Small staff serves big constituency

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Nestled in the natural Ontario wilderness some 250 kilometres north of Sudbury, an office of seven dedicated employees provides valuable educational and cultural material to 50 Aboriginal communities within seven tribal councils collectively known as the Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN). The Ojibway and Cree Cultural Centre at Timmins has 6,500 titles which it can loan to NAN members and organizations, including 50 that have been developed at the centre.

Executive Director Diane Riopel explained the centre's mandate includes supporting and maintaining the use of Aboriginal languages as well as developing culturally relevant educational and language materials in history, spirituality, music, art, photography and literature.

"When we began in 1975, we were funded to serve 21 communities. Since then the schools requiring our services have expanded to 50 but the funding has not increased," she said. The centre does some of its own fundraising and gets some project financing from Heritage Canada and the Ontario Arts Council, and every bit helps, she added.

The centre's vision is to maintain and strengthen the cultural identity of Aboriginal peoples within the NAN area, and to develop positive images.

"We also seek to make society aware of the importance of our Aboriginal culture as well as develop a better understanding and appreciation of the NAN heritage," said Riopel.

The centre works closely with Elders to develop curriculum materials from their knowledge and wisdom, and it has many legends recorded on cassette tape. "Local youth are encouraged to illustrate book materials which encourages and recognises their creative endeavours. We try to involve everybody, and work as a team."

The centre also promotes and assists in cultural events that help instil and maintain the customs, knowledge, skills, values and arts of NAN people. "We work in close harmony with other organisations whose aims and objectives are similar to that of the Ojibway and Cree Cultural Centre," said Riopel.

The Centre is a non-profit organisation that was established originally under the direction of Grand Council of Treaty 9, now known as NAN, some 27 years ago. A board of directors representing each tribal council of the territory manages the centre.

Ojibway and Cree people across Canada can request a catalogue by mail or online at www.occc.ca and browse through it to find teachers' materials.

"As the Internet and e-mail become more accessible to all communities, we will be able to keep everyone more informed as to recently developed publications and other resources," said Riopel. The centre also distributes a newsletter about their activities. The Ojibway and Cree Cultural Centre is the second-largest resource centre in Canada that is Native-oriented.

Riopel has been with the centre since its beginning. She was born and raised in the area and realizes the importance of maintaining Aboriginal languages and culture.

"As a staff, we try to get out and visit some of our communities every year, although some of them are accessible by air so it's very cost-prohibitive on our small budget," she said. She hears constantly the comment that there are not enough curriculum materials in their language. "That's why we are concentrating on developing materials in Cree, Ojibway and Oji-Cree so they don't have to go to English or French publications for everything." The Centre also assists and encourages the establishment of library and information services in the NAN communities.

The Centre is used by non-Natives who are doing research or who are wanting to learn more about the people in the area. "We try as much as we can for cross-cultural awareness in mainstream education programs and institutions as well, through presentations, workshops and conferences."

Dale Sedgwick is principal at the Reverend Eleanor Winter Memorial School in Wapekeka, one of the remote communities which uses classroom materials from the centre.

"Finding resources in the ji-Cree language would be impossible without those developed by the centre," he said. Staff from the Centre have travelled to his school, which houses students up to grade eight and is located several hundred air miles from Timmins, and together they've worked on some very worthwhile undertakings, such as the Wawakepewin Michicun Fish Weir Project. "There's no doubt that documenting our cultural activities in textbooks and learning in our own language greatly enhances the educational experience of our students," he added. Sedgwick especially appreciates that the Ontario educational curriculum is enriched by culturally-relevant materials.

"Our goal is the survival of our culture, our traditions, and our languages, and we are all committed to it," concluded Riopel. The Ojibway and Cree Cultural Centre welcomes enquiries and can be reached through e-mail at occc@onlink.net or by calling 705-267-7911.