It has been another amazing year for the Legacy Schools program! Thanks to your hard work and dedication, students from coast to coast to coast helped move reconciliation forward. Read on to learn how we’re wrapping up the 2022-23 school year and looking ahead to September!
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This fall, we will be sending the latest booster kits for Legacy Schools with brand-new resources, an updated calendar with more Indigenous days of significance, DWF swag, and more! You’ll have everything you need to take reconciliACTION with your students in 2023-24. Buffy Sainte-Marie’s new book (pictured), Still This Love Goes On, will be included in this year‘s booster kits!
Be sure to update your Legacy Schools address to ensure you receive your booster kit for the new school year.
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In partnership with Scotiabank and MLSE, DWF is hosting a National Indigenous Peoples Day event to celebrate the diverse cultures, heritage, and contributions of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people. This year, we come together to celebrate on June 22, the day after the summer solstice and the official National Indigenous Peoples Day (June 21).
In-person space is now full, but you can still register to join the live virtual event. Along with your registration, you will receive a guidebook with lesson plan ideas that you can use to bring reconciliation into your classrooms and groups all year round.
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We want to hear from you! Your feedback is valuable and helps us refine our programs. Fill out this 5-minute survey and you could win a DWF prize pack and a $25 gift card to an Indigenous business!
Have more feedback to share? At the end of the survey, enroll for an interview. Interviewees will receive a $25 gift card from an Indigenous business!
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Photo: Artist Ambassadors: Drew Hayden Taylor, Casandra Woolever, & Layla Staats.
DWF is welcoming 105 new Youth Ambassadors for our 2023 summer program! With 354 amazing applications, it was a tough selection process. We look forward to seeing this year’s ambassadors connect, learn, and inspire.
Youth Ambassadors will be joined by guest speakers Drew Hayden Taylor, Casandra Woolever, Layla Staats, and more in hands on workshops.
| LEARN MORE ABOUT THE YOUTH AMBASSADOR PROGRAM |
On March 24, over 350 students from the Greater Toronto Area participated in DWF’s Day of Education at Ziigwan, where they enjoyed a drumming performance from the Strong Water Singers and participated in the first-ever DWF LIVE in-person, featuring Artist Ambassadors DJ Classic Roots and Theland Kicknosway.
| WATCH ZIIGWAN: A DWF LIVE SPECIAL EDITION |
In September, we turn our attention to Orange Shirt Day and the National Day for Truth & Reconciliation. This is a time to reflect on the atrocities of residential school and work towards moving reconciliation forward as a country. Upcoming events and campaigns include:
Stay tuned for more information on educational programming in September.
Secret Path Week is a national movement commemorating the legacies of Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack. It takes place annually from October 17-22 marking the dates that Gord Downie and Chanie Wenjack joined the spirit world.
Stay tuned for DWF LIVEs, Artist Ambassador visits, documentaries, and more to help your classroom answer Gord’s call to Do Something.
| LEARN MORE ABOUT SECRET PATH WEEK |
Everybody has their own reason to Walk for Wenjack. For some, it may be a moment to honour Chanie. For others, it may be an opportunity to raise awareness of the true history of residential schools. Each Walk for Wenjack is unique.
Planning a Walk for Wenjack with your students in 2023-24? Head to our website for everything you need to get started.
| LEARN MORE ABOUT WALK FOR WENJACK |
Artist Ambassador, Cody Houle, facilitated a painting workshop for students at Heydon Park Secondary School.
Virtual Workshops are underway! Students have been doing everything from painting with Cody Houle to making mini capote with Cassandra Woolever. We can’t wait to share their final products on our social media channels, so keep an eye out!
Collaborative Indigenous Murals for Legacy Schools
Artist Nyle Miigizi Johnston is offering an Indigenous collaborative art mural workshop for schools and groups. The workshop combines Johnston’s art, student drawings, and Indigenous storytelling to create large-scale artwork.
Johnston will conduct virtual or in-person storytelling sessions for students on Creation Stories or the Seven Grandfather Teachings. Students will then make their own drawings inspired by the storytelling session, and the artwork will become the background for the mural. Lastly, an overlay of the colour orange, which symbolizes a unified step towards reconciliation, will be added along will a top layer of Johnston’s artwork.
For more information contact: amana@highnessglobal.com
Division 1 & 2 students at Khalsa School, AB before heading off for their Walk for Wenjack.
This year, division 1 & 2 students at Khalsa School, AB participated in a Walk for Wenjack and watched videos that discussed the impact of residential schools. Their division 3 students took reconciliACTION by watching Heritage Minutes: Chanie Wenjack and ‘New Blood on Demand’, which was accompanied by lesson plans and discussion questions.
We love seeing and sharing what Legacy Schools are doing! Send us your reconciliACTIONs for a chance to be featured in our ReconciliACTION guidebook, in next year’s Legacy School materials, and in other DWF communications!
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Inspired by Chanie’s story and Gord’s call to build a better Canada, the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund aims to build cultural understanding and create a path toward reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. Our goal is to improve the lives of Indigenous people by building awareness, education, and connections between all peoples in Canada.
Phone: 1-844-944-4545
E-mail: staff@downiewenjack.ca
Address:
PO BOX 749
OHSWEKEN, ON
N0A1M0
Another Indigenous History Month for the Books! 