Indigenous Education: A.M.D.S.B.

Indigenizing teaching and learning involves weaving traditional Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing, being, and doing into our daily practices.

To truly Indigenize learning:

• Amplify Indigenous voices;

• Learn about and understand the past;

• Think generations into the future;

• Prioritize experiential learning opportunities;

• Learn on and from the land;

• Use the knowledge of the Elders wisely;

• Encourage reflection, relationship, and reciprocity;

• Close gaps between home and school; and

• Understand that humans are interdependent and interconnected with all living beings.

The centerpiece of this logo features artwork by Anishinaabe artist Lucia Laford (Waawaaskone Qwe).

This artwork, titled "We Are All Related", speaks to our connection to all our relations in creation. 

This includes all the Indigenous Peoples across Turtle Island, the First Nations Peoples, Inuit and Métis, all the settlers and all of our animal, plant, and spiritual relatives. This concept relates us as beings that take care of each other and Shkaakaamikwe (Mother Earth). 

Woodland-style art is grounded in connection and storytelling. Each piece becomes a sacred being and prayer that is related to all our stories as Anishinaabeg. The black lines are the physical representation of our connection to creation and things seen and unseen.

Gidinawendimin has a light blue all around the central piece. This light blue is a soft reminder of the water that flows all around us. The dark blue ring around the piece is the lifeblood, Nibi (Water) that connects us to Shkaakaamikwe (Mother Earth). We must remember that water is life and our sacred obligation to protect this water. The piece is circular to remind us of our ancestral ways of knowing, circular and cyclical as opposed to linear and straight. Inside the circle, all Nations are represented, Inuit, Métis, First Nation Peoples, and allies. On the left is an Inuit Adult in a Parka or Annuraaq, the Parka has an Inukshuk design on it. To the right is a Métis youth, wearing a Métis sash. On the other side of the tree is a First Nations youth wearing a ribbon skirt with Medicine Wheel colours. They have their hair braided and an eagle feather. On the right is an adult depicted as an ally wearing orange. Adults and children are together as a reminder of the importance of community learning and the responsibility of adults and educators to model and facilitate safe and inclusive ways of learning. The adults are also on the outside to speak of the obligation we have to protect our children. The youth are holding hands and the adults are holding the shoulders of the youth to speak to the unity and strength of our communities. To the left and right of the people are berries growing. The left depicts the Odemin (heart berry) growing from root, to flower, to leaf, to fully grown strawberry. This heart berry has many teachings and is integral to our ceremonies. To the right are Miinan (blueberries) growing from root to green undeveloped berries, to leaves, to fully grown blueberry. The blueberry has many teachings and is integral to our ceremonies. Each berry is a sacred plant and has fed our communities since time immemorial. They remind us of growth, nourishment, and strength. These berries have continued to grow and flourish on the land as we have, despite oppression and the many systemic obstacles we have faced as Indigenous peoples. 

The centre of the circle depicts the tree of life, its roots are going deep into the ground and water to remind us of the deep connection we have with the land. The branches extend to the sky and depict green leaves on the bottom and pink buds on the top. This is a reminder of the growth that happens throughout our learning journeys. Behind the tree is a large yellow circle that represents Giizis and Nokomis Giizis, the Sun and the Moon. On the left Grandfather Sun is shining golden light and love onto creation and on the right Grandmother Moon is is shining her strength and wisdom onto creation. The night sky has stars that represent our ancestors and their wisdom. Below the tree is a sacred fire, this fire represents the heart of our Nations and Communities. The sacred fire is where we gather and learn. At the base of the fire is a light yellow oval, which is the same colour as the eyes of the people, and the sun and the moon. This represents the light within us all that is connected to the fire and reflected from the sun and the moon. 

At the centre of the image is a Medicine Wheel. This represents all our teachings as Indigenous Peoples and the harmony and balance that can be felt when living in connection with all our teachings. 

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission defines reconciliation as the establishment and maintenance of a mutually respectful relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Canada. For this to happen, there must be "awareness of the past, acknowledgment of the harm that has been inflicted, atonement for the causes, and action to change behaviour" (Truth and Reconciliation Commission [TRC] of Canada, 2015, p. 6-7). 

