Mrs. Sutherland would like to thank the following people for all of their support and hard work in completing the library renovation at HSS this year:
Finally, a special thank you to Matt Harris who quietly works behind the scenes for his incredible carpentry skills and for doing a myriad of jobs over the last year and a half to create a new and welcoming library space for all the staff and students. Without his patience and skill, none of this would exist.
- Thank you to Mr. Mortenson and his woodworking students who constructed and finished a live edge countertop for the library as well as building new bookshelves to hold all of the books in the Indigenous collection.
- Thank you to the Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) for their generous donation of slatwall to display the new seed library and to display the books in the new Indigenous Collection.
- Thank you to the students who participate in the S.D. 48 Indigenous Leadership annual 24 Hour Drum in 2019. This centered around a march to raise awareness about the issue of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) and students at Howe Sound Secondary attended the assembly that launched the march. Prior to the event, each HSS class participated in lessons about MMIWG. Following their learning, classes each created a square for the school's Reconciliation Blanket. Butterfly shapes were chosen by Indigenous Leadership students to honour Indigenous women and girls.
- Thank you to local Squamish blacksmith Eric Gindlesperger who designed and fabricated the butterfly blanket hanger. https://egironworks.com/about/
- Thank you to Ms. Way for binding the Memory Quilt and adding hangers so it can be displayed in the Indigenous collection.
- Thank you to Mrs. Lafreniere and her Indigenous Leadership students and Mrs. Van Der Werff and her English First Peoples students for helping to decolonize and reclassify the Indigenous collection under the new Brian Deer Classification System. Brian Deer was a Kahnawa:ke librarian who was hired by the National Indian Brotherhood (now the Assembly of First Nations) and developed a library cataloging system based on Indigenous knowledge structures. It is an approach to classification that centres relationships; between people and place, as well as knowledge and place. It provided an actionable item for the students to participate in Canada’s 94 Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. In the report, action items #67 and #69 are specific points for Libraries, Museums & Archives to “undertake, in collaboration with Aboriginal peoples, a national review of policies and best practices for organizing and archiving” materials.” The students can feel empowered that they were able to put these goals into action within their school community.
- Thank you to Librarian Ashley Edwards who developed the Indigenous Curriculum Resource Centre (ICRC) at Simon Fraser University to support educators who are interested in decolonizing their teaching practices. She has skillfully provided professional development opportunities for the Sea to Sky librarians and graciously shared her locally modified Brian Deer Classification system for us to use as a framework for decolonizing our library collection.
Finally, a special thank you to Matt Harris who quietly works behind the scenes for his incredible carpentry skills and for doing a myriad of jobs over the last year and a half to create a new and welcoming library space for all the staff and students. Without his patience and skill, none of this would exist.
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