Ten kilometres southwest of Humboldt is the site of Original Humboldt, a plot of aspen and grassland where the original telegraph station and services were established along the renowned Carlton Trail. On Tuesday, October 10 local residents, artists from different locales and local students gathered for some land based learning on a beautiful fall afternoon.
Elder Gilbert Kewistep, originally from Yellow Quill First Nation, accompanied by his son, social worker and teacher Myrone Neapetung told stories, interpreted the land from an Indigenous perspective, and touched on the legacy of the residential school system. The gathering was facilitated by the Humboldt Cultural Services Department as part of its pilot project The Reconciliation through Living Heritage. Also on hand was Kristin Catherwood Mantta, director of Living Heritage at Heritage Saskatchewan.
“After so many years, the doors are finally opening where we can sit and talk like this, like family, like brothers and sisters, where colour doesn’t matter and we are all one person on Mother Earth,” said Gilbert at the opening of his talk.
Myrone Neapetung, assisted by a pair of students from Englefeld School who attended the event, lit a smudge of sage at the two teepee markers on the site in honour of Chief Bear and the Dakota Sioux who travelled through the region.
Gilbert spoke about the importance of ceremony in honour the land and the ancestors, and he spoke about the connection with the land and how it provided food, shelter and even medicine in a time before hospitals and doctors. With the wind rustling the fall leaves and the geese trekking southward, the afternoon visit had the background of a natural symphony that Kewistep said we should learn to listen to.
He also spoke of the hardships that Indigenous people endured during the time of the Riel Rebellion and in the years following the Indian Act. Kewistep is a survivor of the residential school system and the Sixties Scoop. He reflected on how those times resulted in anguish, but he sensed a way for all to move forward together.
Gilbert Kewistep“The doors have been opened with Reconciliation happening,” Gilbert said in a chat following the session. “It started out slow, but 20 years ago, we never met like this – we never met as people from all nationalities. We’ve made headway and we have to stay focused on that.”
Gilbert took the opportunity to welcome a couple of students who were relative newcomers to Canada, an act that made an indelible impression.
Myrone Neapetung spent time in Humboldt with the Teepee Teaching session involving Humboldt grades 2 and 3 students in June. For him, education and connection with youth is paramount.
“We have to teach the history to our youth of what happened to our people through the residential school system, through assimilation, through colonization to get a better understanding of what we went through and how resilient we are.”
Activities like Teepee Teachings are planting the seed with youth, says Neapetung, and giving them the knowledge to counter stereotypes and racism that are still evident in some quarters.
The event opened the door for additional gatherings at the historical site where our connection with nature is strengthened, creating the best environment for learning and teaching.
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