elow are four questions that are intended to help you write your submission to the BCanadian Aboriginal Writing Challenge. Each question has its own topic, ways to engage with the topic, writing activities and online resources. The topics covered are storytelling, historical photographs, historical significance and residential schools. You are not required to write your submission on these questions. The questions are suggestions to help guide your writing. Moreover, each question is designed to provide you with several options as to the style, content and form of your written piece. Starting on page 4, you will find links to online resources that will assist in the research for your piece.

QUESTION 1: STORYTELLING

Below is a list of suggested ’s Aboriginal peoples have a strong starting points: oral tradition of storytelling. These stories are passed down through generations as a way • Incorporate new elements into to share each community’s origins, history, the story to show how it relates spirituality, morals and life skills. to you or your community. For example, you can present both This is your opportunity to add to this oral an original myth and a personal tradition. account showing how the two are connected. Task 1: Find a story that you • Present a personal experience of your connect with. own (or of someone you know) as a The story can be an ancient legend or myth you modern day legend. Imagine that this are already familiar with or you can find a new story will be told to future generations. story. Choose a story that speaks to you in some What is this story’s message? What is way. Consider the story’s central message. What your story trying to communicate? What is the story trying to communicate? To find a new would you like future generations to take story consider asking an elder or selecting a story from your story? from a collection. The online resources on page 4 • Translate your story into another form: a can also help you get started. poem; a TV script; newspaper report; or a play. Task 2: Present your story as a • Take a key piece of dialogue from the story written piece. and construct a new story around it. The gaze refers to the • You can present your story in any format • Select 3 key words from your selected story view or perspective you see fit (check out style options in the – an object such as hawk, a character like a someone has in relation Alternative Writing Styles section. See child and a place such as a river – and write to a photograph. www.our-story.ca/wc/for-teachers). a new short story built around them.

QUESTION 2: HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPHS

Historical photographs are a rich source of inspiration for Part 1: Analysis writing. Analyzing a historical photograph/image and asking Your analysis should consider: yourself a series of questions about its content can provide a) The gaze of the photographer. much greater insight into its subject matter. Determine the perspective of the photographer. • Where was the camera lens location in relation to the subject depicted? Task: What was included or excluded in the frame. Why? Find a historical photograph. The photograph can be from • In your opinion, was the photograph commissioned or was the subject a family collection, a photograph you see in your everyday asked to pose? life or an image of an important person or event in Canadian • Given the perspective, site and details connected within the frame, can Aboriginal history. As you will see, to write about a historical you imagine the gender, class or racial identity of the photographer? photograph, you do not necessarily need to know the identity of the people in the image. b) The gaze of the photographed subject(s). • How would you characterize the gaze of the people in the photograph, When analyzing a historical photograph you need to consider i.e., does the subject(s) appear hostile, uncomfortable, confrontational, the gaze of its participants. friendly, curious, ambiguous, etc? • Is the pose formal? 1 • In your opinion, do you think the photographer or there friendship, ambivalence, the subject chose the pose? intimacy, etc? • What kind of impression is offered to you, the • What is the power relationship modern spectator, by the given pose? between them? Are they equals? c) The gaze of the spectator/reader. Use your newfound insight of the • Who would be looking at this photograph? What image as inspiration for a piece of creative writing. would they think of it? Is their gaze different from your own? If so, how? • Suggested starting points: d) The institutional gaze. • You may wish to write a character • Can you speculate about the eventual destination sketch of the photograph’s subjects of the image? Where do you think this image might and present them in a fictional have first appeared, i.e., in a magazine, an official biography. For example, who were government report, a family album or in a newspaper? these individuals? Where did they come from? Are they married? e) The gazes within the frame between • Describe the events that led up to this the subjects photographed. photograph being taken. • Can you determine the nature of the relationship • What do you think happened to these between the subjects within the photograph? Is individuals after the photograph was taken?

