This interview is part of a special series of the Teaching Canada's History podcast where we spoke with the finalists for the 2021 Governor General's History Award for Excellence in Teaching.

Janet teaches at the Scarborough Centre for Alternative Studies in Toronto, Ontario where she developed her project. Janet’s project had two major goals: as a direct response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 62nd Call to Action; and to contribute to the process of reconciliation as defined the TRC report, as reconciliation “requires that the paternalistic and racist foundations of the residential school system be rejected as the basis for an ongoing relationship.” It consists of a 20-page interdisciplinary Jamboard showing different maps or landscapes that students can interact with online. It begins with a Land Acknowledgement page which invites students to draw the First Nation territories of the place they occupy. This is followed by a variety of units that feature Indigenous histories and governance practices for sharing land, numbered treaties, and colonial events from Canadian history.

To learn more about the Governor General's History Awards or to nominate a teacher in your community, visit CanadasHistory.ca/Awards.