On September 20th, our School Team gathered with open hearts and minds to learn as a community about identity. We agreed that "True belonging is being able to show up as your most authentic self, regardless of your identities." Our exploration of identity began with the provocation: Do you feel like you can show up as your authentic self at school or work? Do you think the students are showing up as their authentic selves? We carried this thinking in collaborative group sharing where there was an open respect safe learning space to discuss and share our insights and thoughts. As Justice Murray Sinclair stated, small steps often! 

Our school focus is identity and belonging. This is in alignment with our District Strategic Priority 2 

Goal 1 District learning environments are equitable and inclusive

Goal 2 The district actively addresses unconscious bias and privilege, systemic discrimination and marginalization based on factors such as ability, colour, cultural identity, gender, gender identity Indigeneity, political beliefs, race, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and socio-economic status.

It also aligns with our Core Competencies - Social and Personal responsibility. 

Positive Personal and Cultural Identity involves the awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the factors that contribute to a healthy sense of oneself it includes knowledge of one's family background, heritage(s), language(s), beliefs, and perspectives in a pluralistic society.

Social Awareness and Responsibility involve the awareness, understanding, and appreciation of connections among people, including between people and the natural environment.

We also find alignment with The First Peoples Principles of Learning. 

Learning Ultimately supports the well-being of the self, the family, the community, the land, the spirits, and the ancestors. 

Learning is embedded in memory, history, and story 

Learning requires the exploration of one's identity 
 

It also aligns with much of our curricular competencies across curricular areas and grades. 

Each of us needs to know our story share our story, and feel grounded in our story and identity. With this foundation, our community can begin connections and relationships. 

As Richard Wagamese

ll that we are is story. From the moment we are born to the time we continue on our spirit journey, we are involved in the creation of the story of our time here. It is what we arrive with. It is all we leave behind. We are not the things we accumulate. We are not the things we deem important. We are story. All of us. What comes to matter then is the creation of the best possible story we can while we’re here; you, me, us, together. When we can do that and we take the time to share those stories with each other, we get bigger inside, we see each other, we recognize our kinship – we change the world, one story at a time…”

― Richard Wagamese, Canadian Author, Poet and Journalist Ojibway from the Wabaseemoong First Nation Northwestern Ontario