西蒙菲莎尔学校的学生和教职员工超越了过去150年间影响我国的宏大叙述。我们自称是一个包容、多元文化的社会，庆祝多样性。然而，这并不总是这样。许多原住民拒绝庆祝加拿大的150周年，因为他们认为这是在庆祝150年的殖民和同化。

此项目旨在揭示加拿大历史中那些被边缘化和无声的声音。它始于查尼·温杰克的故事，但很快扩展到无数其他的住宿学校经历。

学生们参与了住宿学校文学圈活动，涉及到图像小说和图画书。每个中心都有一本书，附加有讨论问题和/或活动，帮助学生更深入地了解各种观点和发生的事件。

通过讨论，学生们建立了联系，分析了象征和主题信息。学生们对宣传意识充满热情，这激发了他们教育他人并让我们的社会了解住宿学校残暴行为的需要和愿望。

为了前进，我们必须首先承认并教育他人。这是疗愈过程的一部分。学生们计划在年底进行一次“为温杰克而步行”的活动，并且现在渴望教育他人关于住宿学校及我们作为一个国家该如何向前发展的事宜。学生们现在对文化对我们的身份有多重要以及同化的危险有了更深入的了解。学生们能够将同化的概念应用到自己的初中生活中。

这些文学圈的目标是在培养学生对文学的欣赏的同时，向他们介绍那些需要包含在加拿大故事档案中的黑暗故事。

​​Students and staff at Simon Fraser School looked past the Grand Narratives that have shaped our country for the last 150 years.  We claim to be an inclusive, multi-cultural society that celebrates diversity. However, this was not always the case.  Many First Nation people refuse to celebrate Canada’s 150th as they see it as celebrating 150 years of colonization and assimilation.

The  intention of the project was to shed light onto the marginalized, unheard voices of Canadian history. It started off with Chanie Wenjack’s story, but quickly escalated to countless other residential school experiences.

Students participated in a residential school literature circle activity that consisted of both graphic novels and picture books. Each center had a book accompanied with discussion questions and/or an activity that helped the students look deeper into the perspectives and events that occurred.

Through their discussions, students made connections, analyzed symbols and thematic messages.  Students were passionate about spreading awareness which sparked a need and want to educate and make our society aware of the atrocities behind Residential Schools.

In order to move forward, we must first acknowledge and educate others. It is part of the healing process. Students plan to do a “Walk for Wenjack” at the end of the year and are now eager to educate others about residential schools and what we can do to move forward as a nation.
Students now have a deeper understanding of how important culture is to our identity, and how dangerous assimilation really is. Students were able to bring the concept of assimilation to their own lives in a Middle School context.

The goal of these literature circles was to infuse an appreciation for literacy while also informing students of the dark stories that need to be included in Canada’s archive of stories.