Student-written land acknowledgements are lining the hallways of St. Mary after an Ottawa Catholic school activity that had children exploring what it means to acknowledge the land they live, learn and play on.
In the days leading up to Orange Shirt Day, students at the school put their learning into words and pictures, creating acknowledgements that were eventually posted outside classroom doors, according to a post on the Ottawa Catholic School Board's website.
The board's schools sit on the traditional, unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe Peoples. At St. Mary, students learned about that history, the Algonquin People's ongoing connection to the land and why acknowledging it matters.
The project began with morning updates from Grade 3 teacher Meghan Carvery, who introduced the activity school-wide. Teachers then drew on resources from the OCSB Indigenous Education website to guide classroom conversations about the land, Indigenous history and reconciliation.
Classes took different approaches. Some students wrote their acknowledgement together as a group, while others worked in pairs or on their own. Alongside their writing, students added artwork and read their finished pieces aloud to classmates.
Co-creating a land acknowledgement with students provides an age-appropriate entry point into Truth and Reconciliation,
said Ms. Carvery in the board's post.
Unpacking our connection to the local land and acknowledging traditional territory opens the door to deeper discussions about Indigenous history, including the legacy of residential schools and the ongoing importance of Every Child Matters.
Once the acknowledgements were complete, Ms. Carvery's Grade 3 students walked the hallways reading what other classes had written and seeing how students in different grades had expressed the same lessons.
Orange Shirt Day, marked each year on September 30 alongside the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, honours the Indigenous children who were taken from their families and forced to attend residential schools. The day also remembers the children who never came home and recognizes Survivors, their families and communities.
The board says the day is a reminder of why learning the truth about residential schools matters, and why the message that Every Child Matters must not be forgotten.
At St. Mary, the activity may be over, but the board notes the conversations it started are just as important as the finished pieces. Students are learning that acknowledging the land means understanding its history, recognizing the Indigenous Peoples who have cared for it for generations and respecting their continuing connection to it — lessons that don't end when Orange Shirt Day does.
