Sherwood Park, AB. — Students and staff across Elk Island Public Schools (EIPS) are donning their orange shirts and taking part in activities and lessons focused on Indigenous education for the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. The day, shared with Orange Shirt Day, is intended to acknowledge the history of residential schools and honour both the survivors and those who never made it home.

“EIPS is committed to making sure truth and reconciliation is a primary focus, from staff to students,” says Jerome Chabot, a First Nations, Métis and Inuit Curriculum and Cultural Consultant for EIPS. “Our goal is to weave Indigenous perspectives and ways of knowing into our schools and lessons; into the lessons we teach children as we work together to dismantle colonial norms and narratives that have become barriers—not only on September 30, but throughout the entire year.”

While schools are closed for the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, EIPS encourages everyone to commemorate the day through quiet reflection, participation in community events or in other ways that are most meaningful to them. To support this, EIPS staff and students spent the last week taking part in lesson plans and learning activities to deepen their understanding of the enduring effects of colonization and the impacts of residential schools during the preceding week. “We need to understand the truth,” says Chabot, “before we can earnestly engage in reconciliation.

Some of the activities in which schools took part included:

Ardrossan Elementary: Students decorated paper hearts with messages of care, support and reconciliation, which they plan to plant in garden beds as a visible act of remembrance on September 29. Students were also able to contribute to a school-wide mural that completes the sentence “Every child should feel […] at school.”

Bruderheim School: Students created individual orange paper shirts to laminate and put on the chain-link fence outside of the school. They will also go on a nature reflection walk and tie biodegradable orange ribbons on trees in Bruderheim as a tribute to those affected by residential schools. 

Lakeland Ridge: Students had the opportunity to experience a thoughtful story walk, contribute to a collaborative art project, and engage in important lessons and conversations with their teachers and classmates.

Pine Street Elementary: Students and staff worked together to create a feather photo display in the week leading up to September 30. The feather display was created as a symbol of hope, remembrance, and a shared commitment to reconciliation.

SouthPointe School: On September 29, the school will share a slideshow and grade-appropriate books with students that align with the school’s feather art project that students have been working on for the past week. The decorated feathers are displayed on the “Children should feel [...] at school” bulletin board. Each feather illustrates how students feel they should feel at school.

Woodbridge Farms Elementary: As part of a school-wide project, all students have contributed to a collaborative paper quilt that represents the school’s theme for the day: What does a kind and caring school look like? The school plans to display the finished quilt proudly in the front foyer on September 29.

EIPS is one of Alberta’s largest school divisions, serving approximately 17,950 students in 43 schools. We are proud to be an integral part of our communities, including Sherwood Park, Fort Saskatchewan, Vegreville, Strathcona and Lamont counties, and the western portion of the County of Minburn. To learn more visit www.eips.ca.

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For more information contact:
Laura McNabb, director, Communication Services, EIPS 780-417-8204 cell 780-405-4902