Educating Canada

Alkina is my best friend and has been for the last fifteen years of our lives. She is Métis and lives with her grandma, Alinga, which means “the sun”. We often go to her house after school where her grandma always has another disheartening story about her childhood. Alinga tells us about people who took her away from her family and put her in a school. I do not personally have as much knowledge on this supposed significant subject as Alinga, and neither do my classmates, so our schoolteacher organized a fieldtrip to our province’s Residential School Historic Site. Our teacher says that it is necessary for all Canadians to know about these schools.

Educating Canada

Katya Torin

Grade 11

Mount Boucherie Secondary School
West Kelowna, British Columbia

This story imagines a time when a residential school is designated a National Historic Site of Canada.

Related Essays

  • A New National Historic Site for Canada

    A New National Historic Site for Canada

    Goldman Lam

    Vancouver, British Columbia

    This essay proposes to name the site of a former residential school as a National Historic Site of Canada.

  • Secret Histories: Displacement Stories

    Secret Histories: Displacement Stories

    Kaitlyn Lee

    Vancouver, British Columbia

    Secret Histories is a walking tour featuring the diverse histories of groups that once lived in the Strathcona district of Vancouver.

 
View all essays