Fort Erie
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MONDAY, APRIL 27, 2009
Local News
Native, non-native students bond at retreat
Native, non-native students bond at
retreat
Posted By TIFFANY MAYER
Larissa Leonard did something unusual last week.
The teen decided to forgo frittering away her Friday night on her computer or shopping with friends. Instead, she went
out for coffee with her mother, spending hours talking about every detail of her week.
“Normally, I’m all Facebook and friends and mall and Starbucks,” the Grade 11 Eden High School student said.
Jillian Isaacs’ week threw her a bit of a curve ball, too. The teen, a member of the Mohawk Nation, Bear clan, was
forced to confront a past she never lived, but one that has always haunted her.
“That feeling never goes away,” Isaacs said through tears. “It gets passed down. When I have kids, they probably
won’t know why they feel this way.”
Isaacs is mourning the century of cultural genocide her ancestors endured in Canadian residential schools. But the
Grade 11 Fort Erie Secondary School student is also healing.
The changes in both teens could never have occurred here in Niagara with all the distractions of urban life, they said.
Instead, Leonard and Isaacs, joined by 10 other District School Board of Niagara high school students, travelled more
than 500 kilometres earlier this month to Rabbitnose Island on Lake Temagami to get in touch with themselves and
each other with the help of their teachers and local native elder Judy Doxtator.
It was a four-day peer counselling project for aboriginal and non-aboriginal students, including four from Oakville’s
Appleby College, in partnership with the Niagara Native Restorative Circle. The point was to teach students teamwork
skills, environmental responsibility and instill in them a sense of accomplishment and leadership, all in a classroom
important to aboriginal teachings: the land.
“We have a large population of youth with aboriginal heritage, and from our experience, because of the demographics
of the community, it’s important to teach youth to walk in both worlds,” said Ray Pidzamecky, a school board social
worker who organized the trip.
Given that aboriginal youths are at a higher risk for suicide, mental-health issues, drug and alcohol abuse, and the
majority are unlikely to finish high school, Jennifer Dockstader, a board re-engagement counsellor with an aboriginal
specialization, said it’s important to give their peers the tools to support them.
“When youth have problems, they go to other to youth,” Dockstader said.

The students, from Fort Erie, Eden/Lakeport and St. Catharines Collegiate, noticed a change in themselves as soon
as they arrived on Rabbitnose Island.
After a frigid snowmobile trip across Lake Temagami, rather than retreat to their cabins and cellphones — it was
virtually impossible to get a signal — they spent their first night learning each other’s names.
They stayed up late talking about religion.
Over the next few days, they worked together hauling firewood and water for showers. They were handed journals to
chronicle their thoughts and feelings.
The learned active listening skills and a catchy acronym, FELORI, to help them remember the traits of effective
communication: face, eye contact, lean in, open posture, relaxed, interested.
They acted out scenarios to learn and teach how to make decisions. They mastered the art saying “I feel” instead of
“You did” when talking out problems. They played games that required them to trust each other.
What they learned was emotional intelligence, Pidzamecky said.
They also dealt with some heavy topics that are part of the aboriginal experience. They watched a documentary
about the effects of residential schools on Canada’s natives.
There were tears. Shame from the non-aboriginal contingent.
“I didn’t feel worthy being in the same room as them,” said Lee van Brussel, a Grade 11 Fort Erie student. “I honestly
felt sick.... I left the room because I didn’t know how to feel.”
Then came empathy. Understanding. And from it, a mutual respect and equality.
They used drumming, smudging and singing to help them process what they saw. No one slept afterward. They
stayed up until 3 a.m., talking and trying to make sense of a history none personally had a role in writing.
They grieved together to start healing together. Student Jamie McGean corralled everyone into a bear hug for
comfort. They felt the profoundness of human connections.
“The way it affected the non-aboriginal students, they were grieving for us,” said McGean, a Grade 12 Collegiate
student, who is a member of the Mohawk Nation, Bear clan.
The bonds that had already formed, solidified, Isaacs said.
“It was nice because we all respected each other, each other’s beliefs and religion. There was no disapproval. We
were all equal,” she said.
For Leonard, who is Ojibway, she finally got to know her grandmother, who was forced to go to a residential school.
“She never wanted to talk about it. Now I know why, which is good.”
The teens and their teachers are certain they would never have learned and felt what they did on Rabbitnose Island
had they not been “unplugged” from the trappings of their lives in Niagara.
“It makes you wonder if school is the primary learning environment we should be in,” van Brussel said. “It’s a huge,
life-impacting scenario. It changes the way you think. It gives a new outlook on life and respect for people.... It’s trying
to find ways to better myself in every aspect.”
Pidzamecky is certain that “if we could take every student back to the land, we could give them growth.”

But the adults in the group also experienced a transformation.
“There have been a lot of things done in the name of God that aren’t God,” said Drew Unruh, spiritual life director at
Eden. “I think Christians have flown some negative flags in the past. Residential schools are one of them.... (They)
are an embarrassment to the church.
“To be able to work through this stuff ... is a big shift forward ... an extreme shift forward by the District School Board
of Niagara.”
A presentation to the community about the group’s experience is planned for May 20 at 7 p.m. at St. Catharines
Collegiate.
Meanwhile, they will reconnect to decide how to implement their new skills and perspectives at school. The students
are eager to be the leaders they learned to be.
“I feel I can be a role model for future generations,” Isaacs said. “I can be more positive and helpful.”
Article ID# 1535632