The Vernon School District’s Aboriginal Education department has won a contest from the Legacy of Hope Foundation which provides funding to bring two Indigenous exhibitions to Vernon.
These two exhibitions will be showcased in both the community and in schools.
The national, Indigenous-led, charitable organization works to promote healing and reconciliation in Canada and their exhibitions have been showcased across the country in high schools, universities, galleries, museums, and even Parliament Hill.
The Aboriginal Education Department has collaborated with schools and community members and is pleased to advise the two exhibits, Where are the Children? Healing the Legacy of the Residential Schools, and Remembering, Honouring and the Way Forward, will be featured from May until September 2021 in the community (details to come) and from September until December 2021 at various secondary schools within the district to allow for students and staff to explore the material.
Both exhibits are in French and English and contain mature subject matter that may be disturbing to some visitors and may trigger survivors.
Where are the Children? Healing the Legacy of the Residential Schools spans the 125 years of the Residential School system in Canada from 1880 until Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s public apology in 2008.
The second exhibit, Remembering, Honouring and the Way Forward, is large and is more interactive. This piece was developed to: “…acknowledge the dark chapter in Canada’s history, to remember the survivors who made it out of the schools, and to honour those who did not, so that we can learn, change, take action and build respectful relationships between Canadians and Indigenous Peoples moving forward.”
These two exhibits were selected because of how well they complement one another, allowing viewers to look back at the dark history of Canada and to look forward to reconciliation.
Please visit the district’s website(www.sd22.bc.ca) for greater information regarding these two exhibits.
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roger@vernonmorningstar.com
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