QUESTION 3: HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

For this activity, write a piece that assesses the historical Below are brief descriptions of events that significance of key events in Aboriginal Canadian history. Assessing you may choose to consider. You are free to historical significance can be a difficult task. There is no single select from these events or choose others not correct answer. Often times something is important to one person mentioned on the list. Other possible examples but not another. This question requires you to familiarize yourself can be found in your textbook, library or online. with several historical events and to exercise your judgment as to whether or not these events are historically significant. Suggested Events:

Activity Questions: • Champlain forms alliances with a) In your opinion, what is the most historically significant Communities: 1608 - Samuel de Champlain and event in Canadian Aboriginal history? his crew arrived at what we know today as Québec or City. Champlain established and developed a vast b) If you find selecting a single event too difficult, consider ex- trade network by forming alliances with a number of panding your list to selecting the top three most historically First Nations communities, including the Wyandot significant events in Canadian Aboriginal history. and Algonquin. This represents one of the earliest relationships between First Nation communities and To help assess the historical significance of an event, you can European settlers in what would become Canada.1 choose to consider the following criteria:

Profundity: • Prime Minister’s Statement of Apology: June 11, How deeply did this event affect people? Quantity: 2008 - Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized on How many people’s lives were affected? behalf of the Canadian government for past governments’ Durability: policies of assimilation of the Aboriginal peoples of How long lasting were the changes? Canada. In doing so, Prime Minister Harper apologized for the Canadian government’s role in the development and Research: Research events that you are interested in and administration of the residential school program.2 Video which you believe hold significance for Aboriginal Canadian and a transcript of the Prime Minister’s apology can be history. Find out as much as you can about these events in found here: www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2008/06/11/ order to make the best argument possible. pm-statement.html Debate: Debating the merits of events with your classmates and peers is a good way of assessing historical significance. Sometimes listening to other perspectives, even those • The Red River Rebellion: November 2, 1869 - With 120 that oppose your own, can help bring focus to your own men, Métis leader occupied Fort Garry in the argument. You may even wish to put this question to a class Red River Colony to block the transfer of the Northwest debate in which the entire class discusses the relative merits from the Hudson’s Bay Company to Canada. The rebellion of different historical events and then votes on which events resulted in the formation of the new province of . are historically significant. Riel was exiled. 2 • First People Arrive: 10,000 – 50, 000 • Murray Treaty: September BC - First Nations hunters migrated from 5, 1760 - A treaty was Asia to North America across Beringia, concluded between the a land bridge that connected Alaska and Huron and the British. The Siberia during the Pleistocene Epoch. They Huron agreed to put down subsequently settled every part of what is their arms. In return they now called Canada. would receive safe passage, free exercise of religion, local government and justice. The treaty was recognized in 1990 by the Supreme Court of Canada.

