Celebrating aboriginal culture

Rainbow District School Board students learned about aboriginal culture during Aboriginal Youth Education Day Oct. 3.

The event was held in conjunction with the Northern Aboriginal Festival, which was held at the Sudbury Community Arena Oct. 1-2.

Rainbow board students, along with students from local First Nation community schools, participated in a variety of activities at the Tom Davies Square event.

“The Youth Education Day component of the festival provided students with the opportunity to explore secondary and post-secondary programs and career pathways,” Kathy Dokis-Ranney, principal of First Nation, Métis and Inuit Education with Rainbow District School Board, said in a press release.

“Students also had the opportunity to participate in cultural workshops and sample traditional food. Métis elder Marie-Claire Vignola from Laurentian University shared a teaching about respect with all students.”

Jacinthe Trudeau and her seven-year-old daughter, Isabelle Seguin, put on a fiddle performance at the event. Isabelle also sang O Canada in three languages.

All students who attended the Aboriginal Youth Education Day, as well as all the presenters and guests, received a copy of the newly released book by the Union of Ontario Indians, We Are All Treaty People.

Author Maurice Switzer presented a workshop to students entitled As Long as the Grass Grows. This workshop allowed students and teachers to learn more about the relevance of Treaty promises made to First Nations by governments in Canada over the last 300 years.

Patrick Madahbee, Grand Council Chief, and Glen Hare, Deputy Grand Council Chief, made a special guest appearance at the event.

Posted by Heidi Ulrichsen