ottawa as the numbered treaties were signed across the prairies in the 1870s, it was not until 1924 that Inuit were affected by the Indian Act, and not until the mid-1950s that residential schools began to operate in the North.

For Inuit, the Residential School System was but one facet of a massive and rapid sweep of cultural change that included: the introduction of Christianity; forced relocation and settlement; the slaughter of hundreds of sled dogs eliminating the only means of travel for many Inuit; the spread of tuberculosis and small-pox and the corresponding mandatory southward medical transport; the introduction of RCMP throughout the Arctic, and other disruptions to the centuries-old Inuit way of life.

Prior to the 1800s, few opportunities for formal European-based education were available to Mtis children. Treaty provisions for education did not include these children, who were considered half-breeds and not Indians.It wasnt until the Northwest Half-breed Claims Royal Commission of 1885 that the federal government addressed the issue of Mtis education. The Catholic Church, already a strong presence in Mtis society, began instructing Mtis children in the Red River area of Manitoba in the 1800s. Despite these efforts, many Mtis parents struggled to find schools that would accept their children and would often have to pay tuition for their education.

Attendance at residential school, where the use of native languages was prohibited, resulted in the erosion of an integral part of Mtis culture. Residential schools profoundly affected Mtis communities, a fact often overlooked in the telling of the history of residential schools in Canada.

The intent of the Residential School System was to educate, assimilate, and integrate Aboriginal Peoples into European-Canadian society. Effectively, it was a system designed to kill the Indian in the child.

The earliest was the Mohawk Indian Residential School, opened in 1831 in Brantford, Ontario. The schools existed in almost all provinces and territories.

At the Systems peak in the early 1930s, 80 residential schools operated across Canada with an enrolment of over 17,000 students.

The Residential School System, as defined by the federal government, is limited to 132 schools that operated across Canada between 1831 and 1996. This disputed definition does not represent Survivors who attended provincially-administered schools, as well as hostels and day schools.

In 1920, Duncan Campbell Scott, the bureaucrat in charge of Canadas Indian Policy, revised the Indian Act to make attendance at residential school mandatory for all Aboriginal children up to age 15.

Very gradually, the System was discarded in favour of a policy of integration. Aboriginal students began to attend mainstream schools in the 1940s.

Indian Affairs and Northern Development assumed full management of the Residential School System on April 1, 1969.

Throughout the 1970s, at the request of the National Indian Brotherhood, the federal government undertook a process that saw the eventual transfer of education management to Aboriginal Peoples.

In 1971, Blue Quills residential school became the first residential school managed by Aboriginal Peoples. The last federally-administered residential school closed in 1996.

Attendance at residential schools was mandatory for Aboriginal children across Canada. Many children were taken from their homes, often forcibly removed, and separated from their families by long distances.

Others who attended residential schools near their communities were often prohibited from seeing their families outside of occasional permitted visits.

Broad occurrences of disease, hunger, and overcrowding were noted by government officials as early as 1897.

Though some students have spoken of the positive experiences of residential schools and of receiving an adequate education, the quality of education was low in comparison to non-Aboriginal schools.

As late as 1950, according to an Indian Affairs study, over 40% of the teaching staff had no professional training. This is not to say that past experiences were all negative, or that the staff were all bad. Such is not the case.

First Nations, Inuit, and Mtis children were often separated from their parents for long periods of time and this prevented them from discovering and learning valuable parenting skills.

The removal of children from their homes also prevented the transmission of language and culture, resulting in many Aboriginal people who do not speak their traditional language and/or who are not familiar with their culture.

The system of forced assimilation has had consequences that continue to affect Aboriginal Peoples today. The need for healing does not stop with the school Survivors: intergenerational effects of trauma are real and pervasive and must also be addressed.

In the early 1990s, beginning with Phil Fontaine, National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations, Survivors came forward with disclosures about physical and sexual abuse at residential schools.

Throughout the 1990s, these reports escalated and more Aboriginal victims from one end of the country to the other courageously came forward with stories.

The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP) confirmed a link between social crisis in Aboriginal communities, residential schools, and the legacy of intergenerational trauma.

Aboriginal Peoples have begun to heal the wounds of the past. On January 7, 1998, the federal government of Canada issued a Statement of Reconciliation and unveiled a new initiative called Gathering Strength Canadas Aboriginal Action Plan. A strategy to begin the process of reconciliation, Gathering Strength featured the announcement of a $350 million healing fund.