The TRC (2015) says that all children in Canada deserve to know the country's honest history and how to appreciate the history and knowledge of Indigenous nations who continue to contribute to the life and identity of the nation. 

The TRC (2015) concludes that in part, what has created troubled relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people is what educational institutes have taught or failed to teach over generations. Yet, they believe that education is the key to reconciliation.

In the A.M.D.S.B., Calls to Action 62 and 63 shape and guide our work.

62. We call upon the federal, provincial, and territorial governments, in consultation and collaboration with Survivors, Aboriginal peoples, and educators, to:

• Make an age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools, Treaties, and Aboriginal peoples' historical and contemporary contributions to Canada a mandatory education requirement for Kindergarten to Grade Twelve students.

• Provide the necessary funding to post-secondary institutions to educate teachers on how to integrate Indigenous knowledge and teaching methods into classrooms.

• Provide the necessary funding to Aboriginal schools to utilize Indigenous knowledge and teaching methods in classrooms.

• Establish senior-level positions in government at the assistant deputy minister level or higher dedicated to Aboriginal content in education.

63. We call upon the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada to maintain an annual commitment to Aboriginal education issues, including:

• Developing and implementing Kindergarten to Grade Twelve curriculum and learning resources on Aboriginal peoples in Canadian history, and the history and legacy of residential schools.

• Sharing information and best practices on teaching curriculum related to residential schools and Aboriginal history.

• Building student capacity for intercultural understanding, empathy, and mutual respect.

• Identifying teacher-training needs relating to the above.

Reference

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015). Final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Summary: Honouring the 

truth, reconciling for the future. James Lorimer & Company Limited.

"Two-Eyed Seeing refers to learning to see from one eye with the strengths of Indigenous ways of knowing and from the other eye with the strengths of Western ways of knowing and to using both of these eyes together” (Bartlett, Marshall, & Marshall, 2012, p. 335). By using both Indigenous and Western perspectives together, Two-Eyed Seeing promotes balance, mutual respect, and collaboration. Etuaptamumk offers more comprehensive and inclusive solutions to complex problems by integrating diverse ways of understanding.

Reference

Bartlett, C., Marshall, M., Marshall, A. (2012). Two-eyed seeing and other lessons learned within a co-learning journey of bringing together indigenous and 

mainstream knowledges and ways of knowing. Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, 2, 331–340.

Culturally Relevant, Responsive, and Sustaining Pedagogy (C.R.R.S.P.) is an intentional educational approach used by the A.M.D.S.B. to create the conditions where students know they are valued so they can learn and thrive. 

Educators build on the strengths, prior knowledge, and cultural backgrounds of each learner through relevant and authentic assessment, instruction and evaluation. When we know our students and build on their cultural backgrounds, educators can actively remove barriers that are beneficial for all students. 

This is important when teaching Indigenous students because we want to eliminate barriers and uphold positive and affirming identities. 

Who Was Sir Peregrine Maitland?

The Avon Maitland District School Board takes part of its name from the Maitland River, a waterway that flows through the northern region of the school board and empties into Lake Huron. 

In 1827, the river that the Anishinaabeg call Menesetung (Laughing Waters) was given the name Maitland to honour Sir Peregrine Maitland, the Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada from 1818 to 1828. Maitland believed in and enacted a “civilization policy” for First Nations people during his tenure as Lieutenant Governor. This policy reached into all aspects of Indigenous life: from education and family structure to housing and food procurement. Maitland's idea was for the colonial government to provide training to “civilize” Indigenous people so they could serve the settler economy. During his time as Lieutenant Governor, Maitland entrenched three separate, but interconnected colonial systems in Upper Canada that have left a legacy of intergenerational trauma and disconnection from the land for generations of Indigenous people upon whose land all of us in the Avon Maitland District School Board live, learn, and work. The three systems are: a) the annuity payment system; b) the residential school system; and c) the reserve system.

Annuity Payment System

In 1818, British legislators announced they would stop providing colonies with money to purchase Indigenous land (Talaga, 2024). Peregrine Maitland believed that for European settlement to progress, he needed to remove Indigenous people from the land in what was then called Upper Canada by colonists. Maitland “devised a scheme that would see no more large one-time payments for tracts of land. Instead, Indigenous Peoples would be given small annual payments called annuities” (Talaga, 2024, p. 93). Maitland argued that the plan would pay for itself, open land to settlement, and allow Indigenous people to participate in new economic activities (Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada [TRC], 2015b). Historian J.R. Miller says “Maitland managed to transfer the cost from the Colonial Office to the First Nations themselves” (TRC, 2015b, p. 57).