QUESTION 4: RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS

While the roots of residential schools Research: There are several sources go back to the 1600s, the Canadian you can access to help educate yourself government, in partnership with the about residential schools. Many of the nation’s churches, established a formal online sources listed below explore residential school program in the 1870s. what life was like at a residential Over 130 schools were established. The school through images, maps and video last school closed in 1996. In total, 150,000 testimonies from those who experienced First Nations, and Métis children were the schools first hand. Interacting with removed from their communities and forced these resources will further enhance your to attend residential schools. The common understanding of this aspect of Canadian underlying objective of the residential history and perhaps serve as a source of schools was the assimilation of Aboriginal inspiration for your written piece. Assimilation refers to the children. The experience of the children social process of absorbing one who attended residential schools varied. Writing: Before writing, consider what cultural group into another. In While some gained useful skills, others have format you want your submission to be in. experienced a host of social problems as a Your piece can be a historical narrative, a short the case of residential schools, result of the physical, sexual and mental story, a letter, a dialogue, a poem, a one-act the government believed abuse that was inflicted upon them. 3 play or any other format. Writing in different children could be successful in On June 11, 2008 Prime Minster Stephen creative formats provides the freedom to write mainstream Canadian society Harper apologized on behalf of the Canadian about subjects, emotions and experiences that if they adopted Christianity government for past governments’ policies are sometimes difficult to express. and spoke English or French. of assimilation of the Aboriginal peoples of Students were discouraged from Canada. In doing so, Prime Minister Harper Activity: speaking their native language apologized for the Canadian government’s Create a series of written pieces (diary entries, or practicing native traditions, role in the development and administration letter, poems, etc.) from the perspective of of the residential school program, stating: and were subject to harsh participants of the residential school experience. “Indian residential schools were profoundly punishment if caught doing so. You may choose to speak in the voice of one or negative and that this policy has had a several individuals, i.e., as a student , a teacher, lasting and damaging impact on aboriginal a superintendent, a parent or as a politician. culture, heritage and language.”4 1 Marcel Trudel, “Samuel de Cham- plain,” The Canadian Encyclopedia. Reflect on the history of residential schools. • When was your piece written - the past, the present Historica-Dominion Institute. As members of the generation of Aboriginal or the future? http://www.thecanadianencyclope- students who did not attend a residential dia.com/articles/samuel-de-cham- • What is the relationship between each of these plain (accessed March 13, 2012). school, what importance does this chapter in individuals and the residential school? Aboriginal Canadian History hold for you? 2 “Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Has the legacy of residential schooling had an • How does the school environment make them feel? Statement of Apology.” CBC News. impact on your life? • What are their memories of the experience? http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ story/2008/06/11/pm-statement. • Have their feelings about their experience changed html (accessed on March 13, 2012). over time or have they remained the same? • How do these participants view each other? 3 The negative effects of residential schools included, but were not limited to, family violence, drug, alcohol and substance abuse.

4 “Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Statement of Apology.” CBC News. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ story/2008/06/11/pm-statement. html (accessed on March 13, 2012). 3 ONLINE RESOURCES

QUESTION 1: STORYTELLING

First Nations in British Columbia: tutorial focuses on the histories of “Oral Traditions” Canada’s First Nations peoples from www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/exhibits/ ancient times to the nineteenth century. timemach/galler07/frames/oralhist.htm This module provides examples of This page contains several stories from creation myths and it examines scientific the First Nations oral tradition. This site theories of when and how people migrated notes “These stories can offer rationales to the North American continent.” for the existing order of the world (like why there are seasons) or record specific Heritage Minutes: events in the past (for example certain “The Peacemaker” natural disasters like floods). Specific www.historica-dominion.ca/content/ stories can explain how each group of heritage-minutes/peacemaker?media_ people emerged and took their place in type=&media_category=32 the world.” Watch the episode “The Peacemaker” from the acclaimed Heritage Minutes Canada’s First Nations series. To find more Heritage Minutes www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/ related to Aboriginal history, search the firstnations/home.html videos by using the term “First Nations.” As the page indicates, “This multimedia

QUESTION 2: HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPHS

The Canadian Encyclopedia Photographs from the North: www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com Library and Archives Canada Collections The Canadian Encyclopedia is a comprehensive source of www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/inuit/020018-1300-e.html information for students, readers and scholars across Canada and A collection of photographs of the Inuit people of Canada’s throughout the world. To find images, do a keyword search on north. As the site indicates, this collection draws from the “Navy your chosen topic and limit your search to photos. personnel and topographers on Arctic expeditions [who] were among the first photographers to document the people and the Luminace: Aboriginal Photographic Portraits landscape of the Northwest Territories, or what is now Nunavut.” www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/aboriginal-portraits/020005- 2000-e.html Canada in the Making: This rich collection of Aboriginal portraits is from the National Images – Aboriginals: Treaties and Relations. Archives of Canada. Images are drawn from the early 19th to the www.canadiana.ca/citm/images/images_e.html#ab 20th century, and include both written descriptions as well as This collection contains a variety of images, organized adjoining textual analysis. chronologically, that detail the history of Canadian Aboriginal treaties and relations. Aboriginal Soldiers in the First World War www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/aboriginal-heritage/020016- CBC Digital Archives: Native Issues 4100-e.html www.cbc.ca/archives/ This site houses a collection of photographs of Aboriginal A collection of television and radio clips organized by topic on volunteers from the First World War. The collection includes variety of significant individuals and events from Canadian scanned copies of correspondence, newspaper articles and Aboriginal history. Use the term “Native Issues” in your essays on the Aboriginal experience in the First World War. keyword search.

