More Learning Opportunities & Resources for Educators

Some First Nations kids face extra challenges because of Canada’s unfair treatment. These child- and youth- friendly resources help kids learn what substantive equality is and how it can help ensure that all children have what they actually need, so they have the same chance as other kids to grow up safely with their families at home, get a good education, and be healthy and proud of who they are. 

This is a child-friendly timeline of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal case that found Canada discriminates against First Nations kids. It tracks everything that has happened between the Tribunal's ruling in January 2016 up until 2026. It has been 10 years since the ruling, but Canada still has not stopped its discrimination. A great teaching tool for elementary. 

In this film, young people who participated in the Caring Society’s social-justice based reconciliation campaigns in elementary and secondary school look back on how their experiences of standing up for equity for First Nations children impacted them. They speak brilliantly to how practicing loving justice for First Nations children can change all our lives for the better.

One reviewer called the film “beautiful,“ “unbelievingly wonderful," “captivating and meaningful.” Another wrote, “[the film] took my breath away. Those former students are SO articulate.” 

My Voice Matters is not to be missed!

University of Ottawa researcher Dr. Lisa Howell gives a brief update on the research findings informing the Spirit Bear Virtual School website and resources.

The SSHRC-funded research project "Just because we're small doesn't mean we can't stand tall": Reconciliation Education in the Elementary Classroom was a collaboration between the University of Ottawa and the Caring Society, with a dedicated team of education researchers from across Canada.

In this video, Dr. Lisa Howell interviews Michelle McKay, early years educator and PhD candidate, about her use of Spirit Bear resources in the kindergarten classroom and the amazing capacity younger children have to understand issues of social justice, equity, and fairness. The insights shared in the video will support teachers taking up the Caring Society's campaigns and resources in their classrooms and beyond. 

In this video, Dr. Lisa Howell interviews early years educators Klara Redford and Michelle McKay about the huge capacity young children have to understand love, fairness, and justice, and how learning about historical and ongoing injustices must must start in Kindergarten. They also discuss ways they have engaged kindergarten students in the Caring Society's campaigns and how reconciliation and social justice learning is not "in addition to" the other work teachers do, but should rather be integrated into everything they teach.

Teaching for Reconciliation is a powerful video where two experienced educators share their experiences teaching the Caring Society’s reconciliation-based campaigns in their elementary classrooms. 

Danielle Fontaine and Lynn Rainboth speak eloquently about how their students experienced something transformative when they learned how their voices can help make a difference, and they offer many valuable insights about teaching for reconciliation.

Listen to the Caring Society’s Spirit Bear paw’d-cast!

Tune in for informative episodes that feature guest appearances from community members, advocates, and experts leading on a number of matters affecting First Nations children, youth, and families.

The Caring Society is bear-y grateful to our friends in Dr. Veldon Coburn’s “Indigenous Politics in Canada” course at the University of Ottawa, who produced Season 1 from January to April of 2022. 

In this excellent article, Truth and Reconciliation educators Melanie Nelson and Dr. Brooke Madden show how Spirit Bear’s book Fishing for Knowledge, Catching Dreams addresses five interconnected components of truth and reconciliation education: positionality, Indigenous land-based traditions, Canada’s Indian Residential School system, injustice that acts as a barrier to reconciliation, and counterstories. https://www.edcan.ca/articles/leaning-in-leaning-out-with-spirit-bear/