Reconciliation 101 | Be a ConnectR

Use StoryMap to learn about Treaties

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StoryMap by Canadian Geographic Education is designed as a resource for teachers to introduce and to understand treaties and agreements between Indigenous Peoples, the Crown, the federal government, as well as provinces and territories. The journey starts in what is now called upstate New York, then moves to the eastern coast of Canada before going west, and final north. Topics covered include Pre-Confederation Treaties, Numbered Treaties, Métis scrip, and Inuit land claims.

Canadian Reconciliation Barometer

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The Canadian Reconciliation Barometer was designed for Understanding, Tracking, and Promoting Reconciliation in Canada. It’s a set of questions that Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in Canada complete through a large online survey.

Four Seasons of Reconciliation

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Learn about the history and culture of Indigenous communities in Canada, the history of residential schools, and treaties around the country in Four Seasons of Reconciliation, a three-hour multimedia course delivered online by First Nations University of Canada.

Watch: Eagle Feather, Sweetgrass and Indigenous Learning

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Irma school created the video, Eagle Feather, Sweetgrass and Indigenous Learning, detailing the journey of their students who have had the opportunity to be gifted the knowledge from Elder Clifford Cardinal.

Host a Reconciliation Dialogue Workshop

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The Reconciliation Canada Reconciliation Dialogue Workshop aims to create a safe environment that brings diverse participants together to start a meaningful conversation and relationship building. They provide an opportunity for sharing stories of resilience. The Reconciliation Dialogue Workshop guide provides a brief introduction and outlines injustices in Canadian history including residential schools, the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act, the Japanese-Canadian Internment, and the Komagata Maru Incident.

Reconciliation Call to Action: Youth Voices

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Reconciliation Canada created a step-by-step instructional guide for student leaders who want to contribute to the reconciliation movement and start a conversation on reconciliation within their school, family, and social networks.

Have a Kitchen Table Dialogue

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Kitchen Table Dialogues are a do-it-yourself guide for Canadians to start a conversation on reconciliation. Reconciliation Canada created toolkits for municipal leadership, and individuals, communities and organizations.

Learn to be anti-racist

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Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre sees how racism occurs at all levels of society and that anti-racism is an active way of seeing and being in the world, in order to transform it. To this end the ACLRC offers anti-racism training and resources through a learning toolkit with Calgary Anti-Racism Education

See what white privilege looks like

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YES! Magazine tackles the concept of white privilege and lays out examples of what it looks like in everyday life in their article, 10 Examples That Prove White Privilege Exists in Every Aspect Imaginable

Learn about white privilege

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Recognizing white privilege begins only with understand of what the term means. Learning for Justice breaks it down in an easy to understand way and explains the impact of systemic racism and bias in their article, ‘What is White Privilege, Really?’

Use resources on Intergenerational Trauma

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The New Brunswick Community College (NBCC) has put together a public list of articles and video resources to learn more about the Intergenerational Trauma.

Learn about consequences of Indigenous misrepresentations

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The Canadian Bar Association discusses the repercussions faced by Indigenous people when media picks and chooses the narrative of the story concerning Indigenous issues.

Presbyterian Church reconciliation resources

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Learn about Indigenous Justice and Reconciliation through The Healing and Reconciliation Program in restoring right relations. Use the Presbyterian Church website and engage in the path of learning and un-learning through their resources.

Anglican church and reconciliation

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The Anglican Church of Canada is encouraging people to get involved in reconciliation, truth-telling, and healing through faith by incorporating reconciliation, right-relationship, and justice seeking.

The United Church and reconciliation

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The United Church of Canada has been working to integrate Indigenous justice themes in worship and community lives. The United Church website has resources on how to get involved in reconciliation as a church community.

Resources from the Saskatchewan Intercultural Association

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The Saskatchewan Intercultural Association works to promote harmony among all people and offers programs and services that empower relieve barriers for Newcomers and Indigenous people. Their Cultural Resource Centre has links to resources on residential schools, Indigenous worldview, true history, languages and more.

The Orange Path

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Use The Orange Path to help you shape your path towards reconciliation. The Athabasca Tribal Council created the Orange Path to provide support to Indigenous survivors and community members on their journey to heal and to help Canadians on their journey to truth, reconciliation, and allyship.

Read our Orange Shirt Day 2021 Resource Package

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Through the guidance of Knowledge Keepers and Residential School Survivors, we created a resource page for Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sept 30, 2021. We hope these stories and ideas will inspire you to honour Sept 30 and also think about how you will deepen your commitment to truth and reconciliation. Visit the resource page here.