4 QUESTION 3: HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE

The Canadian Encyclopedia: The 100 Canada in the Making: Greatest Events in Canadian History Aboriginals; Treaties and Relations www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/in- www.canadiana.ca/citm/themes/ dex.cfm?PgNm=100Events&Params=A3 aboriginals_e.html This unique resource includes more This website is an extensive online than 6000 events from Canadian and resource outlining the major and minor world history. It can be searched by treaties that played a significant and era, subject, keyword or date. important role in charting the course of European - Aboriginal relations within Heritage Minutes: First Nations the country. Covers the period 1492-2003. https://www.historica-dominion. ca/content/heritage-minutes/grey- Canada in the Making: owl?media_type=&media_category=32 Specific Events and Topics Heritage Minutes portray exciting http://www.canadiana.ca/citm/ and important stories from Canada’s specifique/specifique_e.html past. Choose by theme, for example This section of the Canada in the “First Nations,” or by keyword and Making website focuses on specific watch depictions of important figures topics and events in Aboriginal Canadian and events from Canadian Aboriginal history. These include: Numbered Treaty history. Overview; Motivations Behind the Numbered Treaties; Aboriginal Political Agitation; Aboriginal Problems with Prairie Settlement; Aboriginal Women’s Issues; Aboriginal Residential Schools; the Métis; and the Riel Rebellions.

QUESTION 4: RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada for the new commission, the ’s residential schools www.trc.ca and education policy for Aboriginal peoples, the Prime Minister’s The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has statement of apology, reaction to the apology, a timeline of a mandate to learn the truth about what happened in the Aboriginal , and selected video and audio clips. residential schools and to inform all about what happened in the schools. Where are the Children? Healing the Legacy of the Residential Schools The Canadian Encyclopedia: Residential Schools www.wherearethechildren.ca/ www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/articles/residential-schools This impressive website was created by the Legacy of Hope This entry outlines the history of residential schools in Canada. Foundation in conjunction with several governmental agencies. It It also provides links to suggested readings and related entries. aims to promote awareness among Canadians about residential schools and the effect they have had on Aboriginal life as well as Heritage Minutes: “School Days” to bring about reconciliation between generations of Aboriginal www.historica-dominion.ca/content/heritage-minutes/school- peoples, and between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples. days?media_type=&media_category=32 The website is an excellent learning tool and contains the This 60 second radio piece gives insight into the type of following sections: interactions and attitudes that existed in residential schools. • Blackboard: an 11 chapter interactive history of residential schools, viewed in either HTML or Flash, with audio narration of the text, CBC Digital Archives— photographs and other primary and secondary sources, and oral “A Lost Heritage: Canada’s Residential Schools” www.cbc.ca/archives/ — keyword search “A Lost Heritage.” histories from survivors of the residential school experience The CBC Digital Archives offer a wide variety of television and • Interactive Map and Timeline: The map outlines the locations of eight radio clips from 1955-2008 documenting residential residential schools across Canada and the timeline situates this history schools in Canada. in a greater national and international context. • Bookcase: Textbooks for all secondary grade levels as well as lifelong CBC News In Depth— learners. It also includes a dictionary and a teacher’s guide. “Truth and Reconciliation: Stolen Children” • School: Explore the Mohawk Institute residential school in a 3D tour. www.cbc.ca/news/background/truth-reconciliation/ • Exhibit: An extensive virtual exhibition consisting of a large collection of This CBC website is devoted to the analysis, background and photographs from residential schools from the 1880s to the 1960s, video history of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It includes FAQs about the commission, questions clips of shared stories of the residential school experience and more. 5