Speaker hopes Aboriginal Week fosters pride, empowerment at Meadows School

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A pizza teepee marked the start of Aboriginal Week at Meadows School on Friday.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 28/05/2016 (3434 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A pizza teepee marked the start of Aboriginal Week at Meadows School on Friday.

Trying to set an example for its students, the elementary school is showing support of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s recommendations.

According to principal Dave Lim, it is part of the school’s responsibility to teach youth to be accepting.

Alex Antoneshyn/The Brandon Sun
Joe Lanceley, a.k.a. Tipi Joe, right, explains to a Meadows School Grade 1/2 class that beaver hides are often used to cover the opening of a teepee in cold weather during a visit to the school on Friday.
Alex Antoneshyn/The Brandon Sun Joe Lanceley, a.k.a. Tipi Joe, right, explains to a Meadows School Grade 1/2 class that beaver hides are often used to cover the opening of a teepee in cold weather during a visit to the school on Friday.

“We’re here to educate them, right? That’s part of their education, of making them into better people, and (teaching them to) have an overall positive outlook of things and be accepting of things,” Lim said.

Twenty per cent of the school’s 460 students speak English as a second language, so the school works to make the environment inclusive toward all cultures. The celebration of aboriginal culture this week and next is important, as 22 per cent of the student body are of aboriginal descent.

“Indigenous people have been a part of our history and a part of our culture and we need to learn more about and appreciate and … value it, because we’re teaching our kids about living in harmony with everybody — that we celebrate our diversity,” Lim said.

On Friday, the kindergarten through Grade 4 classrooms hosted Tipi Joe — better known as Joe Lanceley by those who have graduated primary school — and his red-dotted teepee. A public speaker and artist, Lanceley’s demonstration focused on the values of the teepee and aboriginal culture.

“When I went to school, never once did I ever have anything like this,” Lanceley said. “To see that we’re at the point now where these things are actually being done and actually being implemented is a huge success, because I was part of that — I was part of the last 15 years.

“To see my contemporaries and people (who) are my peers doing the things that they’re doing, it makes you feel proud — but it’s also just the first step in a long journey.”

Lanceley, who is Métis and a status member of Mistawasis First Nation, Sask., grew up in Brandon and currently resides in Winnipeg. He hopes that school curricula continue to educate students on aboriginal history so that young kids don’t feel ashamed of their indigenous ancestry.

“When we show our youth the beautiful things about our culture, that leads to pride, and that pride eventually leads to empowerment,” Lanceley said.

Friday also featured a performance by aboriginal dancers in the afternoon for older students.

Tipi Joe will be back Monday through Wednesday to lead crafts, and the school will take part in the June 1 Building Student Success with Aboriginal Parents Powwow at École New Era School.

» aantoneshyn@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @AAntoneshyn

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