• Upcoming Professional Learning
  • Communities of Practice
  • Online Learning
  • Indigenous Reconciliation
  • Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
  • Rainbow Families
  • Professional Learning Strategic Plan
  • Join the EYCC mailing list
  • Mentorship
    • Stepping Side By Side
    • Micro-credential: Mentoring Educators in the Early Years Sector
    • Mentoring Pairs

indigenous Reconciliation

Region of Waterloo Children’s Services welcome you on a journey of discovery. As part of this journey, we offer you this video to view and consider how Truth and Reconciliation connect to the early years sector.

Professional learning with six nations polytechnic

As part of ongoing commitments to Truth and Reconciliation in the early years, Children’s Services has partnered with Six Nations Polytechnic to offer 8 in-person professional learning sessions on Indigenous ways of knowing and being, land-based learning, and Indigenous pedagogies. Asynchronous online videos will also be available to support learning on Indigenous histories, worldviews, and responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action in early years contexts.

  • Thursday May 7th - KAIROS Blanket Exercise e
  • Tuesday June 16th - Woodland Cultural Centre
  • Friday September 18th - Indigenous Identity and Cultural Safety in Child Care
  • Thursday October 8th - Reconciliation & the Two Row Wampum in Child Care (for leaders/administrators)
  • Wednesday October 14th - Embedding Indigenous Pedagogy into Ontario Curriculum
  • Tuesday October 27th - Intentional Land Based Learning in the Early Years
  • Thursday November 5th - Cultural Games
  • Monday November 23rd - Trauma Informed Practice

Expressions of interest are now open for the May and June sessions, please speak with your supervisor to register your interest. More details to come for the remainder of the sessions this year.


Reflection resources

Land Acknowledgement

  • Native-Land.ca | Our home on native land
  • Whose Land - Welcome

truth and reconciliation

  • Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada: Calls to Action
  • Beyond 94 | CBC News
  • ​Reports - National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation

local community resources

  • Indigenous Community Resources | Family & Children's Services of the Waterloo Region
  • Indigenous Reads for Children | Region of Waterloo Library | BiblioCommons
  • ​Indigenous Child Care | Canadian Child Care Federation

podcasts, blogs, Books & articles

  • Kiwew | CBC Podcasts | CBC Listen
  • Edge of the Bush – Where Worldviews Meet
  • How I Use Indigenous Teachings to Help My Kids Respect the Earth | Learning
  • This Mohawk woman is translating nursery rhymes to share her language with kids — and caregivers, too | CBC News
  • Educator Stories | Natural Curiosity
  • ​Identity and Knowledge in Indigenous Young Children's Experiences in Canada
  • ​First Nations 101 - Lynda Gray’s Guide to Indigenous Issues

additional resources

  • Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework ​
  • A Sense of Belonging: Supporting Healthy Child Development in Aboriginal Families
  • A Child Becomes Strong: Journeying Through Each Stage of the Life Cycle
  • ​The Sacred Space of Womanhood - Mothering Across the Generations (EN - web).pdf
  • First Nations Early Learning Collaboration 
  • Indigenous Early Learning and Child Care Framework 
  • Ontario Aboriginal Head Start Association (OAHSA) 
  • The Canadian Child Care Federation – Indigenous Child Care 
  • Children’s Book Activity Sheets for Home-Based Learning 
  • ELCC Métis-Specific Resources 
  • What is Reconciliation? (CBC Kids) 
Join the Early Years and Child Care Mailing List!
Contact Us:
Rhonda Warren; [email protected]
Kim Sangüesa; [email protected]​
Picture
​Copyright 2025
​Region of Waterloo
​All rights reserved