Having Your Voices Heard: Participating in Matters that Directly Concern You!

• Understand the responsibilities and rights outlined by the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (“UNDRIP” or “the Declaration”).
• Learn about historical and contemporary injustices against First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples in Canada.
• Determine whether the Government of Canada treats First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples fairly.
• Question to what extent the Government of Canada has addressed past and/or current injustices against Indigenous Peoples. What have been the results of these efforts?
• Learn about Indigenous-led movements in Canada and how students can participate in them.

• Learn alongside their students and let them lead in participating in matters that concern them.
• Ensure that if they do not know an answer to a question, they do meaningful research and/or speak with their school board’s Indigenous Education Team or other experienced and knowledgeable colleagues within their learning community.
• Facilitate conversations in trauma-informed ways and consider holistic teaching pedagogies throughout the instruction of the lesson and those thereafter.

Resources

• Truth Before Reconciliation – Mino-pimatisiwin: Living the Good Life, 2024.
• The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People
• Shannen’s Dream – First Nations Child & Family Caring Society
• Jordan’s Principle – First Nations Child & Family Caring Society
• Timeline of Residential Schools – National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

Background Information

Lesson Activity

PART I

• Share this definition of human rights with your students: Human rights are the rights and freedoms that all people have. They can be considered rules for how we should treat one another. Human rights help keep people safe and help make sure everyone is treated fairly.
• Explain to students that while human rights have always existed, they have not always been protected. However, since the Second World War, important laws and international agreements have been created to protect human rights. In addition to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 (UDHR), there is also the 1990 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCNC) and the 2007 United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

• Begin a conversation with students to have them develop an understanding of how they can honour what is outlined in UNDRIP. Share some of the articles protected under UNDRIP — we have suggested some you can use in Appendix II, but you can expand or condense this list based on your classroom.
• For each UNDRIP article, share what it means and brainstorm with your students some examples of that right being upheld in Canada. You can make this conversation engaging by co-creating a concept map of the different rights they learn about, examples of what those rights mean, and including definitions of words that may be new.

PART II

• Have students look at their concept maps and remind them of what they have learned about human rights.
• Introduce the idea that First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples’ rights have not always been upheld in Canada. Individually or as a class, have students read pages 11 and 16 of Mino-pimatisiwin: Living the Good Life, which provide some examples of moments when rights were not protected and also of efforts that have since taken place to ensure that rights are protected.
• Discuss with students historical and contemporary violations of Indigenous Peoples’ rights in Canada. This can include examples from Mino-pimatisiwin: Living the Good Life or others that they have previously learned about or actively researched for this activity. Have students connect each issue to a specific article of UNDRIP.
• Initiate a conversation with students about the historical significance of UNDRIP. You may wish to do some additional research with your students to explore one of the following questions:
  • Why was UNDRIP necessary for Indigenous Peoples globally and in Canada?
  • Why did Canada initially reject UNDRIP? What events or influences had the biggest impact on the federal government’s decision to adopt the Declaration?
  • What articles do you think will make the biggest impact on First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples’ rights in Canada?

PART III

In this lesson, students will discover movements that work to uphold the rights of Indigenous children and consider how they can act against various forms of discrimination.

• Let students know that despite there being past and current examples of Indigenous Peoples’ rights being violated, there are also lots of individuals and groups who are speaking out against injustices and working to make change. Students can discover some of these role models throughout Mino-pimatisiwin: Living the Good Life.
• Play all of the following videos for your students to learn about the ways that others are taking action in Canada:
  • Autumn Peltier addressing the United Nations about protecting water (CBC News).
  • Shannen Koostachin and Serena Koostachin at the Ontario Federation of Labour Convention about the right to a good education.
  • The I Am a Witness campaign by the First Nations Child & Family Caring Society on discrimination against First Nations kids.

• What is the movement about? What right is being protected? Who is involved? What is their message? How does it make you feel?
• How does this issue highlight the unfair treatment of First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples in Canada?
• How have the different levels of government responded to the movements? Have their actions been sufficient?
• How can individuals make a difference toward ending discrimination against First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples in Canada?

• After learning about specific examples of movements in Canada, ask your students to create a list of the different ways that people can take action by asking, “What does taking action look like?” Answers may include:
  • Listening to speeches, attending presentations or hearing testimonies
  • Educating others; sharing their learnings with their friends, family, and school community
  • Attending Indigenous cultural events or visiting Indigenous-run museums
  • Participating in movements (online or in-person), phoning or writing letters to elected officials/decision-makers in Canada and the world
  • Donating to Indigenous charities or organizations
• Ask students to consider which actions have the most impact and are the most meaningful. Which actions are considered more passive and require less engagement? Why? Have students create class-based criteria for assessing these actions and rank them from least effective to most effective.

PART IV

• Ask your students to form groups of three or four and select a movement from those discussed in which they would like to participate. Multiple groups can work towards the same movement, honouring Mino-pimatisiwin.
• Have students decide which articles from UNDRIP will be honoured as they respond to their selected movement. (Encourage students to limit their selection to five articles — we can’t respond to everything as much as we want to!)
• Now that the students have selected the relevant articles, it is time for them to research each of their movements. Students will be encouraged to respond to the following questions in their research:
  • What is the issue about? What is the historical context for the issue?
  • What is the movement about?
  • Who are the leaders in the movement? Is there youth participation?
  • Who are the individuals, organizations, or governments that are responsible for this issue?
  • What are ways everyone living in Canada can make a difference and take action toward this movement?
  • What are the ways we have chosen to participate in the movement?
• After the students answer the questions from their research, they can now mobilize what they have learned! There are lots of ways students can apply what they have learned, such as creating a podcast or video, making a public service announcement, creating a letter template for others to complete and send to their elected officials/decision-makers, making posters for their school or community, performing a song, or writing a report to share with their peers or to send to influential groups. You may also use the template in Appendix III to create a social media campaign.
• Each campaign should include the following elements:
  • Introduction to the issue, including specific information, historical context, and compelling data or statistics
  • A connection to the relevant articles of UNDRIP
  • A clear message about how people can get involved and make a difference toward reconciliation
  • How they are honouring the concept of Mino-pimatisiwin in their efforts, and how they will plan to honour Mino-pimatisiwin every day

Assessment

Extension

Closing Statement from Author: Teachers and students must use Indigenous-made/co-created resources and/or ensure they work with Indigenous Education Teams at their school boards when taking on these topics. As a key consideration, it is deeply important to teach Canada’s ongoing colonialism in child-focused, trauma-informed, and ethical ways. If you are doing this work alone, you are doing it wrong. Reach out to folks as needed and know that you’re never alone. This experience is also meant to ensure that students know that their voices ought to be heard and CAN be heard! Be sure to use this lesson alongside other conversations you have with your students. You are also encouraged to ask your students if they want to form a social justice club to keep these dialogues going and to keep your school community accountable. Participation in these movements must be ongoing because the work of reconciliation is every day.