Yukon teachers get training to start first school year under First Nations board

Teachers at Yukon's First Nations School Board got special training Thursday as the board officially took control of eight schools in the territory.

The day's training included an afternoon on the land, with workshops taught by First Nations knowledge keepers and educators. Teachers traveled to Whitehorse from several communities to attend.

The First Nations School Board became a reality in February after a referendum in nine Yukon schools. Eight voted to join the board, which aims to give Indigenous people more of a say in the territory's education system. The schools will continue to use the British Columbia curriculum along with new programming.

Melissa Flynn, the school board's interim executive director and a member of the Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin First Nation, was excited to start working with teachers ahead of the school year.

"It really is a monumental moment to recognize the leaders and the aspirations from elders that have come before us to get us to this point," she said. "We're now in a position where we can work together with the team of educators and really embrace what truth and reconciliation looks like on our traditional territories."

Training on the land

Thursday's workshops included traditional beading, hand games, foraging, and salmon fileting. Teachers moved from station to station to try different activities.

Blake Lepine, an education advocate with the Yukon First Nation Education Directorate, was leading a workshop on wildcrafting and foraging. Lepine is a member of the Carcross Tagish First Nation and has been working with kids since he was 18.

"The kids really enjoy just existing. I think that's one of the biggest components of doing these traditional camps," he said. "We undervalue just sitting around a campfire, and just being together and sharing who we are."

Lepine said he hoped teachers at the workshop would be able to incorporate First Nations knowledge and values into what they teach in schools.

Andy Carlick, a knowledge keeper from the Tahltan First Nation who was teaching a salmon workshop, had similar hopes.

Carlick was born and raised in Telegraph Creek, B.C. When he was growing up, he said, he was taught entirely by teachers of European descent. Now, he's hoping Indigenous students will have more opportunity to connect with their culture at school.

"As I got older, I had an urge to pass on my culture and pass on knowledge to whoever wants to learn," he said. "I think it's important for all of us to learn from each other. It's not just our culture, but it's other cultures too."

'Just so hopeful' 

Jean MacLean, principal of Watson Lake Secondary School, said Thursday's training gave her lots of ideas to incorporate into this school year.

MacLean hopes to talk with local First Nations about how to incorporate more of these experiences into her school's curriculum.

"I just think it's really important to be open-minded, to take really into consideration what your worldviews are," she said.

First Nations leaders in the Yukon have been advocating for more say in the territory's education system for decades.

"There are leaders and ancestors that came before us and some of them didn't see this day. But they fought," Flynn said.

Flynn stressed that returning students would still come in and see the same teachers, classmates, and other familiar faces.

But, she said, the new school board is a significant step forward.

"I think that real reconciliation coming to fruition is just so hopeful."