A cultural advisor says the Battlefords need another school to teach Aboriginal education and values.
Daphie Pooyak says Sakewew High School in North Battleford is doing a good job, but it’s not enough.
She got the idea when her son attended a soccer school:
“My son went to the soccer academy in Saskatoon, where they kick around a soccer ball for half a day. And there’s over 300 students. So if the government is more than willing to fund a school — with how many outdoor soccer arenas, how many indoors, a swimming pool and everything else they have — we should have that school, too, where we can teach our kids for half a day our traditional education.”
Pooyak says more intensive Aboriginal education is needed, and it needs to be outdoors:
“You could show a kid the most beautiful picture of a tree. You can say, ‘This tree is alive. It has life. God-Creator gave this tree life’. But the kid is not going to understand until they’re right there — until they know what exactly this tree is offering us, what this tree can do for us, the medicines that come from it, the life that this tree brings.”
Pooyak made those suggestions last night in North Battleford to a taskforce looking at ways to improve Aboriginal education, and help Aboriginal people be more successful in the job market.