Recognition of Teaching Excellence

 (Ottawa, December 21, 2011) - The Native Women's Association of Canada congratulates Ms. Sylvia Smith who received the Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Teaching for her Project of Heart program. Ms. Smith teaches this program at Elizabeth Wyn Wood Alternative High School in Ottawa.

Project of Heart is an interactive teaching program that teaches mainstream alternative school students to look at important issues in unconventional ways. One issue addressed in Project of Heart was the unfair treatment of Aboriginal people in the Indian Residential School system. The Project of Heart program is comprised of five components including that of inviting a guest speaker to address a specific issue. Ms. Smith invited a residential school survivor to come to speak to the students about his experience while in residential school and about the impact that this has had on his life as well as on other family members.

Ms. Smith is an inspiration for all teachers on how to bring a dark period of Canadian history to light and to teach it in a way that allows students to understand the experience of Aboriginal peoples within the Residential School System. Project of Heart is also being taught in classrooms and community groups across Canada.

We wish Ms. Smith the best in her continued teaching career and congratulate her on receiving this very important award.

Warm regards,

Jeannette Corbiere Lavell

President