1. SECRET PATH Lesson 4 Action and Commitment
Purpose: To learn about what has been done to address the legacies of Residential Schools, and to decide what you are going to as well.

2. Apology
How important to you is that people apologize to you when you’ve been wronged?
What kind of power does an apology have or not have?

3. Statement of Apology: To Former Students of Indian Residential Schools
June 11, 2008
Prime Minister Harper apologized on behalf of the Canadian government for their role in the Residential Schools System

4. Statement of Apology

5. Response In your journal or on a piece of Paper:
How did the apology make you feel?
As a class discuss:
Why did the government apologize?
Was the apology sincere?
Do you think the apology helped anyone?

6. Truth and Reconciliation Commission
The TRC is a component of the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.  Its mandate is to inform all Canadians about what happened in Indian Residential Schools (IRS). The Commission will document the truth of survivors, families, communities and anyone personally affected by the IRS experience.  This includes First Nations, Inuit and Métis former Indian Residential School students, their families, communities, the Churches, former school employees, Government and other Canadians.

7. What did the TRC do?
The TRC is not a criminal tribunal and the Commissioners do not have subpoena powers. The Commission will listen to Survivors and others affected by Residential School by way of Statement Gathering and others truth-sharing processes.  Once the truth-sharing process is in place, anyone affected by the residential schools legacy will have the opportunity to share his or her experience with the Commission.

8. TRC

9. TRC Final Report and the Calls to Action
The TRC ended its hearings and public events in June 2015 and they also released the 94 Calls to Action
The final Report was released in December 2015

10. 94 Calls to Action
In order to redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission makes the following calls to action:
Can you take out your phone or a chromebook and see if you can find what some of the calls to action are?

11. The Only Place to Be (39:48 to 41:50)

12. Reflection
What images or words stand out for you in this song? What do you think the mean?
How are you going to respond to Gord and Chanie’s story?
What might be some next steps for you?