Group wants to ban teaching of Indigneous spirituality

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Where does First Nations' culture end and First Nations' spirituality begin? Does teaching some aspects of First Nations' culture and traditions to students in school violate the students' and parents' freedom of religion? Would students understand First Nations' culture without being taught about the spiritual beliefs from which that culture grew?

Those are the questions teachers, parents and Elders in this district are asking after a meeting March 14 at the Fort Qu'Appelle library.

Those at the meeting say they're worried that complaints lodged by an evangelical Christian First Nations organization may spawn a backlash against Native studies and cultural classes in area schools. They also said children in such courses are taught only what those spiritual beliefs mean in terms of Aboriginal culture, and students aren't forced to participate in religious events.

The issue cuts to the heart of projects such as the Community of Hope's efforts to build cultural bridges between the Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal community, said the organization's cultural liaison worker, Germaine Coates.

"We want to create an environment where diversity is acceptable," she said, "not to make people feel that what someone else believes is wrong."

Several Fort Qu'Appelle people who are also involved with the Community of Hope program hosted the public forum. The Community of Hope is a program sponsored by several community agencies along with the provincial departments of Education and Social Services, providing in-school and after-school cultural and recreational activities to combat growing school drop-out rates in areas where there are high rates of poverty. Fort Qu'Appelle is one of two rural Saskatchewan schools with a Community of Hope program.

In a prepared statement, the First Peoples Ministers Council say they are not opposed to teaching non-spiritual aspects of First Nations culture during class time, but oppose practicing Native spirituality by students during school hours.

The council says teaching religious culture during class time violates the children's' and parents' freedom of religion and freedom of culture, in much the same way as having students recite the Lord's Prayer would infringe on the rights of non-Christians.

"The opposition is based on their right to freedom of religion and conscience guaranteed by the Canadian Charter and the Saskatchewan Bill of Rights," the council said in a prepared statement.

Allan Beckie, a Regina lawyer representing, through the council, First Nations parents who oppose the teaching of Native spirituality in schools, declined comment when contacted.

The First Peoples Ministers' Council didn't take part in last Tuesday's forum because neither they nor the people the council represents were consulted about planning the meeting, the council says in its prepared statement.

During the Fort Qu'Appelle meeting some speakers, who are from area First Nations, say the First Peoples Ministers' Council's actions were puzzling.

"On the reserve, our children are not taught about spirituality at an early age," said Velma Goodfeather, an Elder from Standing Buffalo Dakota Nation. Children are not taught religious teaching until parents and Elders feel the children are old enough to grasp the concepts, she added.

"It is difficult enough to teach respect for our culture."

In school, students spend some of their class time learning about the history and culture of Saskatchewan's First Nations and Metis peoples. Proponents of the current program say that it would be very difficult to teach about some aspects of such cultures without showing the spiritual beliefs behind the culture. For example it would be hard to teach students about the significance of some social events such as powwows without talking about the religious significance of some of the activities, they say.

Because Aboriginal spirituality encompasses almost every part of Aboriginal culture, it wuld be very difficult for people designing such courses to decide what to leave in and what to take out if all references to spirituality were removed, said Lorraine Cyr-Peigan, a member of the Pasqua First Nation band council and who also represents Pasqua on the Indian Head School Division board of trustees.

For example, teaching the Saulteaux language to students would become extremely difficult, she said.

"Many of the words in our language refer to the Creator," she said. "If we were not to teach the words in our language which refer to the Creator, how would our children be taught our language?"

One teacher who spoke at the Fort Qu'Appelle meeting said people might have made the complaints because they're unfamiliar with what is being taught.

"We're not forcing students in those classes to practice that spirituality," said Gwen Paul, who teaches Native Studies courses at Bert Fox Comprehensive High School.

Meanwhile students in school are also learning about other religions in other classes, Paul said. In Grade 8, one social studies class teaches students about other faiths such as the Jewish and Moslem religions.

Complaints about teaching aspects of Aboriginal spirituality in schools started last month in Regina, organizers of Tuesday's meeting claimed.

The complaints started at Kitchener School, soon after the Saskatoon public school board abandoned its long-standing policy requiring students to recite the Lord's Prayer before classes.

As of now, Regina's public schools have not made any changes to their programs because of the complaints, said the chairman of Regina's public school board.

"Our schools teach about religion. They do not teach religion," said John Conway. "We don't preach or advocate one religious value system over another."