scholarly journals Cybercartography and education: research and teaching with the Residential Schools Land Memory Atlas

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Pyne ◽  
D.R. Fraser Taylor

AbstractThis paper sheds light on intersections between teaching and research in the Cybercartographic Residential Schools Land Memory Atlas (RSLMA), which is the central output of the Residential Schools Land Memory Mapping Project (RSLMMP). Building on previous work in Cybercartography, the RSLMMP has further contributed to the integration of research and education and the emergence of new research and education relationships. Viewing the atlas as a project output comprised of iterative processes along multiple dimensions allows us to appreciate limitations as challenges for further iterations, including new related projects and ongoing volunteer work with students. In addition to participating in the national response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s Calls to Action, this project – including the atlas – provides a model for a unique blend of teaching and research and the basis for further and new collaborations with a variety of different partners, including Residential School survivors. As a reconciliation project, the Residential Schools Land Memory Atlas further contributes to the intercultural bridge building aims of its parent, the Lake Huron Treaty Atlas, as it forges on in new directions.

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-146
Author(s):  
Anah-Jayne Markland

The ignorance of many Canadians regarding residential schools and their traumatic legacy is emphasised in the reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as a foundational obstacle to achieving reconciliation. Many of the TRC's calls to action involve education that dispels and corrects this ignorance, and the commission demands ‘age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools, Treaties, and Aboriginal peoples' historical and contemporary contributions to Canada’ to be made ‘a mandatory education requirement for Kindergarten to Grade Twelve students’ (Calls to Action 62.i). How to incorporate the history of residential schools in kindergarten and early elementary curricula has been much discussed, and one tool gaining traction is Indigenous-authored picturebooks about Canadian residential schools. This article conducts a close reading of Margaret Pokiak-Fenton and Christy Jordan-Fenton's picturebook When I Was Eight (2013). The picturebook gathers Indigenous and settler children together to contest master settler narratives regarding the history of residential schools. Using Gerald Vizenor's concept of ‘survivance’ and Dominick LaCapra's notion of ‘empathic unsettlement’, the article argues that picturebooks work to unsettle young readers empathetically as part of restorying settler myths about residential schools and implicating young readers in the work of reconciliation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 178-182
Author(s):  
Peter D Shipley

The challenges and complexity of the reconciliation process are still not well understood by a large number of non-Indigenous people in Canada. As a nation, we are attempting to grasp the intricacy of how to unravel and atone for the damage that has been done in establishing and managing the more than 130 residential schools in Canada. This not only impacted more than 150,000 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit children but destroyed generations of families that are still and will continue to be impacted for years to come. The official apology from Prime Minister Stephen Harper on June 11, 2008, to all Indigenous people in Canada for the atrocities of the Indian Residential Schools was the start of a very long and painful continuous journey. The 94 calls to action released in 2015 by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission provide a road map to a complex recovery process for Indigenous people across the country. In January 2018, Health Canada held a national panel discussion with Indigenous leaders and experts on the question “Reconciliation—What Does it Mean?” One of the main themes of reconciliation revolves around education, and, in order to stay focused, we must continue to educate Canadians, including police leaders and new recruits, as we move through the meandering path of econciliation. The book Our Shared Future provides an outstanding in-depth look through the windows into a number of individual perspectives on the reconciliation journey.


2011 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 831
Author(s):  
Emily Snyder

In this article I provide a review of two connected events.  The first is the conference "Prairie Perspectives on Indian Residential Schools, Truth and Reconciliation," which was held in June 2010 in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  This conference was just one of many concurrent events taking place at the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's first national event.  Specific themes and aspects of the conference are covered here.  Secondly, I parallel my discussion of the conference to my experiences with the national event - experiences can be complex and do not happen in isolation from the broader context around them. Overall, I argue that while the conference and the national event made some meaningful contributions to ongoing dialogue about reconciliation in Canada, it is clear that understanding how to deal with and discuss the conflict that arises from discussions of residential school, "race relations," and reconciliation more broadly is an ongoing learning experience.  I offer some recommendations concerning how conflict could be better dealt with at future conferences and national events.  Reconciliation processes can be more effective if there is not only space for dissent but, most importantly, that mechanisms are in place for encouraging productive discussions about the conflict that arises and that will continue to arise.


2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-12
Author(s):  
Colleen Sheppard

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) was mandated to “document the individual and collective harms” of residential schools and to “guide and inspire a process of truth and healing, leading toward reconciliation.”  The stories of survivors revealed the intergenerational and egregious harms of taking children from their families and communities. In seeking to redress the legacy of the residential schools era, the TRC Calls to Action include greater recognition of self-governance of Indigenous Peoples, as well as numerous recommendations for equitable funding of health, educational, and child welfare services.


2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 524-545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia E Milton ◽  
Anne-Marie Reynaud

Abstract∞ The Canadian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) acquired over 1,200 material submissions through the gifts it received at its events. Though other TRCs mention objects in their records, the gift-giving practice that became central to TRC events in Canada was unprecedented, and so is its large collection of TRC-gifted objects today. The Canadian TRC is thus unique and faces the challenges of categorizing, preserving, displaying and honouring these material artefacts. What has been the post-TRC life of these objects and art pieces? What is their role in creating a collective memory of residential schools and how might they promote reconciliation? This article shows that the post-TRC life of the objects opens up new museological spaces and practices through the ways the objects are curated (or not) for remembering and learning about residential schools according to Indigenous protocols and ways of thinking and feeling.


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