Fostering Remembrance and Reconciliation Through an Arts-Based Response

Abstract

This paper presents the results of study about an urban high school in Ontario that performed a stage play that portrayed the legacy of the Indian residential schools in Canada. We wanted to know the impact this arts-based response had on teachers and students. From the data that we obtained from focus groups, we identify four learning outcomes of the legacy project: reflection on knowledge and identity; fact-finding through the processes of respecting memory; using the arts to remember; and broadening perspectives: remembrance (memory), reconciliation, and memorialization. Our research can assist educators and researchers to implement an arts-based model that honours and respects residential school survivors and their families.