As young children, Lyna and Glen were taken from their homes and placed in church-run boarding schools. The trauma of this experience was made worse by years of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, the effects of which persist in their adult lives.

In this emotional film, the profound impact of the Canadian governments Residential School System is conveyed unflinchingly through the eyes of two children who were forced to face hardships beyond their years. We Were Children gives voice to a national tragedy and demonstrates the incredible resilience of the human spirit. Film producer Lisa Meeches interviewed over 700 Survivors and felt compelled to make this film to honour their truths.

Opening Activity: Framing ResilienceWe are about to hear about two IRS Survivors life experiences and how they moved forward from that experience, including its lasting impacts and effects. This is our chance to reflect upon our own life experiences and to learn from each.

Trauma: What life challenge or traumatic event have you experienced or know of?Resilience: How did you cope with or overcome your experience or trauma?Effect: What were the lasting impacts of the event or experience?

What factors contributed to resilience?Think about the caring and supportive relationships in your life.

Whom do you reach out to in your time of need?

Were the resources internal or external?

Who taught you how to deal with problems? Who taught you how to overcome adversity?

How did you overcome the feeling of hopelessness?

Write these key words or ideas on sticky notes and post them on the wall in a resilience collage.

Water Teaching

Nibi She is a healer. A life-giving force. A catalyst of spiritual, physical and holistic well-being, renewal, purification and cleanings... powerful... capable, too, of taking life.Violet Chaibaiosai, Water WalkerSpanish Indian Residential School Survivor

Screening & Viewing Activity: Bursts of Thoughts, Reactions and FeelingsThe subject matter of the film is difficult personal testimonies are powerful. Emotions and memories might be triggered. This activity allows for the outward expression of pain or emotions.

The purpose of this activity is to encourage the viewer to capture any image or thought-provoking idea that they experience while watching the film.

The Gift of SilenceThere will be a four-minute period of silence at the end of the film.Within the cultural practice of the oral tradition, listening is an art, and Elders teach about the importance of silence, as explained in the following passage:In traditional First Peoples cultures, silence has a particular value and purpose: to demonstrate respect, to train and discipline warriors and hunters, to strengthen the body and mind.Silence also offers opportunities for personal reflection.

Each person is singularly gifted, and as they are viewing the film, each will be inundated with emotions, responses and reactions to what they have just seen or heard.There will be tears, and the silence allows those feelings to be honoured.The Gift of Silence:Value the space of silence as a productive place to educate and learn. Create moments of silence to reflect, consider and contemplate the issues at hand, with dignity and grace.Barb Frazer, CreeBeauval Indian Residential School Day Student

We have just watched the film and the viewer has been taken into the inner world of two Indian Residential School Survivors. Their words are still with us, haunting images are etched into our beings. This activity takes into account that over 150,000 Aboriginal, Inuit, and Mtis students attended the Indian Residential Schools.

This means we have Indian Residential School Survivors among us and most certainly, anyone who is of First Nations, Inuit, or Mtis ancestry will know someone or perhaps have relatives who attended these institutions.

We may never know or be aware of how many Survivors we have passed on the street. How many heroes and heroines walk amongst us?

Footprint Activity: Heroes and Heroines Who Walk Amongst UsAs we know, many Survivors overcame their experience of residential school and rebuilt resilience and their support systems. Many have been successful, although many are still struggling. What were the childrens beliefs and views before they went to school? This activity looks at internal struggles and the impacts residential schools had on Survivors through their lifecycle and among generations.

Answer these questions based on what you learned from the film.

What were the childrens beliefs and views before they went to school?

How did these beliefs change in residential school? What beliefs replaced them?

How did these changed beliefs affect them as adults?

How have their beliefs affected their children and subsequent generations?

HealingMany Survivors are making positive changes and have turned to a combination of Western therapies and traditional practices to heal. Talking circles, sweats, storytelling, ceremonies, fasts, feasts, and vision quests reconnect Survivors to their cultures and to themselves. On-the-land activities such as trapping, hunting, fishing, and gathering medicinal plants and wild foods also renew the spirit. All of these practices assist in re-enforcing and celebrating Aboriginal identities.

