Mark Your Calendars!

If you are new to incorporating Indigenous Education into your curriculum and don't know where to begin, consider using one of the events below to anchor your teaching. 

For my readers in what we currently call Canada, here is a partial list of dates to mark your calendars with this year.   

September 30  Orange Shirt Day/National Day for Truth and  Reconciliation 
October 1  Treaty Day (Nova Scotia)
October  Mi'kmaq history month (Nova Scotia) 
November 3 - 9  Treaties Recognition Week (Ontario)
January 4  National Ribbon Skirt Day
February 14  Have a Heart Day
March 19  Two-Spirit Celebration & Awareness Day   (British Columbia)
March 31  National Indigenous Languages day
May 5  National Day of Awareness for Missing and  Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and  2SLGBTQQIA+ Peoples 
May 16  Moose Hide Campaign Day 
May (TBD)   Treaties Recognition Week  (Saskatchewan) 
June 21  National Indigenous Peoples Day

Lesson Plans! Lesson Plans! Lesson Plans!

The National Centre for Collaboration in Indigenous Education has a section of its website dedicated to lesson plans (see image below for their menu). The plans are divided by subject area and are helpfully labeled with the grade level and the approximate length of time they cover. I hope to highlight some key plans this year in the newsletter, but figured they might come in handy to you now, as you begin to map your year out!

If you come across any you love, let me know! 

Indigenizing & Decolonizing Music Education

decolonizingmusiced.ca
 

Music Educators, this one is for you! This website is out of British Columbia and aims to assist you to bring "Indigenous content, pedagogies and worldviews" into K to 12 classrooms. The site will be continuously updated with more resources, so bookmark it and check back frequently!  

Supporting Grassy Narrows

I know many of the teachers that read Listen & Learn teach about community-driven activism, and so I was grateful to receive some information from the organizers of the Grassy Narrows River Run which is taking place in Toronto in September. (See the full details to register for the walk below.) 

If you are unfamiliar with the work of community activists from Grassy Narrows (and those who stand in solidarity with them) but want to learn more, their website is full of videos and articles about the history of the community, the poisoning of the river that they rely on, and their ongoing logging blockade. The community is located in Northern Ontario.

You might want to begin with the video "The Story of Grassy Narrows."

And here is a list of other videos which include much more information and insight into the community:

• Amnesty Youth Video

• RAVEN Campaign Video 

• 20th Anniversary Video

• PSAC - The Story of Grassy Narrows 

• PSAC - StIll Thirsty for Justice 

• As Long As The River Flows - 4 part movie on Blockade 

• Grassy Narrows - Forty Years Later 

• Home to me -  song by Grassy Youth 

River Run 2024: Walk with Grassy Narrows for Mercury Justice!

Date: September 18th, 2024

Time: 12pm

Location: Downtown Toronto, details TBD

Sign up: CLICK HERE TO REGISTER 

Walk with Grassy Narrows youth and community members to show that we are with them on their path to achieve mercury justice and freedom!

Community members and leaders will travel 1,700km from Grassy Narrows to Toronto to demand that Ontario and Canada:

1. Compensate everyone in Grassy Narrows fairly for the mercury crisis

2. Respect the Grassy Narrows Indigenous Protected Area (end mining and logging plans in Grassy Narrows territory)

3. Support Grassy Narrows in restoring their community and way of life from the damage that mercury has done

This is a family-friendly event. Rain or shine!

Check out FreeGrassy.net for more details as the event approaches.

Science and Outdoor Education

Out here in Ontario, I often check in with Creators Garden to see what resources are posted that can assist in my science and outdoor education teaching. This video features Joe Pitawanakwat, the force behind the website. 

If you and your students are learning about birds this year for instance, I love this pamphlet they offer with the names of 15 birds and their explanations in the original Anishinaabemowin.  

High school health and science teachers might appreciate some of the videos posted on Creators Garden YouTube page. Pitawanakwat's traditional knowledge combined with his western scientific knowledge is fascinating to listen to, and he's a great teacher.