The entire Seven Stones Community School does an amazing job of honouring the Indigenous land and history. In the middle of the main area that connects all the classrooms, there is a white board that shares information about Truth and Reconciliation and Every Child Matters. As mentioned, it’s in the middle of the room, you can’t miss it and you wouldn’t want to. There are powerful words and orange shoes cut out with information on where unmarked graves were found.

In the classroom I was in this time, I actually found that it was the first class that didn’t have many Indigenous teachings on the walls. I will share photos from the week prior that had lots that I loved to see. However, one thing that really stuck out to me when focusing on Truth and Reconciliation this week was my conversation with a young boy while I was helping him with an activity. I had asked what his favourite fruit is and he said “I like raspberries right from Mother Earth!”. It was beautiful that he mentioned Mother Earth without any pre-conversation about it. You can tell that this is a normal word and concept for him whether that be from his home or the school.

In the second half of the afternoon, me and my classmate got to spend it in their Developmental Centre (DC) at the school. It was such an amazing experience. The program is a huge part of their school and I’m so glad to have been part of it. There were six children there that all have different developmental disabilities, but they are treated with so much love and care with focus on their education and happiness. As mentioned, their health is of course top priority, but they still have a schedule for the day for cognitive lessons as well. We got to paint with one of the boys while the other napped and got to play with stimulating toys and watched their faces light up.

While we spent our afternoon in DC, the classroom we were in originally actually worked on an assignment that was Indigenous focused. The teacher felt bad that we weren’t part of it since I mentioned that was our focus this week, but I was thankful for letting us be a part of their day anyway and let her know it’s no worries, I got lots of other examples. I did ask what the assignment was, but unfortunately, my memory has escaped me and I can’t remember exactly what they did, but I was happy to hear that they still took time to learn more about our history regardless.

The principal mentioned that they smudge every morning and to remind him the next time we are in so we can learn more and be part of it in some way.