Healing is a long-term process that occurs in stages, starting with the individual Survivor and expanding to include the whole community. The intergenerational impacts of the Residential School System the legacy of poverty, ineffective parenting, abuse, grief, and health issues can appear throughout the entire community, not just in the lives of the Survivors.

Education is an integral part of the healing and reconciliation process. We hope you share our belief that as people learn the historical context that forms the roots of the contemporary social issues faced by many First Nations, Inuit, and Mtis, they can foster an environment that allows reconciliation to take place.

Closing Circle: Looking Back Upon the Day Sharing Our InsightsThere is a teaching in the Nuxalk territory that the sun looks back upon its day. Even the sun reflects upon the work it has done during the day when it casts a red hue upon the land. Let us apply this teaching and reflect upon what we have just witnessed in the film We Were Children. How do we now see our world? How can we move forward?Guidelines for participation:Listen with respectEach person gets a chance to talkOne person speaks at a timeSpeak only for yourselfIt is okay to disagree but speak from the heart

The Sun Reflects Upon its Dayby Malvina Mack, Nuxalk Kikya (Grandmother):In our language, sunset is a state of being. Nuxaacn pi-ti-snx (when the sun looks back upon its day as it has travelled the landscape) personifies introspection and contemplation, as we too reflect upon our day.

Please take this opportunity to fill out the evaluation form.

We value your suggestions and feedback.

**The overall purpose of this guide is to teach participants, to motivate them to share their knowledge, and to communicate methods that will allow them to approach this difficult subject matter with compassion, grace and dignity.

**1620-1629: First missionary-operated boarding school Quebec City 1620-1629 under auspices of Rcollets an order of Franciscans who took in boys for their seminary. Referenced in J.R. Millers Shingwauks Vision.

1892: Federal Government and churches enter into formal partnership in the operation of Indian Schools

Regina Industrial School considered by some one of the most successful schools in Canadian west. Controversial - Debates in House of Commons opposition criticized spending on schools. Minister argues schools never intended to turn Indian pupils out to complete with whites. Eventual shift from skilled trades to agricultural training and housekeeping. Debates in the house include various archival documents. The quote the schools never intended to turn Indian pupils out to compete with whites can be found in a memorandum to the Deputy Superintendent General dated October 3, 1904 Indian Affairs (RG10, vol. 6001, File 1-1-1, part 1school files) (as cited in Deiter 1999). Deiter, Constance. (1999). From Our Mothers' Arms: The Intergenerational Impact of Residential Schools in Saskatchewan. Toronto: United Church Publishing House.Eleanor Brass (1989) p. 8 In 1895 a printing office was opened at the school and an instructor engaged for four months, after which two boys who had had previous experience in typesetting took complete charge. The school started a newspaper, a twelve-page semi-monthly, which had five hundred subscribers that year and fifty exchanges in the United States and Canada. Two boys from the printing office later worked for the Regina Standard and the Regina Leader while one became an editor for a Chicago newspaper. Brass, E. (1987). I Walk in Two Worlds. Calgary: Glenbow Museum.

**Government of Canada (1920:63). Report of the Special Committee of theHouse of Commons examining the Indian Act amendments of 1920 (DuncanCampbell Scott testimony on 30 March 1920). Library and Archives Canada,RG10, volume 6810, file 470-2-3, part 7.

1844 Bagot Commission report recommends agriculture-based boarding schools, situated far from parental influence

*1857: Gradual Civilization Act called for All Indians to be civilized

1876: Indian Act established right to govern over Aboriginal peoples

Homestead Act set treaty-making process in motion in the west

Education A treaty obligationGovernment funding of Aboriginal education is a legal obligation negotiated in Treaty. Aboriginal people wanted access to education for their children, to afford them the opportunity to participate in mainstream society.

1879: Nicholas Flood Davin met with U.S. Dept of Indian Affairs to learn about aggressive assimilation policy. Davin report recommends industrial boarding schools situated far from reserves. Began Industrial School System

**An Act to Amend the Indian Act [Assented to 19th July, 1924]Sec 1Section four of the Indian Act, chapter eighty-one of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1906, is amended by adding thereto the following subsection:-(2) The Superintendent General of Indian Affairs shall have charge of Eskimo affairs.

In 1928 an order in council transferred authority for Inuit from Indian Affairs to the Northwest Territories Council which operated within the Department of the Interior.

