Lesson Plan: Dr. Bryce, Advocacy, and MMIWG2S+ Peoples

By: Sakina Dhalla

Sakina Dhalla

Education Collaborator

Sakina Dhalla (she/her) is a visible Hijabi woman living and working on Treaty 6 land. Sakina graduated from the University of Alberta in 2016 with a Bachelor of Science, and from Concordia University of Edmonton in 2022 with a Bachelor of Education. She has 10 years of experience volunteering in an Elementary classroom, and recently began working as a teacher. Sakina has also written a chapter for an anthology (We Were Never Meant to Be Here) highlighting the experience of marginalized students in Canadian Universities which is scheduled to be published in 2023.

Suggested Subject Areas

Social Studies
Art
Math

Grade Level

Upper Elementary

Timing

Varies, suggest to spread the learning over 3-5 days

Purpose

To understand how we can be advocates for justice through an analysis of the work of Dr. Peter Henderson Bryce and explorations of the issues surrounding Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People (MMIWG2S+).

At the end of this lesson, students will be tasked with using art to raise awareness about MMIWG2S+. This lesson is designed to support them in leading other students through suggested art projects as a way of increasing awareness.

Guiding Questions

What does it mean to be an advocate?

What are some meaningful ways I can use art to be an advocate for justice alongside Indigenous communities?

Using art as a starting point to gain my voice in advocacy, in what ways could I grow as an advocate over time?

Materials

This can vary based on extension activities, art installations, and background knowledge. Please read the lesson to determine what supplies are best suited for your class.
Thoughtbook—1 per student. Read more about thoughtbooks here. You can adapt this approach to whatever you are already doing in your classroom or whatever works best for your students.
Key resource: Slideshow (Teacher’s Guide)—also included as a PDF at the bottom of this page.

Teacher Background Knowledge

It is important that teachers already have background knowledge about residential schools and their ongoing intergenerational impact. It is also essential that teachers have background knowledge about Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People.

This lesson should not be taken on without prior learning on the teacher’s part and, when it is taken on, must be approached through a de-colonial, anti-oppressive lens that avoids any victim blaming, inappropriate terminology, or other harmful elements.

Teachers should read through the entire lesson plan and slideshow before deciding to take this learning on with their class. It is the teacher’s responsibility to plan thoughtfully for anticipated challenges and accommodations based on the learners in their room.

We strongly encourage teachers to read Charlene Camillo and Starr McGahey-Albert’s resource on cultural safety in the classroom before proceeding with this lesson. Their resource on terminology is also essential reading.

Additional Considerations

Please consult your division or school’s Indigenous consultant (if available) beforehand to support in teaching students about the difficult topics that will be addressed in this lesson plan, including residential schools and MMIWG2S+.
It is recommended this lesson be done later in the year to ensure students feel safe and comfortable in the classroom and around their peers given the difficulty of the topics, and to ensure the teacher understands how best to approach this lesson with their group.
Students may need opportunities to debrief throughout this lesson or a few moments to step out to process these topics. The teacher should remind them of this at the beginning and throughout.
Given this lesson is designed with elementary aged students in mind, this lesson does not focus on homicide statistics for MMIWG2S+.
Parents should be advised in advance that this topic will be discussed beforehand given the difficult knowledge being addressed. For example, the teacher can send a letter home, in consultation and collaboration with the school’s Indigenous consultant, to let parents know ahead of time what their children will be learning about.
Advise school social workers or mental health supports within the school that this topic will be discussed, and, if appropriate in the school context, invite them to sit in on the lessons.

Lesson Outline

Introduction ( 20 minutes)

PART 1: Residential School Review (optional depending on students’ background knowledge)

Display the slideshow.
Slide 3: Suggested questions to activate prior knowledge regarding residential schools. To support cultural safety in the classroom, ask students to reflect on these questions independently, jotting down their answers on post-it notes, index cards, or in a private notebook. The teacher can circulate during this time to check in about what students already know, and then engage in direct teaching and confirmation of the basic information about residential schools before moving ahead. Please note key takeaways in the slide notes.
Slide 4: Suggested read-aloud to provide students with more information about residential schools. For additional resources, see our Bryce@100 project, including this StoryMap, or the Legacy of Hope Foundation’s timeline, Where Are The Children?

PART 2: Preparation

Slide 6-8: Explore what it means to be an advocate for justice. Feel free to open discussion in your classroom about moments when students have been advocates, have witnessed advocacy, or advocates they’ve heard about in the news.
Slide 9: Present guiding question: What are some meaningful ways I can use art to be an advocate for justice alongside Indigenous communities? You can also present the related question:Using art as a starting point to gain my voice in advocacy, in what ways could I grow as an advocate over time?
Hand out thoughtbooks or use student journals/notebooks, based on what works with your class. Provide students with a few minutes to draft some early ideas in response to the guiding question. What does it make them think about? How does it make them feel? Do they already have ideas about how to answer? What they hope to find out?
Students are encouraged to add to their thoughtbook throughout this lesson (note: Ask students not to erase/cross out old ideas).
Slide 10: Description of task students will be doing at the end of this lesson.

