Its been a while! My goodness So much has happened since my last post so let’s get started!
One of my favourite evening activities had been long bike rides on the gravel roads, the scenery is stunning and it typically very calm. However, many (all) of these beautiful rides had some sort of bear encounter. I decided it best to take my bike back to Edmonton and stop the rides after seeing a couple too many cub and mama combos. As beautiful as it was, I came to the decision that at this point I am not adequately equipped for any sort of wildlife encounter!
As a health intern, I have been very busy with health and safety measures surrounding COVID-19. These measures have extended into the education plan for BFN in the upcoming educational year 2020-2021. These tough decisions are not unique to parents/families and caregivers in Beaver First Nation, but all over the world as families make the best decisions for them in education and safety.
This work surrounding the education plan has extended into community meetings to give presentations and hear from members in discussion and in a survey format. This meeting sparked an interest for me in helping to create an option for families that fits the community’s particular needs. This has been an ongoing project, and we have been working with various stakeholders including ISC (Indigenous Services Canada), NPTC (North Peace Tribal Council) and the local school division. One of the biggest educational opportunities I have had has been learning more about constitutional and Treaty 8 rights to education.
If you are interested, please continue your learning journey below.
The image is from “The Chiefs Assembly on Education” (2012)
https://www.aadnc-aandc.gc.ca/DAM/DAM-INTER-HQ/STAGING/texte-text/edu_ep_al_1313770437853_eng.pdf
Homepage – Treaty 8 First Nations
The people who have shared this information with me have been so kind and also generous with their time. My lack of information on Indigenous education has highlighted my privilege, I have never had to learn about this, it has never an issue for me. I am so grateful for this learning experience, and I will continue to educate myself on this and hopefully others as well. The fight for quality education in lifelong learning is a continual process.
Stenette and I were able to travel to Edmonton with Cheif and Council for education meetings and absorbed a lot of information and learned more about how negotiations and planning take place.
This work with education and the safety of children and the community has consumed a lot of my time, and somehow this has brought us to the last week in the community. To ask for guidance and clarity from the grandmothers and grandfathers, a Feeding the Fire Ceremony was completed after the education meetings. This included offerings of tobacco over an open fire, prayers, traditional dances and prayer songs. What an experience. Many community members came to the event with offerings and it was led by Elders and Chief and Council.
To really bring things full circle, the moose story that I have shared earlier continues. We have now been a part of getting the moose, field dressing it, we have tried the meat, and now we have the opportunity to help tan the hide! Right after the Feeding the Fire ceremony we headed over to a community member’s house to get started on the hide!
I was so unaware of the hard work and ample time required to tan a hide! I will never look at a pair of Mukluks or Mocasins the same way again! The first day was 10 hours of cleaning the hide, taking off any extra meat and skin with a bone scraper, working it down very slowly. There were many youths helping in the process and still it was a long day of hard work. I was told that this is typically done by one or two women in a day! What strong women! This made me think that the traditional women’s role in tanning the hide is possibly harder than the hunting of it :p
The week of hide tanning continues and today we will be scraping off the fur! The hide and this story are to be continued, off to work for me!
engagenorth2020 