Ten years ago, Gord Downie released Secret Path. The album, graphic novel, and animated film shared the story of Chanie Wenjack. Chanie was a 12-year-old Anishinaabe boy who died in 1966 while trying to return home after fleeing Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School in Kenora, Ontario.

Secret Path Week runs from October 17–22, the anniversaries of Gord Downie’s and Charlie Wenjack’s passing. This year, it’s a chance to reflect on a decade of learning from Chanie’s story. It’s also a chance to ask what meaningful action toward reconciliation looks like in your classroom today.

Bringing Secret Path Into Your Classroom Through Language

Language is at the heart of how we approach Secret Path at Learning Bird. Together with the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund, we created resources that connect Chanie’s story to Indigenous languages for high school students.

Students explore the story from different perspectives and consider how language carries culture and identity. They also connect history to present-day realities. The resources open space for honest conversations about truth, reconciliation, and our shared responsibilities. 

Explore our Indigenous Languages and Secret Path Resource Kit.

Get Involved in Secret Path Week 2026

To mark the anniversary, the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund is hosting events across the country. These include a Secret Path 10th Anniversary concert on October 23. You can also organize school and community events in your local area. 

Host a Screening of The Secret Path

The animated film brings together Gord Downie’s songs and Jeff Lemire’s illustrations from the graphic novel. It’s free to watch on YouTube and Vimeo. The Fund’s screening and discussion guides, available in English and French, can help you plan your screening and conversation. Preview the film first to decide how it best fits your students. 

Participate in the Walk for Wenjack

In 2016, the first Walk for Wenjack retraced Chanie’s steps as he tried to make his way home. Since then, communities have shaped their own walks to honour Chanie’s memory in ways that reflect who they are. Register for Walk for Wenjack 2026.

Become a Legacy School

Looking for support beyond Secret Path Week? Through the free Legacy Schools program, schools, daycares, and youth groups receive toolkits with lessons and activities. These resources teach about Canada’s colonial history and the richness and resilience of Indigenous cultures. This school year, the Fund is sharing free resources with more than 10,000 educators. 

However your class takes part, let’s keep listening to Chanie’s story and carry that learning forward all year. 

September brings important conversations about Orange Shirt Day and Truth & Reconciliation into classrooms. Meaningful engagement, however, requires more than planning an activity for September 30.

Educators need opportunities to reflect on how they approach these conversations, engage learners in age-appropriate ways, and create classroom environments that recognize the lasting impacts of residential schools. It is also important to consider how a heavy month of conversations about residential schools can affect Indigenous educators and colleagues.

Join Indigenous educator Jade Roberts for Reflecting on Truth & Reconciliation in Education, a free 60-minute webinar that invites educators to pause, reflect, and deepen their understanding of Indigenous histories and their approach to allyship.

Jade is a former classroom teacher and the daughter of a residential school Survivor. She brings this perspective to a conversation about moving beyond performative gestures and finding meaningful ways to honour Orange Shirt Day and Truth & Reconciliation in education.

What We’ll Explore

During the webinar, Jade will share:

• Activities and approaches for different grade levels
• Ways to engage K–12 learners
• Trauma-informed classroom practices
• Approaches to supporting the well-being of Indigenous colleagues
• Educational resources for K–12

Whether you’re preparing for Orange Shirt Day or reflecting more broadly on your approach to Truth & Reconciliation in education, this webinar offers an opportunity to consider how you can approach this work with greater care and intention.

Watch the Webinar

Watch the webinar recording.

View the list of resources shared in the webinar.

About the Presenter

Jade Roberts is a Woodland Cree educator and artist from Lac La Ronge Indian Band in Northern Saskatchewan. She currently resides in Treaty 6 Territory in Saskatoon, SK. Roberts graduated with a Bachelor’s of Education from ITEP at the University of Saskatchewan in 2018 and went on to teach an elementary art and Cree culture program for 6 years.

Jade is now a full-time artist, creating original pieces, working with clients on commissioned projects, and facilitating art workshops. She works with a variety of mediums, including digital illustration, painting, and land-based projects. Jade’s artwork often depicts colourful florals or animals and is influenced by her Cree culture and the land. Many of Jade’s pieces are connected to stories and language to honour and remember the teachings passed down.

Teacher onboarding in Indigenous communities is about helping new educators feel connected, supported, and ready to become part of your community from day one.

Welcoming new educators to your community and school is exciting, but it can also be a big transition. This introduction is especially true for teachers who are new to living and working in your community, where relationships, cultural understanding, and community engagement are central to their success.

Welcoming Teachers to Your Community: Best Practices and Strategies is a practical webinar designed for administrators and education leaders working in Indigenous community schools. This session explores how to build an effective teacher onboarding approach in Indigenous communities, with a focus on connection, belonging, and long-term success.

