PRINCE ALBERT — In the spirit of truth and reconciliation, the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division introduced the Elder’s council in the 2018-2019 school year.
Elder Liz Settee has been around since the council’s beginning. She said it acts as a sounding board for Indigenous learning in the division.
“We meet with the Indigenous perspective coaches, which would be Theresa (Thorsen) and her team Shea Pilon and Kayla Vandale Some of those positions have changed throughout the years, but if teachers have questions on how to do things culturally correct, we meet them minimum four times a year to go over things like that,” Settee explained.
The current elder’s council is composed of Settee, Elder Suzie Bear, Elder Bette Huntley, Knowledge Keeper Mike Relland and Knowledge Keeper Cecil Eashappie.
The elder’s council does a pipe ceremony for each season. This is the fourth year for the board of education to do a pipe ceremony, with the most recent coming on Sept. 16 at Kinistino School.
Settee said they try to host a pipe ceremony for every season. Other schools and communities that have hosted pipe ceremonies include St. Louis, Queen Mary, Riverside and PACI.
"After the pipe ceremony, the Elder’s Council meets with the board and we talk about things,” she said. “First of all, we debrief how the pipe ceremony went, so each school has the opportunity to host.”
Following the pipe ceremony in Kinistino, the Board was welcomed at the Muskoday Elder’s lodge for a plant walk led by Elder Bente Huntley as part of their first Elders Council meeting of the school year.
Settee said the next pipe ceremony will be used to feed the drums.
"The drums are spirits with the trees to make the base and the animal hide,” she said. “We have to feed those spirits, and we do that once a year. Then, if there's anything the board wants to ask us for insight, for cultural appropriateness, we discuss those things at the board meeting.”
Bente Huntley is also Thorsen's mother and Thorsen said that the board had been wanting to be part of a plant and medicine walk for over a year. Thorsen, who is the Indigenous Perspectives Consultant with the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division, said that the Elder’s Council brings a tremendous amount of knowledge.
“When we gather with them, it helps us to (clarify) when we're supporting the teachers across our division or students,” Thorsen explained. “We also work hard to incorporate Elders and Knowledge Keepers into our professional development that we offer. Having them there in person is the best way to do that.”
Thorsen said that the goal is to have the teachings permeate all levels of the system.
"The students, the community, the parents, and the teachers, we really want to make sure that we are asking ourselves how are we decolonizing education when we're offering PD (professional development) and how and making sure that we are incorporating Indigenous worldview,” Thorsen said.
"Meeting with the Elders Council provides us with those opportunities to ask questions, for clarity and for guidance on things that teachers are asking us that we might not always have the answers to,” she added.
Thorsen said that one example of this is drum protocols in schools including proper storage, how and when to feed the drum, and how to properly store it.
Settee said she learns from questions asked by students and teachers and from other Elders on the Council.
She said her mentors, the late Cree Elder Leonard Cardinal and Lakota Elder Stuart Amyotte, influenced her way, and her way is not necessarily the right way.
"The teachings I carry came from them and so sometimes to hear other people’s ways of looking at things is nice,” Settee explained. “I feel like in this whole world I know very, very, very little. I will never know everything, but I always I'm always willing to learn.
"(They have) very similar teachings, but in a slightly different way, so I have some from both (Cardinal and Amyotte) and I feel very privileged for that.”
Settee said that she also learns from what the Indigenous Perspectives Team brings as questions from teachers and students.
"Honestly, doing some work in the school, our children are very smart and very curious, and I've had questions put to me where I've had to say ‘I don't know the answer, but I will do my best to find out and I will get back to you,’” Settee said.
Thorsen said that the division has a priceless opportunity with the Elder’s Council.
"Elders and Knowledge Keepers carry a tremendous amount of knowledge, and that's how we learn—through and from our elders and knowledge keepers and through different experiences that we take part in,” she explained. “It's extremely valuable to have the five elders and knowledge keepers that we do have.”
Settee said that the Elder’s Council is all-inclusive and that makes it a part of the spirit of Truth and Reconciliation.
"One of the beautiful things about being an elder on the advisory committee is it's not just the Indigenous perspective coaches and the board that we work with, but we work with the teachers, we work with the students, we work with the Community, so it's all-inclusive," Settee said.
One of the schools that Settee visits frequently is Ecole Arthur Pechey School. She said that one time at the school there was a community smudge and it took her an hour to complete the smudge.
“There were so many people in the circle. Absolutely amazing. But we had moms, grandmas and aunties there and the students that were newcomers. They came out to the circle and that's what truth and reconciliation is,” Settee said.
"Everyone is welcome in the circle,” she said.
Thorsen said that it is important for Indigenous students to feel that they are represented in both worldview and culture in schools.
"It's also beneficial for all students to know about different worldviews and perspectives, and it benefits everybody you know. That's what truth reconciliation is,” she said.
"(It’s) to feel like you're a part of it as well, that it's not just for indigenous people,” Settee added. “We've always been a people that shared.”
