
A study in First Nations 101
With as many as 10,000 native kids in Toronto, the public
board is boosting heritage awareness
The push brings fresh insight into a group seen as the `invisible'
visible minority, Louise Brown writes
The Toronto Star, by LOUISE BROWN, EDUCATION REPORTER, June 20,
2006 page A3
 |
Natalie G****** and her Grade 2 classmates
at Humewood Community School try out a drum, part of a
series of activities at the school to mark National
Aboriginal Day |
The Grade 2 children at Humewood Community School are thrilled to
be smoking in class.
Not puffing on cigarettes, but breathing wafts of burning sage in an
aboriginal ceremony the school is holding to help students better
understand their native classmates.
As Humewood mother Joanne Vautour, who is part Ojibwa and part
French, circles the room with the small dish of sage for this
traditional "smudge" ceremony designed to clear away negative
thoughts, child after child reaches into the smoke and waves it over
their face and body.
"I'm native, so I've done this before and I know some Ojibwa words
too," says a beaming 7-year-old Keesha Newman as she waits for the
drumming workshop to begin.
At this west Toronto grade school, which has 20 students of native
background, children, teachers and even parents have been taking a
crash course in First Nations culture over the past week in honour
of National Aboriginal Day tomorrow. Children have learned how to
play lacrosse, which was invented by native North Americans, and
taken turns baking traditional bannock bread. They heard the native
legend about why strawberries are shaped like hearts, and learned of
the harsh realities of the prairie buffalo hunt.
It's all part of a new push by Canada's largest school board to
bring fresh insight into a group often seen as the "invisible"
visible minority.
"We have 8,000 to 10,000 aboriginal children in Toronto more than
any other city in the province but they tend to go underground;
they're a group that don't often speak out because they have been
discriminated against for so long," says Ojibwa educator Cathy Pawis,
the Toronto District School Board's new central principal in charge
of native education.
"Now, for the first time, the board is making them a priority."
With a more native-sensitive social studies curriculum, a new
advisory committee on native affairs and more training for staff and
students about aboriginal culture, the board is taking steps to help
boost awareness of native heritage.
This spring, 50 principals visited the Native Canadian Centre for a
crash course in elements of aboriginal culture, from the impact of
residential schools to the protocol for showing respect to elders.
The board co-hosted a recent teachers' conference at York University
on how to make elementary schools more sensitive to native culture.
Each school has been sent tips on how to observe National Aboriginal
Day tomorrow, and the board will hold a public celebration at its
offices in Etobicoke.
And native learning is a growing priority at schools across the
province:
The Ontario government has drafted a sweeping plan to help the
province's 50,000 aboriginal students catch up to their non-native
peers by the year 2016 in areas where they lag behind, from test
scores to high school graduation and enrolment in higher learning.
The ministry is gathering feedback across the province on the
proposed policy that would promote the training of more aboriginal
teachers, more literacy help for native students, more tracking of
native children's learning and more outreach to native parents.
"With such a huge gap in achievement between native and non-native
students, we know we need to target very focused support and we
know it will pay off," Education Minister Sandra Pupatello said
yesterday. The government plans to fine-tune its new policy this
fall, after consultations.
The Ontario Public School Boards Association has made aboriginal
education a priority and will add a First Nations trustee to its
board of directors to suggest ways schools can help native children
succeed. Already seven school boards across Ontario, including the
Toronto District School Board, have decided to track race-based
statistics this fall on native student achievement.
With funding from several universities, teachers' unions and
charitable foundations, Lieutenant-Governor James Bartleman will
launch 35 summer literacy camps this summer in 28 remote fly-in
reserves across northern Ontario, to promote the love of reading
among children who often have little access to books. All 2,000
campers will receive a free book every two months next year from
donors across Ontario.
In Toronto, school awareness programs like Humewood's are seen as
timely.
"When we see situations like Caledonia (where natives have been
engaged in a bitter land dispute), we know it's important to talk to
children about the issues that can lead to them," said school
trustee Mari Rutka, who has taken on special responsibility for
native education at the board.
Humewood principal Rita Garry said the idea of a week-long native
festival arose last fall after some native families said they felt
disconnected from the school, citing occasional stereotyping in the
classroom and isolated name-calling in the playground.
Garry called a meeting of staff and parents, who formed an
"aboriginal community circle" that organized the week-long
Aboriginal Day festivities.
To Keesha, the native student, it has been a chance to strut her
stuff.
"I know that meegwetch means thank you in Ojibwa, and weesnik means
let's eat!" said Keesha.
Classmate Serena Sessa was suitably impressed. "Keesha's native,"
said Serena, "so she really knows a lot." |