Teacher Onboarding in Indigenous Communities: What You’ll Learn

In this session, we walk through key strategies to help you design a thoughtful and supportive onboarding process, including:

• What teachers should receive before they arrive, including key information and orientation materials
• How to structure the first days and weeks to support a smooth transition
• Ways to introduce community values, Protocols, and expectations around family and community engagement
• Strategies for setting up mentorship and ongoing professional support

Effective onboarding helps educators feel more confident, connected, and prepared, which can improve retention and create stronger relationships within your school community.

Who Should Attend

This webinar is ideal for school administrators, education directors, and leadership teams at Indigenous community schools involved in hiring, onboarding, and supporting educators.

Watch the Webinar Recording

Click here to watch the webinar.

Land-based learning offers powerful opportunities to connect classroom curriculum with the natural world, seasonal cycles, and experiential learning. In Tapping into Learning: Birch Trees, Science, and the Land, educator Wapastim, White Horse, Jason Bigcharles explores how birch tree tapping connects science learning with land-based education.

During this session, Wapastim will share how tapping birch trees connects to science concepts such as life cycles, ecosystems, weather patterns, and seasonal changes. Participants will also learn practical ways to bring experiential, place-based learning into their classrooms through simple, accessible activities rooted in the land.

This webinar is ideal for educators seeking accessible, place-based activities, as well as for administrators looking for ways to support land-based learning in their schools and classrooms.

Land-based learning supports hands-on, experiential learning and helps learners build relationships with the land, community, and seasonal cycles. These approaches align with Indigenous pedagogies that emphasize learning through experience, relationships, and connection to the land.

Participants will leave the webinar with:

• Ideas for connecting land-based learning to science curriculum
• Practical classroom activities connected to seasonal learning
• Examples of experiential learning opportunities
• Ideas for supporting land-based learning at the school or district level

We invite educators, administrators, and education teams to join us for this practical and inspiring session.

About the Presenter

Wāpastim is a Métis educator with deep roots in Cree cultural practice and spiritualism. He is an education consultant specializing in First Nations, Métis, and Inuit content and curriculum. He has extensive experience leading Culture-Based-Learning Camps and sharing cultural teachings to students of all ages, focusing on traditional and contemporary Land-Based teachings of the Woodland Cree Peoples while integrating curriculum into lessons.

Webinar Recording and Resources

Watch the webinar here.

Watch the full videos of Wāpastim sharing the story of Trickster and the Thunderbird and demonstrating three activities involving wāskway (birch).

Learning Bird is excited to attend the First Nations Educators’ Conference (FNEC) from February 3–5 in Calgary, co-hosted by the Indigenous Knowledge & Wisdom Centre and the Tsuut’ina Nation.

This educator-focused gathering brings together First Nations educators and community education staff to learn, share, and strengthen teaching practices that support children and youth across Treaty territories. Each year, the conference creates space for relationship-building, professional learning, and community-driven conversations about education grounded in Indigenous knowledge, values, and priorities.

About the First Nations Educators’ Conference (FNEC)

FNEC is designed to support community educators working across Treaty Nos. 6, 7, and 8. The conference emphasizes:

• Strengthening educator capacity through shared learning
• Creating space for collaboration and connection between educators
• Supporting culturally grounded approaches to teaching and learning
• Enhancing educational experiences for First Nations learners

Sessions and gatherings are shaped to reflect community priorities and the lived experiences of educators working directly with children and youth.

Connect with Learning Bird at FNEC

If you’re attending the First Nations Educators’ Conference, we invite you to visit the Learning Bird table in the exhibitor area. Our team will be on site to:

• Connect with educators and community partners
• Discuss your upcoming language and culture projects
• Share free, classroom-ready resources
• Talk about curriculum, professional development, and community-led projects
• Offer Learning Bird goodies and host a prize draw

We always value opportunities to learn alongside educators and to share resources that support Indigenous education in meaningful, practical ways.

Visit the Indigenous Knowledge and Wisdom Centre’s website for more information about programming and event details.

Register for the First Nations Educators’ Conference.

We look forward to connecting with educators and community partners at FNEC 2026!

As we look back on 2025, we’re taking a moment to reflect on the relationships, learning, and shared work that shaped the year. From deepening long-standing partnerships to beginning new collaborations, this year was grounded in connection and guided by the priorities of the communities we work alongside across Turtle Island.

A Year of Meaningful Partnerships

In 2025, Learning Bird supported over 90 projects in partnership with 27 First Nations, Métis, and Inuit community partners. These projects involved collaboration with 10 new partners and 17 returning partners, demonstrating both the growth of our partner base and the strength of long-term, trust-based relationships.