Craft Your Own Land Acknowledgement

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Through a series of 5 video blogs, Rose Roberts and Stryker Calvez invite you to explore a few different elements that are important to understand before building your own Land Acknowledgement: worldviews, positionality, treaties and the Metis homeland. The goal is to help you to build your own awareness about the Indigenous philosophy of wahkotowin (all our relations) and how you can honour it when you engage these elements and create your own land acknowledgement. Hosted by the University of Saskatchewan, you can watch the video blogs here.

Nisitohtamowin eLearning

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Nisitohtamowin: an introduction to understanding Indigenous perspectives in Canada explores Indigenous history in Canada, including residential schools and race relations.

Learn about racism in health care

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In Plain Sight is the report of the Addressing Racism Review that is set to address Indigenous-specific Racism and Discrimination in the British Columbia Health Care system.

Read the Summary Report or the Full Report

Listen: The Porcupine

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The Porcupine is a podcast series exploring reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous Canadians. Listen in as they have in-depth, funny, and revealing discussions with a variety of people, from activists to comedians, who are all focusing on reconciliation in big, small, and surprising ways.

Circles for Reconciliation

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Circles for Reconciliation brings Indigenous and non-Indigenous people together in talking circles to build relationships, a fundamental part of reconciliation according to the Truth & Reconciliation Commission. Find a circle in your area.

Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education

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Learn more about Reconciliation through the 6-week massive open online course Reconciliation Through Indigenous Education hosted by the University of British Columbia.

Through the course engage with Indigenous knowledge keepers, education leaders, and resources to enhance your understanding and knowledge of practices that advance reconciliation in the places where you live, learn, and work.

Reconciliation Australia

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Learn about reconciliation happening in other places. Reconciliation Australia, promotes and facilitates respect, trust and positive relationships between the wider Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The Business Case for Reconciliation

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There are many good reasons that engaging with an Indigenous workforce can help your bottom line. Check out, Engaging Saskatoon Region Employers: The Business Case for Reconciliation

Think about Investing for Economic Reconciliation

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The Reconciliation and Responsible Investment Initiative released Advancing Reconciliation in Canada: A Guide for Investors, outlines five tangible steps that institutional investors can take to make economic reconciliation an integrated part of their practice.

Developing Reconciliation Strategies for Businesses

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The Truth and Reconciliation Commission Call to Action #92 outlines ways in which the business sector can and should develop reconciliation strategies. Indigenous Corporate Training Inc. has created three elements for developing Reconciliation strategies for business

Learn more about Smudging

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Learn more about Smudging using the Smudging Chart Cree Resource developed by Janine Wildcat for the Ermineskin Cree Nation. Cree translation provided by Betty Simon.

Learn about the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

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The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation is the permanent home for all statements, documents, and other materials gathered by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Learn more about their work.

The centre created this video to explain their work keeping the issues of Truth and Reconciliation alive.

Use The Gathering: A Compilation of Teaching Resources

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THE GATHERING Educators from North West Community College/University of Regina Community-Based Masters Program have compiled First Nations, Metis, and Inuit (FNMI) teaching resources that can be adapted for all students. While the website is focused on teachers, anyone starting their Reconciliation journey will find this to be a useful tool!

Learn About Métis History, Identity and Culture

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Use the Indigenous Peoples Atlas to learn about Métis history, identity and culture. This tremendous online resource has extensive sections on trading, oral tradition and languages, historical milestones, culture and contemporary experience.

Learn the History of Louis Riel

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Use graphic novels to introduce youth to history! Chester Brown, creator of the Louis Riel graphic novel, retells the history of the nineteenth-century Métis Rebellion lead by Prairie Métis Louis Riel. Get the graphic novel at Drawn and Quarterly.

Explore the history of Louis Riel in this video by the Cable Public Affairs Channel or this article in the Canadian Encyclopedia.

Learn About the Significance of Indigenous Drums

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The Native Drums web project is a diverse dialogue on culture, history and traditional knowledge with Indigenous cultural partners, educational institutions, government and private industry. Centred around the central themes of drums and music of Canadian First Peoples, Native Drums traces the history, mythology, and significance of the drum in traditional societies of Canada’s Eastern Woodlands, compared with Western Coastal regions in terms of history, arts and culture.

Learn About Gaps in Education for Indigenous Peoples

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The Nicola Valley Institute of Technology created this video, which highlights the impacts of gaps in Indigenous Education and the opportunities to improve the quality of life for all Canadians.

