ESTEVAN — The efforts of teachers, staff and students at Sacred Heart School/École Sacré Coeur to further reconciliation efforts with Indigenous peoples resulted in the addition of a teepee at the school's grounds.
Michella Prokop, who is the kindergarten teacher at Sacred Heart, said they recently erected the teepee during a school assembly.
"It's a 14-foot teepee, and we got it from a place in Manitoba called Cree Star Gifts. So, it is Indigenous-made from within the community," said Prokop.
Lyndon Linklater, who is the knowledge keeper for the Holy Family Roman Catholic Separate School Division, erected the teepee with some student volunteers. He did a smudge on the teepee and shared a little bit of information with the students about how a teepee is made and how Indigenous people lived in it.
"He informed the students about the different words that can be used, so teepee is actually the Cree word for a home," said Prokop.
He also explained what it means in other languages.
Breakout sessions occurred the rest of the day. Linklater had about 130 students in each group and shared more detailed information about the teepee.
"He told us about how the poles on the teepee each have a meaning, so each teepee represents one of the essential teachings, whether it's honesty, humility, kindness or things of that nature. "He also explained how each … First Nation tribe, places the door facing a direction of their changing," said Prokop.
Sacred Heart placed theirs facing south because Prokop said new life comes up from the south for Linklater's people.
He explained to the students about rock, grass and animal spirits, and how they would thank the Creator for these different elements of nature.
"We really have noticed, especially with our younger students, they've repeated some of that. They've been making books about their spirit animal and what their spirit is good at," said Prokop.
A couple of older students told Linklater they were also Indigenous, but they weren't sure which nation they belonged to. They went home to talk to their parents.
Two days before, the school's teachers had a professional development day on land near Roche Percee. They hiked and used side-by-side vehicles to reach teepee rings in the area.
They also did a smudge with Linklater. That afternoon, they returned to the school and worked with Linklater on some authentic birch-bark baskets.
The teepee is located in the junior garden. If people want to go in and take a peek at it, they can. The students have been able to go in as a group with their classmates and sit down for a while.
"We just made it available to the students for their recesses and on weekends. It's been a huge hit," said Prokop.
Last year saw dancers and drummers from the group Miyopimatsiwin come to Sacred Heart to perform and share their culture, and Prokop said this felt like a good time to add a teepee. They have an iron teepee in their yard already, and they wanted to have a more authentic one in place.
The new teepee will be up all of the time, and Linklater spoke to the kids about how it belongs to them and it's up to the students to maintain it.
"We've seen kids there in the evening and after school, but they've really been taking good care of it," said Prokop.
It is movable, but it has been secured to the ground.
Prokop said the school has already noticed the difference it has made for students.