Each project was shaped by community-identified goals and priorities—whether focused on language revitalization, curriculum development, educator support, or broader community learning initiatives.

Showing Up in Community

Building relationships in person remains a vital part of how we work. This year, our team travelled on 13 trips to 9 communities across 3 provinces and 1 territory, spending time with Elders, Knowledge Holders, educators, and community members.

These visits included facilitating professional learning sessions, supporting collaborative curriculum development, and working alongside partners on strategic community language planning. Being present in community allows us to listen, learn, and co-create resources that are grounded in local context and lived experience.

Supporting Education Conferences

Over the past year, we have had the privilege of connecting with community educators, leaders, and partners at many different education conferences. In 2025, we attended: 

• First Nations Educator’s Conference (FNEC)
• Matawa Education Conference 
  • Mary Ann Nawagesic (Mental Health Lead, Matawa Education Care Centre—PASS) and Danielle Mior co-presented on the resources we created together. 
• Supporting Indigenous Languages Revitalization (SILR) Gathering 
• Think Indigenous 
• Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Land-Based Learning Gathering
  • Wapastim (Whitehorse) Jason Bigcharles (Cultural Knowledge and Curriculum Consultant) and Joelle Chemali were co-keynote speakers.
• WAVES – Global Indigenous Languages Summit
• Indspire National Gathering
• FNESC Education Conference
  • Valarie Johnson (Esket’emc Community Education) and Joelle Chemali co-presented a workshop.

Expanding the Ways We Support Communities

As community needs evolve, so do the ways we offer support. In 2025, we were honoured to collaborate on a growing range of new projects, including:

• Strategic community language planning
• Early childhood education, early learning curriculum, and resources
• Community-wide language learning and cultural programming beyond the classroom

These projects reflect a shared commitment to language revitalization and lifelong learning that extends beyond school walls and into families, communities, and intergenerational spaces.

Connecting Through Webinars and Professional Learning

We were excited to continue offering webinars that create space for shared learning and dialogue with educators and community leaders. In 2025, we hosted the following sessions:

• Creating Your Community Language Plan
• From Equity to Empathy: Creating Inclusive Classrooms
• Orange Shirt Day 2025: Educator Strategies and Resources
• Integrating Indigenous Pedagogies into Early Literacy Development
• Honouring Many Ways of Learning: Strategies for Indigenizing K–12 Assessment

These webinars allowed us to connect with educators at different stages of their learning journeys and support practical, reflective approaches to Indigenous education.

Freely Available Resources for Educators

Sharing knowledge and supporting educators remains a central part of our work. We recognize that Indigenizing and decolonizing teaching practices are ongoing, lifelong processes, and access to thoughtful, well-designed resources makes that journey more accessible.

In 2025, we shared the following free educator resources:

• Honouring Indigenous Veterans Day Educator Resources
• Educator Resources for Treaties Recognition Week 2025
• Celebrating Métis Week 2025 and Honouring the Legacy of Louis Riel
• Secret Path Week

Staying Connected Through News from the Nest

Throughout the year, we continued sharing updates, reflections, resources, and funding opportunities through our LinkedIn newsletter, News from the Nest. If you’re not already subscribed, we invite you to join us there and stay connected with the broader Learning Bird community.

Looking Ahead to 2026

As we move into 2026, we’re carrying forward the lessons, relationships, and shared commitments that shaped this past year. Thank you to the communities, educators, and partners who trusted us with this work. We’re excited to continue learning together in the year ahead.

Early learning environments continue to evolve as educators support young learners with diverse developmental needs. Across Canada, educators are navigating challenges related to development, classroom routines, and supporting families during the transition to school.

In this free webinar, A Holistic Approach to Early Learning Readiness, Learning Bird Education Consultant Brandy Martin and Marketing and Grant Specialist Hannah McGregor share practical, developmentally appropriate strategies educators can use to support early learners. This session is designed for educators, principals, and school board specialists seeking grounded, holistic approaches they can apply in classrooms and school communities.

Supporting Early Learners Through a Holistic Lens

Supporting early learners requires an understanding of how lived experiences, family contexts, and learning environments shape development. Educators across the country are observing differences in social, emotional, physical, and cognitive development that influence how learners engage with school routines and classroom spaces. This is especially true for learners whose early developmental years were heavily impacted by the pandemic.

In this webinar, we will explore:

• Post-pandemic early learning development
• Common patterns seen in ECE settings
• A holistic framework to support early learners
• Ways to support learners and educators

Drawing on research and educator experiences, this session provides context for what schools are seeing and why a holistic approach is essential.