Reflect on what reconciliation means to you

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CBC News: “What does Reconciliation Mean to You?”

Reconciliation can mean something very unique to each of us but we need to take the time to listen, learn and share with one another. This CBC article looks at individual reflections and will spark your own reflections!

Use Book Lists to Read for Reconciliation

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Saskatoon Public Library

From the Heart

Government of Canada

Saskatchewan School Boards Association Reconciliation Reading List

Reconciliation starts with education and there are many great titles that can help you dive deep into a learning process around Indigenous history, culture and residential schools. Whether fiction or non-fiction is your preference, you’ll find a range of titles on these must-read lists.

Listen to a Guest Speaker or Attend a Workshop

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University of Saskatchewan Events
Office of the Treaty Commissioner Events
Wanuskewin Events Calendar

Find out about speaker events or workshops that expand your knowledge of Indigenous histories and cultures. Attend a workshop for Indigenous Awareness Training. These events calendars will keep you in the know about what is coming up!

Attend Indigenous Cultural Events

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Use the following links to learn about opportunities to attend Indigenous events and powwows. If you’re unsure about who can attend, feel free to contact event organizers.
Office of the Treaty Commissioner’s Events Calendar
Saskatchewan Indigenous Cultural Centre for SK events & programming
IndigenousTourism.ca for national events

Access Age Appropriate Teaching Resources

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The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation has teaching resources organized according to age groups. They also host ongoing activities and programs for students to learn about Reconciliation and get involved.

Educate all Newcomers About what Colonialism is in Canada

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We all need education in Indigenous histories and cultures–and newcomers must be included in the initiative to foster relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. While we hope some resources in the ConnectR project will be accessible to newcomers, there are also local organizations like Saskatoon’s Open Door Society which hosts special training and events.

Learn about Treaties in Canada

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The Office Of The Treaty Commissioner Website

The Office of the Treaty Commissioner offers an excellent resource for an introductory understanding of treaties. There are also links to teaching resources and FAQs.

Watch “Pilgrimage for Indigenous Rights” to learn about UNDRIP

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Pilgrimage for Indigenous Rights is a documentary recording the experience of Settler and Indigenous walkers as they advocate for Bill-262 and the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People. Check out this 30min YouTube video to learn about UNDRIP.

Create Safe Space for Two Spirit People

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Two Spirits, One Voice is a community-based initiative that seeks to bolster supports for persons that identify both as LGBTQ and Indigenous: Two Spirit people. Start by watching their 16 minute video!

Watch Reserve 107

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Reserve 107 is a documentary about recent Reconciliation initiatives in the prairies. The film documents the Reconciliation of land between the Young Chippewayan First Nation and the town of Laird, Saskatchewan.

Learn Indigenous Protocols from ayisinowak: A Communications Guide

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“ayisīnowak: A Communications Guide is intended to provide individuals with a basic outline of Aboriginal protocol and governance systems in order to facilitate improved relationship building either as co-workers, through business opportunities or through inclusion in specific projects.”

Watch HeartSpeak TV to learn the history of Residential Schools

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Heartspeak is about sharing stories that inspire and providing inspirational educational media to support well-being and success. In this segment, Senator Murray Sinclair (Chair, Truth & Reconciliation Commission) provides background on the history of residential schools and the work of the Truth & Reconciliation Commission. He highlights the need to teach the history and intergenerational impact of residential schools and our shared responsibility to forge a new relationship of mutual respect and trust.

Take the #Next150 Challenge

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#Next150 is challenging Canadians across the country to play a role in Reconciliation by educating themselves and actively seeking opportunities to learn. Look at their list of challenges, sign up, and share on social media as you embark on this journey.

Look Up the Meaning of Indigenous Place Names

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Aboriginal Contributions to Place Names in Canada

“The map of Canada is a rich tapestry of place names which reflect the diverse history and heritage of our nation. Many of the country’s earliest place names draw on Aboriginal sources.” This document from the University of Manitoba offers a starting point for your research!

Attend a Blanket Exercise

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Blanket Exercise Workshop

“The KAIROS Blanket Exercise™ program is a unique, participatory history lesson – developed in collaboration with Indigenous Elders, knowledge keepers and educators – that fosters truth, understanding, respect and reconciliation among Indigenous and non-indigenous peoples.” Many local organizations now offer facilitation for this exercise. It’s an incredible learning experience to continue your journey of Reconciliation.

Paths to Explore