Students in Montreal discuss what reconciliation looks like with Speaking Our Truth author Monique Gray Smith
CBC Books | Posted: October 2, 2018 2:48 PM | Last Updated: July 30, 2019
Image | TD Kids Book Club participants in Montreal
Caption: Young readers at Edgewater Elementary in Montreal enjoying their copies of the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award finalist, Speaking Our Truth. (Amanda Klang/CBC)
All told, 56 Grade 5 students from St. Willibrord School in Châteauguay, Que., and Edgewater Elementary in Laval, Que., took part in this timely conversation about colonialism and reconciliation.
Caption: Monique Gray Smith poses with St Willibrord Elementary school teacher Tracey Blonder and students (from left to right) Storm Lahache, Frederike Nolet, and Ocean Lahache. Storm and Ocean are both from the neighbouring Mohawk community of Kahanawke. (Amanda Klang)
Before visiting with students in Montreal, Smith spoke with Homerun host Sue Smith about what she hoped to achieve with her book, Speaking Our Truth.
Media Audio | CBC Books : Monique Gray Smith speaks with CBC Radio's Homerun
Caption: The author of Speaking our Truth shares her hopes for the book, which serves as a young reader's companion in the work of reconciliation.
St. Willibrord sits adjacent to the Mohawk community of Kahnawake and has many students from the community. On the other side of the St. Lawrence, Edgewater Elementary has a predominantly non-Indigenous student body. Together, both groups of students embarked on a journey to learn more about settler-Indigenous relations in Canada, and how to move forward.
When Smith finally met with the children from St. Willibrord, she spoke to them about the process of writing the book and what reconciliation means to her, but she also heard from some Indigenous and non-Indigenous students about how the book made them feel.
Media Audio | Homerun : TD Kids Book Club Montreal: Monique Gray Smith author visit
Caption: Monique Gray Smith visits students in Montreal to talk about her book Speaking Our Truth
Caption: Students at St Willibrord Elementary School in Châteauguay, QC pose with their copies of Monique Gray Smith's Speaking Our Truth. (Amanda Klang/CBC)
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