Teacher-Guided (30 minutes)

PART 3: Advocacy and Dr. Peter Henderson Bryce

Slide 12: Introduction to Dr. Bryce. Provide context for students by letting them know that they will be learning about Dr. Bryce as an example of a non-Indigenous person who was an advocate for justice for Indigenous Peoples, specifically children in residential schools. They should think about what elements of Dr. Bryce’s actions made him an advocate.
Slide 13: Brief timeline highlighting the Bryce Report and demonstrating Dr. Bryce’s advocacy. Students should consider the degree to which Dr. Bryce was an advocate for justice based on previous definitions and attributes talked about earlier in the lesson.
Slide 14: An illustration from Spirit Bear: Echoes of the Past (Cindy Blackstock) of Dr. Bryce helping a student in residential schools. Allow students to discuss what we can learn from Dr. Bryce about being advocates for justice. Are there ways Dr. Bryce could have been an even stronger advocate? Other actions he could have taken that would have had additional impact? Give them a few minutes to add to their thoughtbooks.
Slides 15-17: Go through slides and discuss the degree to which Dr. Bryce was an advocate for justice. A key takeaway from these slides is that while Dr. Bryce felt like he failed an element of what he was working toward during his lifetime and was pushed out of his profession, he is now celebrated and honoured as an advocate. Please note the additional details in the slide notes.

PART 4: MMIWG2S+ (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirit People

Slide 19: Student poll. This is an opportunity to check in with students about whether they understand the concept of advocating for justice and Dr. Bryce as an example of advocacy. Take the time here to clarify any misunderstandings, answer any questions, etc. Let students know that the rest of the presentation is focused on MMIWG2S+ and that some of what they learn about will be challenging. Remind them of the supports you have in place for them (social workers, mental health supports, permission to leave the room to drink water or breathe deeply, etc).

Slide 20: Definition of MMIWG and Two-Spirit people. Please note the additional video explanation of Two-Spirit in the slide notes.
Slide 21 (optional): Suggested read-aloud.
Slides 22-24: Statistics/graphs regarding MMIWG2S+. Have students reflect on the information shared and make inferences independently. Do not engage in discussion at this time, as this can lead to unsafe and harmful assumptions in the classroom. The teacher should help explain how to read/interpret each graphic. The teacher should share the key takeaways from each slide and the overall takeaway that Indigenous women and girls are more likely to go missing compared to non-Indigenous people. These numbers continue to rise.
Slide 25-26: Reflection questions are an opportunity for students to jot ideas and inferences into their thoughtbooks. This is not a time for discussion, as some answers might be harmful. The teacher can read through student answers afterward and come back to the group to present appropriate and supportive ideas that they noticed when reading.

Student Action (Over 3 days—1-2 days for planning and preparation, 1 to run stations)

PART 5: Action

Slide 28: Highlighting Indigenous advocacy. Students should understand that Indigenous communities have taken the lead into the inquiry process and have always been fighting for change. Remind students that non-Indigenous advocates should always listen to Indigenous voices on this issue and align their advocacy with what Indigenous Peoples and communities are asking of non-Indigenous people.
Slide 29: Remind students of their upcoming task and allow time to add to thoughtbooks
Slides 30-32: Art installations created by Indigenous artists to honour and raise awareness about MMIWG. Provide students with time to add to their thoughtbooks.
Upon completing the slideshow, ask students how we might be able to use art to raise awareness about MMIWG2S+ in our school and in our larger community so that we can also be advocates for justice alongside Indigenous communities, and help raise awareness about this issue with other people we know.

The following are suggestions for art projects/installations that students can create within a school environment to raise awareness. Teachers may choose to do one large art installation or multiple small ones by breaking students into smaller groups, and may choose to collaborate with other classes who are engaging in similar learning.

It is important throughout the creation phase to support students so that they are not culturally appropriative. Here is a guide on cultural appropriation vs appreciation. Non-Indigenous students should not design as though taking on the voice of an Indigenous person, and should not be tasked with recreating sacred Indigenous objects, ceremonies, dress, or practices. It is essential to work with your school’s Indigenous consultant or an Indigenous community connection for this portion of the activity, to ensure the art being created is, indeed, supportive.

Students could create a large banner/poster that says something in solidarity with MMIWG2S+, such as “No More Stolen Sisters.” They could think of what to add to the banner, such as red hand prints (paint or construction paper).
Provide students with templates to make red dresses or faceless dolls, as seen in this resource developed by the Native Women’s Association of Canada (p.15-16). This toolkit also includes a template letter to write to your government representatives (p. 14).
Provide leaders with templates to make faceless dolls and allow them to lead others through this afterwards.
As inspired by “Walking With Our Sisters,” students can draw a design that represents their advocacy and their support of Indigenous Peoples on a shape similar to that of the top of a moccasin (a vamp). Teachers can provide templates that students cut out and work with, similar to this:

Remind students of the importance of giving credit to the original artists of these various installations. Since the purpose of the art piece is to raise awareness and increase advocacy throughout the school, think about how you might invite other students and staff to visit the art. What information would need to be included so others understand what it represents and why it’s significant? How will credit to Indigenous artists be made clear? What calls to action might be addressed to the audience?

Conclusion (15 minutes)

PART 6: Reflection

Provide students with an opportunity to reflect in their thoughtbooks about their learning experience throughout this time.

This may also be a good opportunity to work with students to send letters to members of government or take other forms of action, based on where the class learning is going and how they want to engage with it after the art piece.

To support a discussion (with an elbow partner or with the larger class), ask direct and thoughtful questions such as, “What was the most meaningful learning you had as part of this experience?” or “What key learning are you taking away from this experience when it comes to being an advocate for justice?” or “What is one thing you will do going forward that will have an impact on raising awareness about the experiences of MMIWG2S+?” or “How can art be a tool for advocacy and awareness?” or “What other issues are close to your heart that you want to think about advocating for as well?”

Potential Extension

Create a large “No More Stolen Sisters” banner and invite parents and community members to add their handprints as a commitment to support Indigenous communities.

Think about the same curatorial and contextual questions as presented earlier, such as: What information would need to be included so others understand what it represents and why it’s significant? How will credit to Indigenous artists be made clear? What calls to action might be addressed to the audience?

Slideshow for Lesson

Dr. Bryce, Advocacy, MMIW2S+Download