In 1930 the Canadian Government repealed the 1924 amendment to the Indian Act . Inuit administration continued under the NWT Council in Ottawa and by the North W.est Mounted Police in the north.

On 5 April 1939, the Supreme Court stated that, constitutionally, Inuit were classified as Indians in Canada. The decision was based on the historic description of Esquimaux [Inuit] as an Indian tribe in numerous documents dating from 1760 to Confederation. Through this decision, the Canadian Government became legally responsible for Inuit.From AAND website:

http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100016900#chp2*While federally-funded, church-run residential schools had been operating in southern Canada since the 1830s, in the North, for the most part, the Residential School System was not fully established until around 1955. For Inuit, the residential school system was but one facet of massive and rapid cultural changes taking place in this same time frame. Between the 1910s and 1950s these changes included the establishment of communities around trading posts; the introduction of Christianity throughout the North; the devastating spread of tuberculosis and small pox that forced many Inuit to travel to the foreign South for treatment; the introduction of RCMP officers and federal government employees throughout the Arctic; the loss of hundreds of sled dogs, which were a primary mode of transportation; the forcible relocations of communities and families; and the influence of southern Canadian cultural practices replacing many Inuit ways of life. Amidst this cultural turmoil, the Residential School System was introduced throughout the North, and Inuit children were taken to schools often far from their homes and introduced to a completely foreign way of life. Prior to 1955, less than 15 per cent of school-aged Inuit children were enrolled in residential schools, but within a decade this number would climb to over 75 per cent.

Heather Igloliorte essay.

*Mr. W.P.R. Street was made chairman of a Commission to settle the claims of the Halfbreed Indians in the North West Territories. Toronto: Royal Canadian Institute: 1885. In 1885, the Mtis rebellion precipitated the establishment of the North-West Half-Breed Commission (Street Commission) to conduct the preliminary phases of the process of settlement of half-breed claims in the North-West Territories. The commission was set up to enumerate the half-breeds of the North-West Territories born before 15 July 1870. Half-breed children were entitled to a scrip worth $240 or a land scrip of 240 acres while the heads of half-breed families were entitled to scrip for $160 or 160 acres. When an adhesion to Treaty Six was taken in 1889 at Montreal Lake, a precedent was established when a Scrip Commission accompanied the Treaty Commission to settle Mtis land claims. Similarly, in extinguishing Mtis claims in the Treaty Eight area, the federal government adopted the same procedure followed at Montreal Lake ten years earlier.http://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/eng/1100100028809

**Residential schools definedThese federally funded, church-run institutions were born out of a government policy of assimilation. Children were removed from their families and sent to these schools so that they would lose their culture and language in order to facilitate assimilation into mainstream Canadian society.These may include industrial schools, boarding schools, homes for students, hostels, billets, residential schools, residential schools with a majority of day students, or a combination of any of the above. At the request of Survivors, this definition has evolved to include convents, day schools, mission schools, sanatoriums, and settlement camps. They were attended by First Nations, Inuit, and Mtis students.Map of school locations on flash drive. Map.jpgMore information on Mohawk school on flash drive

*An Act to amend the Indian Act.[Assented to 1st July 1920.]10. (1) Every Indian child between the ages of seven and fifteen years who isphysically able shall attend such day, industrial or boarding school as may be designatedby the Superintendent General for the full periods during which such school is open eachyear. Provided, however, that such school shall be the nearest available school of the kindrequired, and that no Protestant child shall be assigned to a Roman Catholic school or aschool conducted under Roman Catholic auspices, and no Roman Catholic child shall beassigned to a Protestant school or a school conducted under Protestant auspices.

Indians became wards of the crown under the British North America Act. Through the Indian Act parents had few rights, if any, to protect the interest of their children. Implications of law that facilitated forced removal of children from family and the construction of legal barriers for parents to fight for rights of their children.

Act defined (as result of BNA act) Indians as wards of the crown, which over time lead to limitation of Indian parental rights over the responsibility of their children, in which school administrators were assigned guardianship.Act outlawed the practicing of Indian culture, spirituality, and ceremony.Act made it illegal for Indians to vote, creating a barrier to appeal to elected officials to change laws affecting their children.

