Indigenous Peoples Day

TODAY is Indigenous Peoples Day!

Check the Hastings School website for more info on the above Coast Salish inspired project plus more beautiful art around the school.

If your child has participated in any projects celebrating Indigenous Heritage Month, please send a photo to info@hastingspac.ca – we’d love to feature it on the PAC website!

The Hastings Anti-racism Committee (HARC) is a sub-committee of the Hastings PAC, and would like to share the following message…

Happy National Indigenous Peoples Day!!

Today is a day to recognize and celebrate the cultures and contributions of the first peoples of this land – First Nations, Metis and Inuit people. We hope you find the below links helpful for starting some conversations and planning events with your family!

1. Consider adding your name to the petition calling for all BC educators to receive mandatory training in the Truth & Reconciliation Commission and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.

2. The First Peoples’ Map of BC has just launched. It’s a unique platform where Indigenous people can upload their local languages, cultural touchpoint and highlight local artists.

3. Urban Ink is a Vancouver theatre company that uplifts Indigenous and diverse voices through storytelling and performance and they are celebrating their 20th anniversary!
Check out Urban Ink

4. Orene Askew, aka DJ O Show, is a local DJ, a member of the Squamish Nation council and a motivational speaker. Also being black and a member of the LGBTQ2S+ community has given her a unique perspective and now a documentary is being made about her!
Learn More

5. Now that we can travel throughout the province again (hurrah!), maybe the Indigenous Tourism BC website can help plan your trip.

6. Join Autumn Peltier – 16-year-old Chief Water Commissioner from Anishinabek First Nation – in calling for an end to boil water advisories on First Nation reservations.
Tell your kids about this TEEN activist!

Happy Indigenous Heritage Month!

And now message from HARC…

As we did for Black History Month, the PAC’s Hastings Anti-Racism Committee (HARC) will be sending out a series of emails to celebrate Indigenous Heritage Month. We encourage you, as parents, to bring some or all of these stories to your kids. Without further ado, let’s get to it!

1. Haida artist, Tamara Bell, started the growing memorial on the steps of the Vancouver Art Gallery – placing 215 pairs of childrens’ shoes, in tribute to the remains found by the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc First Nation at the residential school there. Above the memorial, a sign reads,

‘Know more than the names of the land. We are past the point of gratitude. It’s time to commit to more than live, work and play.’

A land acknowledgement rolls easily off most people’s tongues but how much do you know about the people you are thanking?
Learn more about the…

Musqueam Nation
Tsleil Waututh Nation – People of the Inlet
Squamish Nation

2. Abigail Echo-Hawk, of the Pawnee Nation, and the chief research officer at the Seattle Indian Health Board, asked for PPE to help protect the community from Covid-19. She received something very different and turned it into an act of resistance and resilience.

Read the Story

3. Speaking of fashion, Supernaturals Modelling, is the first Indigenous Modelling Agency.

Learn More

4. Let’s stay in the fashion category…Christian Allaire, member of the Ojibwe Nation and a writer for Vogue magazine, has just released his first book – “The Power of Style – How Fashion and Beauty Are Being Used to Reclaim Cultures.”

Learn More

5. Kaniehti:io Horn, member of the Mohawk Nation, hosts a new podcast – ‘Telling Our Twisted Histories,’ in which Indigenous stories are decolonized and retold.

Learn More

6. A month-long gathering and showcase of Indigenous Performing Arts and Indigenous artists has already begun as the Talking Stick Festival (TSF) continues its 20th Anniversary celebrations!

Did you know June is also Filipino Heritage Month AND Pride Month?! SO many people and stories to celebrate!!

The Walking School Bus is doing a call out for committee members!

The super popular Walking School Bus (WSB) was suspended due to COVID, but we are hopeful that we can get it up and running again soon!

The WSB not only helps parents get their kids safely to school, it also provides leadership opportunities for senior students and for students to form connections between different grades and programs. It also provides a fun way for students to have additional physical activity on a daily basis, and to decrease the level of vehicle congestion around school. In an era of growing awareness around climate change, every participant in the WSB is taking steps forward to the planet we want to have in the future.

An initiative like this take organizing and planning, so if you are interested in being involved in the restart, please email the PAC at info@hastingspac.ca and we can connect you with other parents.

Let’s come together

It is with heavy hearts that we open this email with the tragic news of a terrorist attack in London, Ontario killing four members of a Muslim family and leaving a 9 year old boy orphaned.

As Yusuf Siraj with the Islam Unravelled Anti-Racism Initiative said this week:

“If you feel attacked, or targeted, and no one stands up for you – no one’s there to say that’s wrong, we don’t approve that, we don’t accept that – then people might start think that this belief is mainstream when it is not.”

