Wednesday, 18 October 2017

Every Child Matters

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

We started our morning with a school-wide assembly.
We were very fortunate to have Ms. April Waters, one of our school division's Indigenous Education teachers,
join us for our assembly.


Today's assembly theme: "Every Child Matters" - Learning about Human Rights.
Here are the learning goals for our time together this morning:


Ms. Waters spoke to us about Rights of the Child.
We learned that Rights of the Child was declared in 1989 and has been adopted by 193 countries.
A child has a right to:
-  a name
- health care
- feel safe
- food and water
- education
- an identity (self expression)
- recreation and play
- love and affection
- much more!

We watched THIS VIDEO to learn more about Rights of the Child.


Ms. Waters also spoke about Residential Schools. We learned that Residential Schools were in violation of Rights of the Child, noting that the last residential school closed in 1996 (7 years AFTER Rights of the Child was declared).

Mme Banks then spoke to us about Orange Shirt Day. We learned who started "Orange Shirt Day" and the significance behind wearing an orange shirt.
Ness Middle School's Orange Shirt Day will be Tuesday, October 24.


After the assembly, we headed back to our classroom to discuss what we had learned during our assembly. We also had the chance to watch another short video clip about Shoal Lake 40 and learned of some of the terrible hardships the reserve has been through. (THIS VIDEO gives a brief overview to what we watched). Many of us were angry about what the City of Winnipeg had done to the community and were surprised to learn that the residents of Shoal Lake 40 (the very place from which we get our drinking water) have been under a boil water advisory for 20 years!

We will continue to learn more about Rights of the Child, Residential Schools and the people of Shoal Lake 40
(and other Reserves) on Tuesday, October 24 (Orange Shirt Day) and in the coming weeks.

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