Rosalie Tsannie dedicates life to education

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Anyone who has ever questioned the value of education obviously never met Rosalie Tsannie. Tsannie, the 43-year old director of education for the Hatchet Lake First Nation, has dedicated her life to learning, and it has certainly paid off for both herself and the hundreds of students she has interacted with over her long and rewarding teaching career.

In 1999, she became the first Dene in Saskatchewan to receive a master's degree in education, but for Tsannie, schooling has never been about personal achievement.

"If I can make a difference in someone's life, that's rewarding in itself," said Tsannie. "I really just enjoy working for and with my people. They teach me a lot, and I teach them a lot. We've been a real good team."

It is a team that Tsannie certainly knows well. She was born in Wollaston Lake (a community of some 1300 people located in northeastern Saskatchewan) in 1958, "just as the Dene people were settling down from their nomadic lifestyle" and it is in Wollaston Lake that she continues to live and work. School, ironically enough, is the only thing that has taken Tsannie away from the Hatchet Lake First Nation for any extended period of time.

"I went away to a residential school when I was six," she explained. "I came home in 1969, because a school had finally been built in my community. I took grades 7 through 9 here, then went away to high school in Prince Albert."

After high school, Tsannie worked for a few years in barely remembered jobs before deciding that her life would be best spent as a teacher. She obtained a teacher's aide certificate and spent five years working in the field honing her skills. In 1987, she returned to Wollaston Lake to take a position at the reserve's elementary school. Her first position there was as a kindergarten teacher, and Tsannie fondly recalls the three years she spent in that job as "the best time of my life." She next moved on to teach grades 2, 3, and 4, as well as the school's Dene language program.

During the summer breaks in the school year, Tsannie continued to pursue her own education, and in 1991 she obtained her bachelor of education degree. With her newly earned credentials, the Hatchet Lake Board of Education promoted Tsannie to a vice principal position in 1992. By 1993, she had again been promoted, this time to principal. Another advancement in 1997 put her into the position of assistant director of education for her entire band.

"It was around then that I decided I needed more," Tsannie confided. More, for someone whose life is dedicated to teaching and learning, meant once again returning to school. In 1998, Tsannie took a leave from her job and went to the University of Regina to obtain her master's degree.

Returning to Wollaston Lake in 1999 with her second hard-earned sheepskin, Tsannie assumed the position of director of education, a job she continues to hold and enjoy.

"I wake up every morning happy with my life," said Tsannie. "Education is a life-long experience. Because of the good upbringing I had growing up in a happy environment, it was a big factor in my self-worth. I want to pass that along to my students."

A caring educator and a true role model for her community, Tsannie attributes her successes to date to a number of attributes.

"It was through determination, it was all because I wanted it," she explained about earning here master's. "I've always been quiet, diligent and ambitious."

These are attributes she tries hard to sow among the students at her schools, and in her community as a whole. In addition to being director of education, Tsannie also works as a justice of the peace and a marriage counsellor.

"I do a lot in the community," she modestly confirmed.

Education is her real love, though, and Tsannie is already thinking about the next step on this path.

"I'd like to start my Ph.D. in two years."

Having led a life dedicated to education, Tsannie has advice and words of encouragement for all Aboriginal youth.

"Cme to terms with who you are, understand your culture and yourself. A person needs to have an identity. Never lose sight of who you are," she said, "and never quit learning."

Such is Tsannie's personal motto, and her dedication to this ideal and to the betterment of her community continues to be an inspiration for her people. Through education, her life attests, a person can accomplish anything they desire. Wollaston Lake residents should feel thankful and proud that Tsannie's desire is to help improve the community she has for so long known and loved.