Sandra Lamouche performs a hoop dance for the Grade 7-9 students at Seven Persons School as elders Charlie Fox and Ross Blackwater cheer her on.--NEWS PHOTO KELLEN TANIGUCHI
ktaniguchi@medicinehatnews.com@@kellentaniguchi
Seven Persons School had an Indigenous elder from Kainai Nation speak to students and hold a smudging ceremony near where rocks painted by students in memory of the 215 students found at the Kamloops Residential School hang on the school’s fence.
Elder Charlie Fox spoke to K-6 and Grade 7-9 students on Thursday afternoon and says it’s important to share his stories and knowledge to educate people and advise spiritually.
“For us to come here, we feel really obligated to not only the surrounding towns, but all of Alberta, and we want to develop a dialogue and a special relationship so that things can improve for everybody, especially our children,” said Fox.
Before Fox and fellow elder Ross Blackwater spoke to the students in the Seven Persons gymnasium, Sandra Lamouche shared her story as an Indigenous hoop dancer and danced for students who couldn’t stop clapping and cheering at her performance.
“It’s about being a positive role model, but I really believe that Indigenous knowledge benefits everybody,” she said. “It’s good for everybody, it’s inclusive and it’s about belonging and equality and that’s good for all people. I am just really passionate about sharing. The hoop dance saved my life and I wanted to help change other people’s minds and lives too through that.”
Catherine Usher, principal, says they invited the elders and Lamouche because they have been touched by the uncovering of the 215 children’s bodies in Kamloops and wanted to bring awareness to the “atrocities” that happened to the Indigenous peoples.
“We decided we would paint rocks with a variety of Indigenous symbols, not just Indigenous symbols, really pieces of what our kids are and things that represent them. We’ve also done a little bit of learning about the Seven Sacred Teachings as well,” said Usher.
Usher says the school plans to carry the Seven Sacred Teachings into the classroom and educate students with them.
“This is not just about Indigenous, this is how we should live, these are the values we should hold close to our heart, moving forward that’s the plan,” she said.
She says the K-6 students enjoyed the stone painting project and all students enjoyed the presentation on Thursday. She adds she thinks they need to talk about these topics because the more comfortable people are with hard conversations and topics, the better things can become.
“Fox also said this isn’t about looking for apologies, it’s us moving forward and how do we grow together. It’s not about trying to right the wrongs of the past, it’s just acknowledging that it happened and how are we going to move on from that,” said Usher.