With this in mind, here are three ways you can stand in solidarity with the Muslim community and support anti-racism:

   •   Attend the second Vancouver vigil to remember the victims and challenge extremist ideologies TONIGHT – Thursday, June 10 at 7pm at the Vancouver Art Gallery.
   •   Tell your political representatives to support the National Council of Canadian Muslims’ calls for an immediate National Action Summit on Islamophobia, to dismantle systemic and violent forms of Islamophobia.
   •   Share or donate to the fundraiser set up by extended family for the Muslim community through the Salman Family Sadaqa Jariya Fund.

Next week we will begin sharing a series of emails celebrating Indigenous Heritage month. We encourage you, as parents, to bring some or all of these stories to your kids. And we hope you find these resources and suggestions for action are helpful as we each find our own ways to understand, honour and build a safer, more inclusive and equitable school and community.

The next Hastings Anti-racism Committee (HARC) meeting will be held next Monday, June 14th from 7-8pm on Zoom. All Hastings parents and guardians are welcome to attend every meeting. Zoom link here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83701847394?pwd=aWhXMXA4S0kzbFlJaGEvN2lwMWRrUT09.

Every Child Matters

The following statement may be triggering to some: the content is about Residential School. If you are triggered please seek out your personal/local support systems, take care of you and/or speak to an Elder.For support you can also call the national Residential School Crisis Line at 1-866-925-4419 or go to ementalhealth.ca.

Dear parents and caregivers,

As many of you have heard, last week, theTk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation shared the tragic news that a mass grave of 215 children had been discovered at the former Kamloops Residential School. The violence, abuse and trauma that was systemic within the residential schools is well documented, and the discovery of this unmarked mass grave is only further evidence of the genocide that is a stark part of current Canadian history.

This is not a thing of the past. These unmarked graves were found last week – in the present. The last residential school closed in 1996 and the effects of schools have resulted in severe personal and intergenerational trauma still felt today. The separation of Indigenous children from their families continues through the child welfare/foster system where Indigenous children are hugely overrepresented. In 2018, Indigenous children represented 52.2% of those in the child welfare system but only accounted for 7.7% of the overall Canadian child population (Government of Canada, 2018). Further, there are more children in the child welfare system today in Canada than at the height of residential schools. The right to self-determination continues to be denied.

As the Hastings Anti-racism Committee (HARC), we acknowledge the long road that we have to go as a school community towards fully understanding the truth of Canada’s history, the racism that continues today and towards reconciliation with all Indigenous people. While we intend to listen well and follow the lead of Indigenous elders, leaders and communities, we can start by honouring the families of the 215 children, to those who were witness to the abuse and death at the Residential School and all residential schools, and to all those who were affected and continue to be affected by the legacy of colonial violence. Every child matters – Indigenous children must be celebrated, supported. We commit to taking ongoing action towards healing and towards the elimination of all forms of racism.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission has 94 calls to action, including 6 which directly relate to the residential school systems, missing children and burials, and demand a clear plan to tell families where their lost loved ones are buried and make sure cemeteries are well maintained. There are many more actions that are needed, and we will continue to amplify the calls for justice from Indigenous peoples — not just in moments like these, but always.

We know that Hastings Elementary has been engaged in some different activities to honour the 215 dead children found at the Kamloops Residential School, including groups of feathers coloured by the students, wearing orange, and discussions in class. We also want to encourage the parent community to take part in this week of honouring and acknowledging these children and all their relations, and we have included a few resources below for you to deepen your understanding and support your conversations.

Take Action:
   •   Join the calls for a National Day of Mourning
   •   Donate to the Indian Residential School Survivors Society
   •   Donate to the Urban Native Youth Assoc through Iron Dog Books
   •   Settlers Take Action – On Canada Project

Resources for adults:
   •   Overview of the Indian Residential School System
   •   Indigenous Children and the Child Welfare System in Canada
   •   Calls to Action Accountability: A 2020 Status Update on Reconciliation
   •   The National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Reports
   •   The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action
   •   Residential School Survivors’ Stories
   •    BCIT – Indigenous Awareness

Resources for children:

Books:
   •   When I was Eight – Authors: Christy Jordan- Fenton & Margaret Pokiak-Fenton
   •   When We Were Alone – Author: David A. Robertson
   •   Not My Girl – Authors: Christy Jordan-Fenton and Margaret Pokiak-Fenton
   •   Stolen Words – Author: Melanie Florence

Reference:
Government of Canada. (2018, November 30). Government of Canada, with First Nations, Inuit and Métis Nation leaders, announce co-developed legislation will be introduced on Indigenous child and family services in early 2019 [News release]. https://www.canada.ca/en/indigenous-services-canada/news/2018/11/government-of-canada-with-first-nations-inuit-and-metis-nation-leaders-announce-co-developed-legislation-will-be-introduced-on-indigenous-child-and.html