A Drum Group played in the Grand Entry at Carlton Indigenous Day on Monday morning at Carlton Comprehensive High School / Photo provided by Michael Oleksyn, LJI Reporter
By Michael Oleksyn
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Prince Albert Daily Herald
The annual celebration of Indigenous culture at Carlton Comprehensive High School kicked off for the fourth year with a Grand Entry on Monday morning.
Carlton Indigenous Day has become a tradition at the school. Organizing committee member Bonnie Vandale said the day fills a need at the high school.
“Our student population is 60 percent Indigenous, and we have many students from other countries, and we want them to learn about the Indigenous people on Treaty 6 territory,” Vandale said.
She said that Indigenous education permeates the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division at every level, and this is a great representation of that.
Carlton Indigenous Day is closed to the public except for the Grand Entry in CPAC.
“We had to close the event because our student population is so large that I don’t think that we could accommodate too many people,” Vandale said.
“We have opened up to Grade 8 students from Vincent Massey and Vickers,” she added.
Vandale said that they also welcomed residents from neighbouring Mont St. Joseph Home.
After the Grand Entry, the Riverside School Choir sang “O Canada,” and Elder Liz Settee said a prayer. The Prince Albert Raiders acted as flagbearers for the Grand Entry.
There were speeches from MN-S President Glen McCallum, Muskoday First Nation Chief Ron Bear, Prince Albert Mayor Greg Dionne, Prince Albert Police Chief Patrick Nogier, Carlton Principal Jennifer Ferguson, Vandale and Peggy Boyer of the organizing committee, and Kelly Klassen.
There were also two performances by Northern Prairie Dancers: a pow wow demonstration and an Intertribal Powwow.
After the Grand Entry, students could take part in breakout sessions. These included Elder’s teaching, beading, and sash weaving.
“This year we added the languages,” Vandale said. “We have a Cree speaker, a Michif speaker, and a Dene speaker to teach the languages, because language revitalization is a huge topic right now.”
There were also mental health lessons, rock painting, bannock on a stick, seven sacred teachings, teepee teachings, and Dene hand games.
Vandale said that she did not know exactly what that was, but it came from popular demand.
“It’s a new thing that the Dene students wanted to incorporate,” Vandale said. “They kind of felt left out the last couple of years, so they encouraged us to do it.”
“We do have Dene students in our school, so we jumped on it right away and said, ‘Yes, let’s do it,’” Vandale explained.
The CBYF Prince Albert also did a mini-shirt and skirt session.
After the Grand Entry, a busload of students also went out on a medicine walk. The CPAC was also the location for the pow wow breakout session. The Northern Prairie Dancers were also teaching jigging.
“We have lots of choice,” Vandale said.
This year’s T-shirt design for Carlton Indigenous Day included an apple to represent Victor Thunderchild.
“Everything is done in a cycle of four years, and we fulfilled our four years of honouring Victor,” Vandale said. “But now when students are coming into the school, they would not know who Victor Thunderchild was.”
She said that everything has been passed on to the Victor Thunderchild School, including the Victor Thunderchild Scholarship.
The Indigenous Day committee continues to excel, according to Vandale.
“I definitely want to thank my committee for all their hard work and dedication that they put into Carlton’s Indigenous Day 2024,” Vandale said.