Cynthia Young has spent more than two decades helping Lloydminster Catholic School Division (LCSD) students reconnect with their culture.
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The division’s Indigenous Culture Centre, which opened in 2023 as part of Holy Rosary High School’s expansion project, quite literally grounds her work.
Speaking to the Border City Rotary Club on Sept. 28, Young, the LCSD’s Indigenous program co-ordinator, reflected on how pride, tradition and community have guided her efforts to strengthen Indigenous education.
“We were growing and our students needed more,” said Young. “Every time we were going to do something, we had to go to Onion Lake. So we said, let’s build a centre.”
The result was a first-of-its-kind cultural centre within a Catholic school division in Canada. The circular building, inspired by traditional ceremonial lodges, features a tree harvested and blessed through ceremony before being placed at its core.
“We needed a tree,” she said. “That’s like our centre, our core, who we are, what we stand up for and what we believe in.”
To find the tree, Young said her husband, Mike, spent three days fasting in the bush, seeking spiritual guidance to help him choose the right one. Once chosen, a group of boys cut and carried the tree without letting it touch the ground.
The tree now stands in the middle of the round room inside Holy Rosary High School surrounded by a medicine wheel.
Utilizing the centre
The centre hosts weekly smudges every Friday morning, a ceremony the students chose.
Through initiatives like the Dream Catcher youth group, Young has mentored students to take pride in their heritage, develop confidence and serve as leaders during cultural events such as blanket exercises and Indigenous Days.
Her lessons, she said, focus on friendship, respect and equality.
“If you’ll be my friend, I’ll be your friend, and we’ll be friends together,” she said, quoting the late Senator Murray Sinclair.
For Young, the teachings always return to the land and nurturing understanding among generations.
“I walk in two worlds,” she said. “As a Catholic and in Indigenous knowledge.”
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