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In making dreamcatchers, youth learn how to weave their lives

Workshop uses aboriginal culture to help teens find the right path

As a Métis person, Desiree Demers said, for her, fishing and hunting have always been a means of cultural expression.

But the Grade 11 student at École secondaire du Sacré-Coeur — who's president of her school's Indigenous Studies Club — said she's loved learning more about Aboriginal culture through workshops at school.

Along with a dozen other students, she spent the morning of May 18 in a workshop led by Isabelle Garçeau, a Quebec woman who tours the country, teaching youth about First Nations culture.

“Nowadays, we don't grow up in our culture anymore, so it's really good to have that in school and activities,” said 16-year-old Desiree. 

“I think it really helps me to have a new way of seeing life, because it really brings us closer to nature and all the elements of our ancestors.”

Garçeau has put on several workshops at Conseil scolaire catholique du Nouvel-Ontario elementary and high schools over the past week as part of her Circle of Life tour of the country.

On Wednesday morning, she led the Sacré-Coeur students through smudging, drumming and singing, a sharing circle and creating dream-catchers. Through teaching them aboriginal culture, she aims to help them find their path in life.

“What we're doing today is we're creating a dreamcatcher, but we're also learning about how to weave the web of our life, through our thoughts and actions, and how to recognize the saboteurs that we might have,” said Garceau, who's Métis and Atikamew herself.

“We're learning how to empower ourselves so we can really be the creators of our lives, and responsible for our lives.”

The workshop helps youth see that they're connected to each other and to the earth, said Melanie Smits, an aboriginal educational consultant with the school board, who arranged the workshops.

“We don't even talk to each other face to face,” said Smits.

“It's texting and Facebook, not even phone calls. I don't think all that technology is good for us. A lot of the values that Circle of Life shares is to reconnect with each other as human beings and as nature.” 


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Heidi Ulrichsen

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