Free Resources and Early Learning Activities

Educators who attend will leave with free resources that provide concrete examples of how to support early learning readiness in practice.

These resources include:

• Sample early learning readiness activities for each of the four domains of holistic development
• Examples of activities that can be used in classrooms or adapted for different learning contexts

The activities shared are intended as examples of what can be created to support early learning development. They are not a fully developed program, but practical tools educators can use immediately.

Who Should Attend?

This webinar is intended for:

• Kindergarten and early years educators
• Principals and school administrators
• School board and district specialists
• Educators supporting early learners and families

Watch the Webinar

Watch the webinar recording.

Download the Holistic Learning Readiness resource sample. 

How can educators move beyond standardized testing to create assessments that honour diverse ways of learning?

Learning Bird’s Education Consultants Joelle Chemali and Eliana El Khoury host an interactive webinar exploring practical strategies for Indigenizing K–12 assessment.

In this session, Joelle and Eliana unpack the difference between Indigenizing and decolonizing assessment and discuss why these distinctions matter in K–12 classrooms. We explore how conventional testing practices can limit our understanding of student success and how alternative approaches can make learning more inclusive, meaningful, and empowering.

Drawing on Indigenous perspectives on learning and assessment, this webinar highlights strategies that value relationships, lived experiences, and multiple ways of knowing. Educators will gain classroom-ready examples across subject areas and leave with ideas for creating culturally responsive assessment practices that honour the diversity of learners in their care.

What You’ll Learn

• The difference between Indigenizing and decolonizing assessment—and why it matters
• The limitations of standardized testing in reflecting students’ full potential
• Indigenous-informed strategies that promote empowerment and inclusivity
• Practical classroom examples you can apply right away

Audience

This webinar is designed for K–12 educators, school leaders, and education professionals seeking to integrate Indigenous pedagogies and inclusive assessment strategies into their practice.

Watch the Webinar

Watch the webinar recording.

Review the support document.

Orange Shirt Day is an Indigenous-led grassroots day intended to commemorate and raise awareness of the individual, family, and community impacts of residential schools. Are you wondering how to discuss such a heavy topic with learners you’re just getting to know? We can help!

Learning Bird has created age- and grade-appropriate resources for K–12 learners. These resources explore the history of residential schools and the origins of Orange Shirt Day. These classroom-ready resource kits include a teacher background document, framing presentations, and a series of in-class activities that help learners understand the impacts residential schools had on Survivors.

View and download the resource kits:

• Kindergarten–Grade 2
• Grades 3–6
• Grades 7–9
• Grades 10–12

Additional Resources – Webinars

Kindergarten–Grade 2 and Grades 7–9

Watch our Orange Shirt Day 2024 Webinar for more information on implementing the Kindergarten–Grade 2 and Grades 7–9 Orange Shirt Day resource kits. In this session, Education Consultants Hannah Arseneau-Danielis and Denise Desjardins share practical strategies and best practices for integrating these resources into the classroom.

Grades 3–6 and Grades 10–12

Watch our Orange Shirt Day 2025 Webinar to learn more about our Grades 3–6 and Grades 10–12 Orange Shirt Day Resource Kits. We explore strategies for using these kits and share best practices for fostering respectful, age-appropriate conversations. Participants will come away with practical ideas and insights to support meaningful learning about truth and reconciliation.

 

Support Inclusive Education with Our Upcoming Webinar and Free Classroom Resources

Creating an inclusive classroom goes beyond treating all students equally — it means building a learning environment where every student feels seen, supported, and valued.

Join us for From Equity to Empathy: Creating Inclusive Classrooms, a free professional development webinar for educators led by instructional designer Julian Cruz. This practical session will explore how to foster empathy, belonging, and equity in K-12 classrooms through inclusive teaching strategies and identity-affirming practices.

In this webinar, you’ll learn:

• How to shift from equality to equity in your teaching practice
• Ways to recognize and address biases in classroom instruction
• Strategies to ensure diverse student identities are represented year-round
• Approaches tailored for younger learners to help build empathy from an early age

As part of the session, we’ll also explore our free resource kit, Celebrating Diverse Identities. This classroom-ready toolkit helps educators introduce concepts like diversity, identity and self-expression, empathy, and stereotypes in developmentally appropriate ways.

Celebrating Diverse Identities includes age-appropriate activities designed to:

• Support 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusive education
• Encourage student self-reflection and cultural awareness
• Build social-emotional learning (SEL) skills through inclusive conversations
• Foster stronger community connections in your classroom

Watch the webinar recording and gain valuable strategies and tools to support diversity, inclusion, and belonging in your classroom.

Download the Celebrating Diverse Identities resource kit and start bringing these important conversations into your teaching practice today.