Kids given head start

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Tucked away in one of the classrooms of St. Bernadette Catholic Elementary School is a group of pre-school aged children.

The children, all of Aboriginal descent, are learning about colors, numbers and letters in English and Cree. Ironically, no Catholicism is taught to the children. Rather they are learning about Native spiritual beliefs; the smudge, a spring ceremony, the different nations and respect of Mother Earth.

Mother Earth and Me is the name of the pre-school program spear-headed by the Ben Calf Robe Society. The proposal for the Aboriginal Head Start program was approved by Health Canada last year.

In May 1996, Alice Boldue was selected to head up the program. As the program co-ordinator, it was up to Boldue and her teaching staff to interpret the proposal and put together a program that began last September.

Mother Earth and Me was designed for urban Native children who may not have been exposed to their culture before, said Boldue.

"Before they had to integrate into, what I call, an Euro-Canadian school system," said Boldue, who came out of retirement to run the program.

Boldue feels the Mother Earth and Me Head Start program is important for Aboriginal children. They do not have access to cultural activities in the regular school system, said Boldue, adding this program gives them a sense of belonging to their nation.

The cultural component of the program is taught to the children by a class Kookum (grandmother in Cree). At the St. Bernadette site, Millie Chalifoux smudges daily with the children and leads them in prayer to the Creator. Everyday Chalifoux, knwn as Kookum to the children, teaches the young students about belief.

Recently, the children took part in a ceremony for a spring celebration. Each day they prayed with tobacco and then wrapped it in different colored cloth. The ceremony culminated with an all-day field trip to Rundle Park wehre the bundles were placed in the water as an offering to Kookum.

Boldue decided it would be better to celebrate different times of the year with cultural teachings, she said. Instead of celebrating Easter by teaching the children about the Easter bunny and egg hunts, Boldue thought it would be better to teach the children about spring and the new life it brings to Mother Earth.

The Cree language is also an important aspect of the head start program. Both program sites, St. Bernadette on the north east side of Edmonton and St. Andrew on the north west side, have teachers fluent in Cree. Two days a week the children are taught Cree.

"The children only learn orally because obviously they are too young to read," said Boldue.

"Even if they learn 10 words, it is a lot at this age," she added.

The program accepts three to five year olds. Boldue said a lot of three year olds have recently entered the program. She said this was exciting because those kids could potentially be in the program for two years.

Even with the three-year-old children, Boldue said she has not heard a parent tell the teacher a child does not want to go to school. Some parents have said their children's language has improved.

Parent involvement is important to the Head Start program. A parental involvement committee has been formed where 12 parents, six from each site, meet once a month. They give their suggestions regarding what they would like to see happen within the program and how they can get more parents involved in the classroom.

"Parents are used to coming to school only to talk to the teacher," said Boldue, who would like to see even more parent involvement.

Mother Earth and Me has been in operation for eight months. Boldue said they still have things they need to iron out but added she is happy with the progress the program is making.

It is important for Aboriginal children to be exposed to their culture instead of the Euro-Canadian environment that they are bombarded with every day, said Boldue.