Students demonstrated their support on Orange Shirt Day. The story of how this day came about was revisited and all students participated in activities in which they expressed the ways in which all children matter, and the importance of reconciliation for our indigenous community. Great empathy was felt for the children who suffered in residential schools across Canada. Throughout the past school year, our school has had a focus on Truth and Reconciliation. Each week during our morning announcements, students and staff learn about a new Halq'eméylem word of the week. In addition, during this past year one of our Metis students led our learning community in a Land Acknowledgment at the start of each school assembly/event.
On National Indigenous Peoples Day, all students in our school participated in a Halq'eméylem Bingo featuring our Halq'eméylem words of the week. In addition, as a learning community this year our staff and students embarked on a journey to revision our house teams with an indigenous focus. We partnered with our Indigenous Support Worker, Ms. Kitchekeesik, and the Indigenous Education Department to support us with this process. Utilizing the Seven Sacred Teachings, Ms. Kitchekeesik and Ms. Kelly (Indigenous Support Worker Mentor) taught our students about different animals, and their virtues. Following learning about these teachings, our school community selected four new animals to form the face of our house teams. Starting in Fall 2022 our new house teams will be: sp'óq'es/Eagle,Buffalo, spá:th/Bear, and steqó:ya/Wolf. In collaboration with our Indigenous Support Worker and District Indigenous Education Department we created an artwork contest for Indigenous Students across our school district to participate in. Several submissions were received, and after consultation with our Indigenous Support Worker, we selected the new house team logos. A student at Abbotsford Virtual School (AVS), Zeda Ellis was the winner of the contest. We honoured Zeda and raised our new house team banners at our year end awards ceremony on Wednesday, June 28th.