LAKELA|ND - Two schools in the Lakeland Catholic School District (LCSD) will be introducing an education program geared towards understanding the past, present and future of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.
The program will introduce students from Light of Christ School in Lac La Biche and the Holy Family School in Waskatenau to a guided, hands-on experience using the ‘Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada’ a 30 square-foot floor map that vividly depicts the history of where Indigenous ancestral lands are located. The unique map shows Indigenous events, people and places without the inclusion of today’s borders of provinces and territories to describe the history of Turtle Island. The map also identifies Treaty areas and historic trade areas and river systems.
The same map also includes locations of the residential schools that operated in the country until 1993. The map and the full range of resources associated with it for classroom learning were put together by dozens of noteable Indigenous educators, say LCSD officials.
The new additions to classrooms and curriculum in Lac La Biche and Waskatenau follow successful launches of the program in other LCSD schools.
During 2020, two of the division’s schools in the Bonnyville area got to experience the program that includes learning activities that were created the Indigenous educators and organizations seeking to not only create a path forward for reconciliation but to distribute accurate information reflective of all Indigenous groups.
It has been very well received by students and Catholic school district officials.
“It has been by far one of the best learning resources that our students have ever experienced at Lakeland Catholic Schools,” said Pam Guilbault, the district’s superintendent, commending the program for providing teachers with all the necessary tools to involve their students in the activities to learn and gain impactful knowledge.
In the coming months, board members will also be given the opportunity to see the program in action.
“There was a request from the board that when the map was in Bonnyville that we would be able to have a session on the map; a learning session on the map so that we would be able to experience what the students were experiencing,” she said.
The plan going forward, Guilbault says, is to expand the lessons across the division.
Catholic school board trustees are expected to visit classrooms in May to experience the program.
