N.W.T. educator receives national teaching award

A veteran Northwest Territories educator who helped develop a made-for-the-North course about residential schools will receive a national teaching award Thursday in Toronto.

John Stewart, director of early childhood and school services for the N.W.T. Department of Education, Culture and Employment, will be awarded the Indigenous Educator Award from the Indspire Institute. 

Indspire is a charitable organization that funds the development of aboriginal-themed K-12 education materials in Canada.

Stewart, in addition to heading up the department's sweeping “education renewal and innovation framework,” was one of three authors of the residential school teacher resource, which forms the basis of a mandatory Grade 10 course that launched in the N.W.T. in 2012. 

Teachers literally are saying, 'How could I have grown up anywhere in Canada and not known that this was going on?'- John Stewart

The first of its kind in Canada, the course draws on the testimony of former residential school students to explore the history and lasting social impacts of the residential schools.

Stewart says the weight of the material is being felt by teachers and students alike, according to early feedback.

"Some of it is pretty powerful [for] people who are either encountering these issues for the first time and are just stunned," he says.

"I mean, teachers literally are saying, 'How could I have grown up anywhere in Canada and not known that this was going on?'"

Though grateful to be receiving the award, Stewart admits to some discomfort.

"To be recognized is uncomfortable because it's [the survivors'] story that are being shared and need to be recognized. At the same time I'm hugely grateful that this work is being recognized the way that it is."  

Jackson Lafferty, the N.W.T. minister of education who swiftly approved the launch of the course, will be on hand to present Stewart with the award.