Life-changing events sometimes sneak up on you. Ofttimes, you don’t even realize you’re being altered until the dust of your mad whirlwind of thoughts settles to earth like tiny tufts of magic plucked from a sweet grass blade.
In the early spring of this year, I was approached by Mona Bongard, the Principal of Indigenous Education K – 12 with the Simcoe County District School Board (SCDSB). She asked if it might be possible to partner with the Beausoleil First Nation at Springwater Provincial Park to deliver a 'reach ahead' geography course with Indigenous Grade 8 students from the SCDSB going into Grade 9 in the fall.
As well as western science, the course would include learning on the land — from an Indigenous perspective.
During one of our early brainstorming sessions Bongard wondered aloud about how it would be of great benefit if the students could learn on the land year-round. I interjected with a thought; “Why not build a teaching lodge?”
I envisioned a semi-permanent Indigenous structure made from natural materials that could serve as an outdoor classroom throughout the school year. And one that could be used by the SCDSB exclusively on an almost day to day basis.
“What does it take to build a teaching lodge?” Bongard asked.
“The first ingredient is people. People to build the course and people that will help teach it. People, (the students) that will come to learn on the land. We (teachers. Knowledge keepers), will teach them how to construct a teaching lodge,” I answered.
And so it began, this life-altering journey to design a geography course that would shape lives by melding two worlds – the western science-based learning of the SCDSB and the Indigenous knowledge of the land carried by the knowledge keepers, passed on through the ancestors.
First, we needed people and so we gathered teachers from the school board and Elephant Thoughts, an educational institute from Collingwood, with a host of forward thinking program initiatives.
Together with Indigenous knowledge keepers from the urban Indigenous community in Simcoe County we designed a hybrid model by mixing each of our learned experiences.
Next, we needed students. Bongard petitioned self-identified Indigenous Grade 8 students from within the school board. These lucky candidates would be eligible to receive a high school credit for participating in and completing this geography course.
The main ingredient was the land itself. Springwater Provincial Park is a partnership between the province of Ontario and the Beausoleil First Nation on Christian Island. It is a co-management arrangement and together we are the stewards of 477 acres of property on highway 26 just north of Barrie.
The land the park sits on is the ancestral territory of the people of Christian Island. It is a spiritual place where the ancestors performed their ceremony for thousands of years. All provincial park regulations apply on this day-use only property.
It is not a campground and so the land lends itself to teaching. Teaching about the old ways. The stories of the old ones and their lives lived upon it.
That is the recipe. And when we all came together for the first time as students, teachers, elders, and knowledge keepers, there was apprehension mixed in with the muggy July air. We were all uncertain of what this recipe would produce.
A few of the extroverted young people mingled about laughing nervously. Still more sat back, tentatively taking in the scene. Some even hid underneath their hoodies, avoiding any kind of contact with anyone.
With help from Dr. Debby Daynard, one of our knowledge keepers, we began the course with a teaching, and a Pipe ceremony to lead us into the coming weeks in a good way.
By the end of the day we had trekked through the forest and learned about what the land could teach us about foraging, natural medicines, and how to properly select saplings to construct a teaching lodge.
Every aspect of the teachings was bundled in ceremony and ways of giving thanks for all that the forest had offered us on this day. The Indigenous students were guided on how to lay down offerings of our spiritual medicines to the forest and the creator for all of the things that we received. Whether it was a leaf from the trees or fresh water from the springs, the students learned how to present their gratitude in a good spiritual way.
During the next four weeks the young Indigenous minds learned about themselves as Indigenous people, many for the first time. They learned of their place in this world and how we are all connected to all living things here on Mother Earth.
They were taught how to navigate using traditional Indigenous methods as well as with modern technology. They received the oral history of the land as passed on from the ancestors.
They learned about the water and how to be good stewards of our natural world. They learned how to survive on the land just as the old ones did for thousands of years.
The depth of learning was spiritual. And together as teachers, and knowledge keepers, we watched them transform. We watched them grow into confident young adults, right before our eyes.
But their main activity throughout was to create a teaching lodge. With the guidance of SCDSB elder Rosanne Irving and Dr. Debby Daynard, they were gifted ceremony throughout the building process. And they became stronger.
They did the work. We did the teaching, and finally, in that final week in July, the recipe culminated in an achievement that caused the young ones to stand much taller and to be proud of their Indigenous heritage. The lodge was completed.
The experience changed us all.
It was history in the sense that these students were creating a traditional teaching lodge during a course designed by an institution that only recently forbade their grandparents and great grandparents from ever building such a structure — an institution that would not have ever allowed their cultural teachings to be a part of their recipe for growth.
But I guess times do change. And this one time at least, I witnessed people and institutions change. I watched it happen. That bodes well for the future because these young people will never be convinced that they should not ever again have their own cultural teachings disallowed. Ever.
Jeff Monague is a former Chief of the Beausoleil First Nation on Christian Island, former Treaty Research Director with the Anishnabek (Union of Ontario Indians), and veteran of the Canadian Forces. Monague, who taught the Ojibwe language with the Simcoe County District School Board and Georgian College, is currently the Superintendent of Springwater Provincial Park. His column appears every other Monday.
