Elders, community members, corporate sponsors, students and educators were among the many who were blessed to be part of the grand opening of HRHS’ new Indigenous Centre on Tuesday morning. Supplied Photo
For Holy Rosary High School’s (HRHS) Aboriginal Program Coordinator, Cynthia Young, the grand opening of the school’s new Indigenous Centre has been 20 years in the making.
“When I first started here, culture was only on the walls,” said Young.
“They had pictures of cultural regalia, but no one had an understanding, and that’s kinda how I formed my career to talking about my culture in a positive way, and in a way people understood.
“Over the years we’ve done simple things like smoked meat, tanned hides … we’ve done a lot of things just to get people ready for this day. It’s been wonderful.”
The centre, which officially opened on Tuesday morning with a traditional feast and blessing ceremony, was given the special name “Kakisimokamik.”
“Kakisimokamik (means) where we pray, where we’re going to pray, where we go to pray to the creator,” she said. “It was a beautiful name given to us, and we had to go to four ceremony sweats for that, and we had to provide the feast for that. Lots of the things we do (here at HRHS), we follow the culture and protocol right to the T.”
In following those traditions, Tuesday’s grand opening feast was served by male students with males on one side of the room and females on the other.
“We sewed ribbon shirts and ribbon skirts so everybody had their own shirt and skirt,” said Young.
“They learn all those things and they learn to help at these functions. For some of them, it’s their third feast, so it’s good for them to learn about their culture, and it provides them with a bit of identity.”
The feast and centre were also blessed by an Elder from Onion Lake Cree Nation, which included smudging and a pipe ceremony.
“There’s a fire going outside, so we take a bit of food from each thing we’ve made and we give it to the fire for people who passed before us to keep us in their prayers and keep us safe and on the right path,” she said.
The topic of cultural inclusion in school was also something Young touched on, as sheexplained it’s valued importance.
“I find the little bit of culture we can provide for our students is amazing because it gives them a sense of identity, what it means to either be Métis or First Nations, and it’s something this school really strives for; it’s really nice we do that for our students,” she said.
The centre also features a poplar tree which represents the centre and foundation of our being. The roots and branches are all related to how we grow and develop as people.
“Okimawatik is our tree, and he’s the one who’s going to grow us and build us to be good people. It’s all cultural,” she said.
“The floor has a medicine wheel on it and all those things are incorporated. The room itself has teachings in it.”
In attendance on Tuesday were community sponsors such as Synergy Credit Union and Jason Arden and Associates Ltd – Co-operators, who were both very excited to be supporting this project.
“Our $25,000 donation helps address important community needs,” said Jason Arden, financial advisor for Co-operators.
“Guided by our co-operative principles, we invest our profits into action and advocacy that makes our community and the world a better place.”
Nigel McCarthy, director of education with the Lloydminster Catholic School Division, couldn’t have been happier with Tuesday’s ceremony.
“Like the opening today, it’s only a beginning of how we learn about ourselves and our responsibilities and how we come together as a country,” he said.
