PHOTOS: School powwow connects education and culture

“Because they haven’t seen it before, I think it’s very cool, for them to see what other traditional people do and dance like,” she said.

David Larocque, powwow coordinator for the event, said it’s meant to give aboriginal students a sense of identity by teaching them traditional aspects of their culture.

“It’s very important for somebody to know who they are, where they came from, and even though they come to the city centres they still have a connection to their home communities their home First Nations,” he said.

Larocque said he hopes that this will bring culture back into modern life, and believes it will help the students significantly.

“To know who they really are they have to live in both worlds, both the aboriginal world, and non-First Nations communities. And to have an understanding of themselves as they grow academically, they also have that connection to their culture.”

He said he’s happy to share the day with non-First Nations people in the community.

“We are a part of Prince Albert, we are a part of all the major communities in Saskatchewan (and) all throughout Canada,” said Larocque.

Seeing it all come together after months of planning put a huge smile on Larocque’s face.

“I feel a lot of pride and also you feed off the energy of these young people…they were dancing, they were having fun and they were experiencing it.”

Larocque said he hopes this event is just the beginning. He said he wants to see it continue throughout the city, province and the rest of Canada.

Jayne Boulet is the coordinator at W.F.A. Turgeon. She hosted the first East Side Schools Traditional Powwow at her school last year.

When she move schools, she decided to bring one of their traditions over for her new students to experience.

“Seeing the excitement today again about having the children be able to participate; to be able to see the drumming, see the regalia and to actually dance and be part of it. There’s really no way to be able to describe how excited I am about it today. I can’t even explain it. I love it.”

Boulet said she started a hoop troop at her school and said it’s been great for her student.

“They can’t wait for practise. They can’t wait to go to an event. They’re just so excited and that makes me feel really good. I know that we’re doing something right.”

The hoop troop is all inclusive according to Boulet who said, “it doesn’t matter what culture you are you can participate in tradition.”

She said being part of the troop teaches them to be leaders in their community and to have pride in what they do.

“I think it’s very important for every culture to understand their tradition, and the history of it… so I believe we do have to have functions like this in order for everybody to see it, and for aboriginal kids to see it,” she said.

“The kids will learn more today than they will reading two chapters out of a text book,” said Boulet.

Bringing culture back into the forefront will make her students excel, Boulet said.

“We have a lot of First Nations people living in our province and we want them to succeed in school, so if they can get back to their ground roots with their tradition they’ll do much better in life and they’ll be our leaders, and that’s what we want.”

Emile Highway, an elder and veteran from the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation attended the event. He went to a residential school as a kid and then spent 20 years in the military. He said he was “kind of removed” from his culture, and more recently got back in touch with it.

He said he was happy to see young aboriginal people get involved in the traditional activities, as well as people of other cultures.

asoloducha@rawlco.com

On Twitter: @alex_soloducha

by Alex Soloducha

PHOTOS: School powwow connects education and culture

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