The Government of Yukon's Department of Education is launching two Social Studies curriculum units - one new and one updated - for Grades 5 and 10, focusing on the history and legacy of Indian Residential Schools in the Yukon and Canada. These resources, designed to provide students with a deeper understanding of the impacts of residential schools, represent a significant step toward truth and reconciliation in the Yukon's education system.
Developed in collaboration with Yukon First Nations Elders, Knowledge Keepers and former residential school students, the units aim to educate students about this critical part of Canadian history, ensuring that future generations are equipped with the knowledge to contribute to ongoing reconciliation efforts.
Our Voices, Our Stories: Yukon Indian Residential Schools - Truth and Reconciliation (Grade 5) is built around the book Finding Our Faces, History through Photographs: Whitehorse Indian Mission School 1947-1960. This new unit introduces younger students to the difficult history of residential schools while highlighting the resilience of Indigenous communities in healing and revitalizing their languages, cultures and traditions.
Our Stories of Residential Schools in Yukon and Canada: Seeking Understanding, Finding Our Way Together (Grade 10) draws from Tr'ëchuhch'in Näwtr'udäh'ą: Finding Our Way Home, a book created by Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in Elders and residential school Survivors. It provides an in-depth exploration of the Yukon's residential school history and its lasting impacts. The curriculum was piloted by Yukon teachers in 2015, with their feedback helping to shape the final version.
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These curriculum resources directly address the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada's Calls to Action #57, #62 and #63, which call on governments to provide education to public servants on the history and legacy of residential schools, and to provide mandatory, age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools for all Canadian students.
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The units are part of the Yukon's broader effort to integrate First Nations perspectives, languages and histories into school curricula.
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The resources are designed to meet the educational needs of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, fostering intercultural understanding and empathy.
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Educators teaching these units are required to participate in a three-day training session delivered by the Curriculum and Assessment Branch. This year's first session, on the Grade 10 unit, was delivered from October 2 to 4. These sessions were open to educators from all three of the Yukon's school authorities.