*Since 1971, Blue Quills First Nations College (BQFNC) has been a locally controlled Indigenous education centre serving the academic and training needs of people of all cultures, encouraging everyone to experience studying in a unique socio-cultural and academic environment. As an Indigenous non-profit educational institution, a prime objective is to promote a sense of pride in Indigenous heritage and reclaim traditional knowledge and practices. Blue Quills is governed by seven appointed Board members, each representing one of the seven local First Nations communities: Beaver Lake, Cold Lake, Frog Lake, Whitefish Lake, Heart Lake, Kehewin, and Saddle Lake, plus one Elder from the Saddle Lake First Nation. These communities represent almost 17,500 people.http://www.bluequills.ca/our_history.htm

On April 1st, 1969 the government assumed complete administrative control over Gordons School and all remaining Anglican support staff were transferred to federal payroll. As a result of building additions made in recent years, and the difficulty in placing residential students in elementary day schools (native or municipal), Gordons continued to serve as a residential school until 1996, when it was finally closed by Ottawa and torn down.

1996 Government closes student hostel at Gordons and main building is demolished.Compiled by General Synod Archives, September 23, 2008.http://www.anglican.ca/relationships/trc/histories/gordons-school-punnichy/

*****1991: Cariboo Tribal Council publishes Impact of the Residential School; Phil Fontaine speaks publicly of abuse he suffered in the residential schools

1996: RCAP Final Report, Volume One, Chapter 10 concerns residential schools

***Place sticky notes in three labelled zones on wall.

Step 2 Synthesize and remove duplicate RESILIENCE notes.Step 3 Remove RESILIENCE notes that could not be present in IRS.

What happens when these supports are taken away

Step 4 Look at any positive effects that could not have been achieved when the RESILIENCE factors have been removed.

Instruct them to name the tragic/traumatic moment (car crash); name the method (family, counselling); impacts can be statements (i.e afraid of the dark)Ask them to write their responses onto sticky notesInvite the teachers and educators if they would like to share their stories of resilience. Ask the group to share what enabled to do so? Get them to name the on-going process that took time and effort on their part and who the seek out; describe their step/road to recovery. Focus is to get them to engaged in how they overcome the tragic event and how did it affect them?Give a summary and acknowledge the creativity, thought, process and method identified to achieve well-being.Emphasize the impacts and pose the question that does filter into your home lifeVerbal summary to encapsulate the different strategies employed by the participants- people over time rebound to life-changing events and stressful conditions

**Have participants write on the post-its Using key words like (parents, mother, father, talk, listen, eat, etc.) Have them focus on the factors such as:familyrole models & mentorspositive relationshipsmake connectionsaccept change is apart of lifes journeyA sense of belongingHaving a person who will listenself careCeremonial waysTraditional healingElders

**(Retrieved January 17, 2013:www.fnesc.ca/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/In-Our-Own-Words-final-Apr-16-web.pdf) In Our Own Words: Bringing Authentic First Peoples Content to the K-3 Classroom (2012) p. 17.**

We are left to contemplate the heroic actions of the Survivors Lyna Hart and Glen Anaquod as they spoke of tragic loss and heroic recovery. Ask each group to reflect and consider each of the four prints and write the answers to the questions based on what they what they learned and observed.

What were the childrens beliefs and views before they went to school? Children like Lyna Hart and Glen Anaquod left loving homes. They belonged to an extended family and were loved. Once the children were living within the residential schools they had to conform or be brutalized. They lost their personal identity and became a number. Resilience factors were removed.When Survivors reached the age of 16, they could leave the schools. Often they returned as strangers to their communities and entered into another ethno-stressed environment of their communities. They did not have the traditional life skills or know how to parent -their value system and traditions were far removed from their experience while they were at the schools. The children of IRS Survivors now understand their parents were in many cases unable to hug their own children. The narratives of the are just starting to be shared and understood.

****Time: 20 minutesSet up: Have students seated in a circlePurpose: To create a safe, non-judgement place of inquiry to discuss reactions to the film or share observations made on graphic organizer sheet with the opportunity for each person to speak with out interruptionsDescription of Activity:As part of the inquiry into the narrative, talking circles are an important feature. The circle process establishes a unique style of communication that promotes healthy development and successful learning of how to deal with conflicts or when difficult issues arise. Only the person whose turn it is may speak and no one can interrupt that space.***