09/29/2026
Learning Through Place: Local History, Truth and Reconciliation
As we move toward the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, our learning this month has been grounded in something very close to us: place.
Rather than approaching history only through books, photographs, or lessons, we have allowed the children to experience our local community through walking, observing, asking questions, listening to stories, and returning again and again to places that hold meaning. In doing so, we have been exploring an important idea: learning about local history is one way we can begin the ongoing work of truth and reconciliation.
Learning Begins With Place….
Nistawâyâw (Cree name for-Fort McMurray)
Ełídlį Kuę́ ( Dene Name for Fort McMurray)
This month, we have been drawn repeatedly to the river.
The Indigenous names connected to our community, Cree and Dene, reference the coming together of three rivers.
The rivers have therefore become more than a place we visit. They have become a recurring part of our learning and a way for the children to develop a relationship with the place where we live.
As a group, we have visited the rivers multiple times. I have also found myself returning almost daily with my Border Collie. Through these repeated visits, the children are beginning to experience the river not simply as scenery, but as part of the living story of our community.
There is pedagogical value in this repetition. Children develop a deeper relationship with a place when they have the opportunity to return to it, notice changes, ask new questions, and connect new knowledge with previous experiences.
Learning Through Experience….
Our exploration has taken us beyond the river itself.
We participated in a Medicine Walk with a local Knowledge keeper to learn and connect with plants in our neighbourhood.
We visited the Aboriginal Interpretive Trail along the Athabasca River, where the children had opportunities to encounter Indigenous perspectives and learn more about the people and histories connected to the land around us.
We also shared bannock on the grounds of Moccasins Flats while exploring the history of the local Métis people. Sitting together, eating together, listening, and being present in a meaningful place created an experience that connected history with relationship.
Our visit to the “Living Patterns” Métis stories and craftsmanship exhibit offered another opportunity to learn through stories, objects, artistic expression, and craftsmanship. These experiences help children understand that history is not simply a collection of dates and events. It is held in places, families, stories, traditions, art, language, relationships, and cultural practices.
Truth and Reconciliation Through Everyday Learning….
Truth and Reconciliation can feel like a very large and complex idea, particularly when considering it from a child's perspective.
For young children, however, the beginning can be much more tangible.
It can begin with learning the history of the place where they live.
It can begin with learning whose traditional territories they are living on.
It can begin with hearing stories that have not always been included in the histories children encounter.
It can begin with recognizing that the experiences of Cree, Dene and Métis peoples are an important part of the story of our community.
And it can begin with developing respect for cultures, traditions, knowledge, and relationships that have existed long before our own experiences of this place.
These may seem like small acts, but they are meaningful acts of learning. They create opportunities for children to develop curiosity rather than ignorance, respect rather than assumptions, and relationship rather than distance.
Making Space for Children's Emotional Responses…
As the children learn about injustices that have occurred in Canada's history, we have also observed emotional responses.
There has been sadness and shock.
There have been questions. How can other people be so mean to people in their community? What happened to displaced people? Why did Indigenous people have to go away for school?
There has been a genuine desire to understand why people were treated unfairly and why these things happened.
Most importantly, the children have expressed a desire for relationships to be different: relationships based on respect, kindness, honour, and an appreciation for traditional heritage and culture.
We do not need to remove difficult emotions from this learning. Sadness can be part of developing empathy. Questions can be part of developing critical thinking. A desire to make things better can be the beginning of developing social responsibility.
Our role as educators is to create a safe space where children can encounter difficult truths in developmentally appropriate ways, ask questions, express their feelings, and begin to understand that respectful relationships are something we actively create.
Learning Through Play and Inquiry…
This approach reflects the holistic, play-based goals of FLIGHT: Alberta's Early Learning and Care Framework, particularly the importance of children developing a sense of belonging, engaging with diversity, and growing their capacity for social responsibility.
Our learning has not followed a traditional lesson structure. Instead, it has emerged through movement, conversation, observation, exploration, storytelling, food, art, community spaces, and repeated encounters with the land.
The children have been able to wonder:
Who has lived here before us?
What stories does this place hold?
Why are the rivers important?
What can we learn from Indigenous and Métis peoples?
What happened in Canada's history?
How might we treat one another differently because of what we have learned?
How can we show respect for cultures and traditions?
These questions are valuable because they allow children to participate in learning rather than simply receive information.
From Knowing to Relationship…
One of the most important outcomes of this work is that the children are beginning to understand that learning about Indigenous and Métis history is not simply about learning about other people. It is also about understanding our relationship with the place we share.
The river, the trails, the stories, the artwork, the food, and the historical sites around us provide opportunities to build that understanding. When children encounter history within the places where they live and play, the past becomes connected to their present.
This connection can help children understand that reconciliation is not only something discussed on one particular day each year. It is an ongoing responsibility expressed through how we listen, what we learn, whose stories we value, and how we build relationships.
As we approach the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, our intention is not simply to mark a day on the calendar.
Instead, we are continuing a process that has already begun.
We have walked.
We have listened.
We have shared food.
We have visited places of significance.
We have explored stories and craftsmanship.
We have asked difficult questions.
We have noticed our feelings.
And we have begun to think about what respectful relationships can look like.
These experiences remind us that meaningful learning does not always require a large project or a formal lesson. Sometimes it begins with going outside, noticing where we are, learning the history of that place, and being willing to listen to the stories that have always been there.
Through these small, intentional acts of learning, children are developing a deeper connection to their community while building the foundations of diversity, empathy, respect, and social responsibility.
Truth and reconciliation begins with truth, and truth begins with being willing to learn.
