Each year on October 4, the Upper Grand District School Board observes Sisters in Spirit Day also known as National Day of Action for murdered and missing Indigenous women, girls and Two-Spirit peoples (MMIWG2S). We recognize the continuous work of First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities to raise awareness and honour the memory of their family and community members throughout Canada and beyond.
We encourage all school staff to familiarize themselves with the Calls for Justice that were formed from the National Inquiry. These Calls offer a roadmap for governments, institutions, social service providers, education staff, industries and all Canadians to address and end this genocide.
There are specific Calls for Justice (11.1 & 11.2) for educators as well as eight calls for all Canadians. All education staff are encouraged to read The Calls for Justice as well as Their Voices Will Guide Us, a guide that was developed to support education staff in teaching about the value of Indigenous women and girls and working towards decolonizing classrooms. This resource also provides support in embedding this topic in age-appropriate ways throughout K-12 curricula and beyond. Both documents can be accessed here:
Their Voices - Will Guide Us | MMIWG
In addition, all staff have been provided with a slidedeck of appropriate resources to support learning around the Day of Awareness and Day of Action.
Every secondary school has also been sent copies of REDress, a powerful anthology uniting the voices of Indigenous women, Elders, grassroots community activists, artists, academics, and family members, for their learning commons.