Annuities were first paid in goods such as ammunition, clothing, and blankets, and later in small cash payments. The payments were funded by the sale of land to settlers—they represented a deferred payment of what was owed to Indigenous people. “This new system would become one in a long line of ruinous financial deals and policies aimed at undercutting Indigenous Peoples’ position and role in the greater economy” (Talaga, 2024, p. 93). Before the signing of the Huron Tract Treaty in 1827, Anishinaabek leaders requested that their annuities be paid half in money and half in goods. This request was denied, and the treaty stipulates that annuities were to be paid only in goods. 

Residential School System

In 1820, Peregrine Maitland was the first person to formally propose the idea of residential schools for Indigenous children in Upper Canada. Maitland wrote a proposal to the Colonial Office in 1820 calling for the assimilation of Indigenous Peoples into settler society. He included ideas for assimilating adults, like the conversion of hunters into settled agriculturalists, but the focus of his proposal was on Indigenous children (Milloy, 2017). Maitland believed that little could be expected from Indigenous adults and that his proposal’s success would depend on the influence it may assert over the young (Milloy, 2017). 

Maitland proposed that schools be established that would give the “civilizers” influence over Indigenous children. The schools would be designed to prepare children for life within an Indigenous community “that would itself be remodelled to approximate as nearly as possible a respectable, industrious settler community” (Milloy, 2017, p. 15). He proposed that Indigenous children would be boarded to divorce them from the impediments of “savage” existence and that they should be taught the precepts of religion, the social manners of polite settlers, and the basic skills of reading, writing, and math (Milloy, 2017). Maitland believed that Indigenous children should be instructed in the essential skills of settlement and the graduates would be models of industry and correct deportment (Milloy, 20217).

Maitland’s proposal “contained most of the civilizing concepts and techniques that were adopted in the next three decades” (Milloy, 2017, p. 15). In the years after Maitland’s proposal, the church leveraged the power of the government to establish and maintain the residential school system that purposefully separated Indigenous children from family, community, and land for more than a century. The residential school system in Canada “was dedicated to eliminating Aboriginal peoples as distinct political and cultural entities and must be described for what it was: a policy of cultural genocide” (TRC, 2015a, p. 133). 

Annuity Payments and the Residential School System Intersect

Each student at residential schools who was counted as a “Status Indian”, received treaty annuity payments. “The money was held in trust while they were at school, and funds were taken out of their accounts to pay for their room and board” (Talaga, 2024, p. 133). Annuity payments were used as a kind of tuition for residential schools. “How cruel, that children were made to pay their tormentors to torment them and, in some cases, to cause them to die or suffer such trauma that they, and generations after them, would not recover” (Talaga, 2024, p. 133).

Reserve System

During Peregrine Maitland’s tenure as Lieutenant Governor, treaties "began to include provisions for the establishment of reserves for First Nations” (TRC, 2015b, p. 57). Reserves marked the entrenchment of the separations and the isolation of Indigenous people from Canadian society (TRC, 2015b). 

Conclusion

Cree author, David A. Robertson (2025) asks: If someone was, in part, responsible for the development of a system (the Indian Residential School System) that took in approximately 150 000 children, and that directly and indirectly led to the deaths of around 10 percent of those children, would you want to memorialize this person? 

References

Hutchings, K. (2016). Cultural genocide and the First Nations of Upper Canada: Some romantic-era roots of Canada’s residential school system. 

European Romantic Review, 27(3), 301–308. 

Milloy, J.S. (2017). A national crime: The Canadian government and the residential school system, 1879 to 1986. The University of Manitoba Press.

Robertson, D.A. (2025). 52 ways to reconcile: How to walk with Indigenous peoples on the path to healing. McClelland and Stewart.

Talaga, T. (2024). The knowing. Harper Collins Publishers Ltd.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015a). Final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Summary: Honouring 

the truth, reconciling for the future. James Lorimer & Company Limited.

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. (2015b). Canada’s residential schools: The history, part 1, origins to 1939. Truth and Reconciliation 

Commission.