Three Métis grandmothers have been working with Prairie South School Division recently to educate kids about that culture and act as bridges between European and First Nation peoples.
The Three Kokums is composed of Val Trudel, Wonda Alton and Marquita Neufeld. Since September, they have visited 26 classrooms and spoken to almost 900 students in grades 1 to 12 while completing eight cultural projects and initiatives.
The women spoke about their activities during the board of education’s recent meeting.
Trudel has always been interested in cultural crafts, especially beading. She believes working with youths gives her an outlet for sharing that creativity and cultural knowledge.
Alton became interested in genealogy as an adult and learned she was Métis. She worked for cultural organizations in the 1990s and 2000s and earned a diploma in early childhood education. She worked for years as an educational assistant in Saskatoon and Medicine Hat.
She, too, enjoys working on cultural crafts.
Neufeld worked for 32 years in education, first with the Thunder Creek School Division and then with Prairie South. She was an educational assistant for 10 years before she acquired her education degree.
After more than three decades in education, Neufeld retired last June.
“Not being one to stay at home, I decided I needed to reinvent myself. And I’d always had a passion for who I am as a Métis person,” she said. “And I really think we are the bridge between the Europeans and First Nations group, that we can get out there and we can try to tell people about our culture (and) the things that we do.”
While she admitted that she’s not as talented with crafts as her partners, Neufeld — the group’s spokeswoman — enjoys reading to the students. In turn, the youths connect with the women and want them to stay.
The Three Kokums wanted to work with Prairie South because they knew some kids did not understand each other, so they wanted the youths to develop that cultural understanding about why it’s important to accept people’s traditions, Neufeld explained.
“We wanted to authentically incorporate the indigenous/Métis content into the classroom,” she said. “Being that as I grew up as a Métis child, we are the ones that are perfectly capable of doing this without — hopefully — people questioning why and what we’re doing.”
The group connects the cultural teachings with curriculum outcomes while they leave materials that teachers can use or incorporate into lessons. Their other goal is to remind students that everyone belongs together regardless of skin colour and they shouldn’t let that issue cause separation.
Neufeld then discussed some activities they had done this past year.
The trio has helped some Grade 9s make small, beaded objects, such as orange T-shirts, red poppies, the Métis flag, a pink shirt, and the four-coloured Aboriginal circle symbol.
Another activity has been leading loom beading for some Grade 8s. The youths were excited to participate, Neufeld continued, while the boys eagerly joined in after seeing what the girls were making.
The three grandmothers visited École Palliser Heights Elementary School for an activity about talking sticks. Neufeld read the pupils a story about a crow and a magpie and made accompanying bird noises.
“I get into my stories,” she chuckled, noting after students made their talking sticks, they walked back to their classroom, making bird noises.
Other students have made medicine bags, where they traced pictures or shapes and then painted dots over them. The three grandmothers then spoke to them about the four spiritual medicines — sage, cedar, sweetgrass and tobacco — and gave them three of the four medicines.
The grandmothers also teach about jigging, drumming, and organizing feasts.
Some upcoming projects include an animal footprint scavenger hunt, creating Red River carts, making dream catchers, going on a plant identification walk, pattern making with dots, and making Bannock.
The next PSSD board meeting is Tuesday, June 6.
