Art at Muskoday First Nation Community School (Ben Tompkins/northeastNOW)

By Ben Tompkins

National Truth and Reconciliation Day

Local First Nation communities host North East School Division for cultural education

Sep 30, 2022 | 5:30 PM

A handful of local First Nation communities played host to over 300 staff members from the North East School Division (NESD), in honour of National Truth and Reconciliation Day.

Roughly 50-75 staff went to Muskoday FN, Kinistin FN, Cumberland House Metis Nation, Red Earth FN, and One Arrow FN to participate in various cultural activities hosted by each community.

Activities included drumming, ribbon skirts, beading, smudging, and elder talks.

Beading and Ribbon Skirt presentation (Ben Tompkins/northeastNOW)

Elder Talks (Ben Tompkins/northeastNOW)

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Drumming presentation and teaching (Ben Tompkins/northeastNOW)

NESD First Nation, Metis, and Inuit Education Consultant, Sharon Meyer told northeastNOW about the impacts this day had.

“I wanted the community to celebrate Truth and Reconciliation day and they (Muskoday FN) opened up their doors and shared their teachings and knowledge, so we can pass those teachings on to others. It also makes Muskoday shine, so they can boast about themselves and really highlight what they have in their community.”

Meyer was the community’s first principal for their school when it opened, back in 2005 and is currently a Status member of the Beardy’s and Okemasis Cree Nation.

In her role with NESD, as of today, she was tasked with planning the division’s events to honour September 30th as an opportunity to live their reconciliation.

Meyer also spoke about her gratefulness regarding each First Nation community and their openness to her colleagues.

“It’s wonderful for the communities to open their doors and have NESD come in. It was really wonderful to share with the educators and the resource people and the knowledge keepers and the elders who were willing to be involved and share their cultural teachings. I’m really thankful for that and that’s what reconciliation is all about… sharing and teaching each other.”

NESD also had a presentation of their own, near the end of the day, as after receiving a grant from the Saskatchewan Government, they created an educational video about the ways of First Nation life, which is set to be introduced into the new curriculum.

Meyer added she hopes other school divisions use the video as inspiration to create their own and learn more about their local First Nation communities.

“Hopefully, this will just give them some ideas of what they could do for their community. As far as reconciliation, it’s all about sharing our ideas of how we can better ourselves for the future to make sure we light each other’s fires and let the learning and healing continue on.”

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8