A learning experience

At 83, Indigenous elder finds a path to education on her own terms

Elder Edna Rain stifles a shy smile each time someone approaches her to compliment her elaborate regalia, as she prepares to dance.

She’s a little bashful with all the attention she’s receiving today, but Rain is no stranger to the limelight; she’s been dancing for more than 50 years and is also an accomplished actor.

She’s also something of a celebrity at NorQuest College in Edmonton. At 83, she is the school’s eldest student and is currently taking courses to upgrade her high school marks. As she walks the halls, she proudly points out her family in attendance — one of her sons is also enrolled at the college, while another is performing on stage today, ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Her nearby daughter, Angel, helped make the regalia she is wearing.

Rain’s commitment to education persists in spite of, or perhaps because of, a difficult experience in the Canadian school system. She said she didn’t attend residential school because her mother hid her from the RCMP, but several of her siblings did, including her brother who died in one. She attended a day school on her First Nation, where she said she was bullied for having less money than other kids.

She said she wanted to return to school as a mature adult to gain a sense of control over her own education after having gone through a system that was marked by colonialism and Eurocentric teachings.

“Education is so important to me because I didn’t have that chance to learn what I thought I would learn,” Rain said.

“No matter what I do, I’m still going to go to school. I’m here, and I’m whole … and nobody’s picked on me,” she said with a smile.

Rain’s story is one example of Indigenous adults who are returning to school as more institutions across Canada embrace Indigenous governance models, landbased education and traditional teachings.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s final report included several calls to action related to education, including more comprehensive lessons about the impact of the residential school system and colonialism, as well as more funding for Indigenous-run schools to incorporate Indigenous knowledge and teachings into classrooms.

According to 2016 Statistics Canada census data, 63 per cent of First Nations youth completed high school, compared to 91 per cent of their non-Indigenous counterparts. First Nations youth living off reserve (73 per cent) were more likely to obtain a high school diploma than youth living on reserve (46 per cent).

“If you take a look at provincial achievement tests, standardized testing, they’re very culturally biased … If we’re looking at how successful kids were, it’s really how successful we’ve been at assimilating them into the education system,” said Charlene Bearhead, the first educational lead for the University of Manitoba’s National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

“Our kids don’t leave school because they’re not smart enough,” she added. “It’s because in many cases, it’s an unfriendly, bordering on hostile environment where you don’t see yourself, you don’t feel comfortable.”

In Fort Chipewyan, a remote area in Northern Alberta that is home to Mikisew Cree First Nation, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and Fort Chipewyan Métis, local Indigenous leaders declared an education state of emergency in 2019 because Indigenous students were struggling in the public school division.

For years at the Athabasca Delta Community School, Indigenous students were graduating in the single digits, while some years saw none at all obtain their diplomas. The school also recorded low attendance rates and poor results in provincial testing.

They decided to try a different model. The Fort Chipewyan Community School opened in 2020 under a new community-led board with an emphasis on Indigenous governance and teachings. But it also shifted to a more accommodating module-based approach that offered remote learning and allowed students to complete courses at their own pace. The school also offers studies to adults, unlike the public division school, which is restricted to 19 and under.

The goal was to create a program that better reflected Indigenous culture and teachings, but also to address historic barriers to education for Indigenous youth, who are more likely to be young parents, live in low-income households or have inconsistent access to the internet.

Since they opened, they’ve seen a massive turnaround — in three years, 91 students have graduated from Fort Chipewyan Community School. One of the most significant changes is the number of adult students enrolling and graduating from the school. In the last school year, about half of the 166 registrations were over the age of 21, said principal Kerri Ceretzke.

“We have graduates as young as 16 and we have graduates in their 60s. And for the graduates in their 60s, it was about unfinished business, it was about healing from residential school,” said Ceretzke, who was previously principal of the Athabasca Delta Community School in Fort Chipewyan.

She stepped down when she realized they weren’t achieving the outcomes they needed, and was approached by leaders of Mikisew Cree First Nation after they passed a council resolution to form a new school because of her experience working in the community.

In addition to offering more flexibility to students, they have community members offering tutoring and working with families to address barriers to attendance. They offer Cree language classes and cultural activities such as ribbon-skirt making, drumming and land-based programs including moose hunting and winter trapping, which students receive credit for.

Those activities were a gamechanger for students such as Kendal Tuccaro, 20, from Mikisew Cree First Nation. She struggled in a traditional classroom setting due to having ADHD and felt detached from her upbringing, where she spent a lot of time fishing and hunting.

“Once the community high school came around, a lot of kids were more into what they were bringing — we could work one-on-one with a teacher, or bring our work home, or be out in the bush,” Tuccaro said.

She said being able to take part in traditional activities such as moose hunting and skinning hides inspired her to complete her diploma. She is now considering working in nature conservation.

“It kind of brightened up my path to get my education so I can work on the land to look out for our waters and our animals,” she said.

Kailen Marten, who is 20 from Mikisew Cree First Nation, called the school a breath of fresh air — he said he appreciated the emphasis on traditional teachings and it motivated him to return to school and graduate.

“It was a feeling like I never felt before for school … Growing up, obviously in the public school, you see lots of students every day, but then you don’t see them on the stage (to get their diploma),” he said.

“So just being on that stage, being at that finish line finishing my own story, it was amazing.”

Ella Powder, a 32-year-old mother of four from Fort Chipewyan Métis Nation, dropped out of high school when she got pregnant at 17. She said the public school system felt “forced” and didn’t accommodate the circumstances she was going through.

“I didn’t really feel comfortable being there, so I took off a lot,” she said.

She obtained her GED in 2015 but wanted to return and obtain her diploma to pursue further studies. At the community high school, she said the accommodations she was provided as a working mom made her feel “free from all the negativity and all the pressure.

“At first it was a bit nerve wracking to actually ... go into school as an adult and seeing all these teenagers … but eventually I just got comfortable. And I just kept my head down and did my work and on my own pace,” she said.

Now she’s enrolled in a chartered professional accountant course and said she’s proud to serve as a role model for her kids.

“To have all my children there watch me walk that stage to get my diploma, I felt really great. And it tells them you could do it, it doesn’t matter how old you are,” she said, adding that one of her kids’ school attendance improved after watching her obtain her diploma.

It’s a feeling Rain’s family can certainly relate to — her daughter, Angel, said seeing her mom’s dedication to completing her studies was the proudest moment of her life.

“All my kids, I think. are the first ones to graduate high school straight through in our family. So it’s a really proud moment. From the beginning (our parents) always taught us, go to school, be something, make something of yourself … so that’s what we took and that’s what I taught my kids.”

‘‘We have graduates as young as 16 and we have graduates in their 60s. And for the graduates in their 60s, it was about unfinished business, it was about healing from residential school.

KERRI CERETZKE PRINCIPAL, FORT CHIPEWYAN COMMUNITY SCHOOL