3 minute read
An Educational Indigenous Experience
An Educational Indigenous Experience
Rosanne Fortier - News Correspondent
Sixty-five attendees were engaged as they spoke to people they knew and others at the Mundare and Vegreville Indigenous Family and Community Evening on November 20 at A.L. Horton School.
This event presented insights into the Indigenous history and culture in a fun and interesting manner.
Elk Island Public Schools' First Nations, Metis, Inuit Education team, Mundare School, Vegreville Composite High School, and A.L. Horton School organized this evening for connection, learning, and camaraderie.
Professionals Christina Gieringer, Kristy Giebelhaus, and Morgana Larsen collaborated on this event.
Consultants for this speciality from EIPS Danielle Booker and Leaha Atcheynum were helping with the duties for the evening.
Larsen, First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Lead Teacher, and the GOALS teacher for A.L. Horton School, explained that they decided to hold this event to have their Indigenous students at their schools, see their culture celebrated, and share teachings with them and our wider community.
The evening started with a real crowd-pleasing meal of soup and bannock where many attendees sought a second helping.
After this, a smudging ceremony with the sacred plant sage a Cree medicine was presented.
Next, Artisan and Metis Knowledge Keeper Connie Kulhavy explained that on her mom's dad's side, her Grandfather Corbert Ross and Uncle Donald Ross (Donald Ross is buried with the group of nine inside the fence at the Batoche site) fought with Gabriel Dumont and Louis Riel at the Battle of Batoche. “My mom is eighty-seven years old and remembers her Grandfather visiting their family in Meadow Lake after the Resistance and sharing a few stories. She was a very young girl at the time he was visiting.”
Kulhavy went on to give an art course in creating a painting of birch trees where she stated that the birch trees are significant to her especially because a Medicine Man gave her a gift of Chaga Medicine from the Birch Tree and did a prayer for her. “Chaga is known as one of the most powerful medicines in the world. I used to love walking to school in my hometown of Hay River, Northwest Territories, and see these trees in every season.”
During the event, People also explored, asked questions, and learned about the Giant Floor Map teachings from the Indigenous People Atlas of Canada. This map taught about indigenous people and their languages on Turtle Island over thousands of years with fluid borders pre-dating Canada.
Attendee Brandy Houle Stefan expressed that the staff was welcoming to the guests. The meal was tasty. The explanation of smudging was well done, and it was neat how most of the guests joined in. “The art project with Connie was fantastic; even though we were supposed to gift our art, she plans to keep hers.”
