Learning to read and write opens up the world

Page 32

It took a lot of courage for Yvonne Carter to go back to school, not only as a shy Elder working in a classroom full of younger students, but as a survivor of the residential school system. That was an experience which left her frightened and confused and saddled with a legacy of broken Cree, broken English and a smattering of French.

"There were a lot of things I hated about the Roman Catholic residential school at Onion Lake. The nuns talked to each other in French and they had a word for us, 'sauvage . . . sauvage.' Every day there was that word ringing in our ears. I had always thought that it was a good word and we didn't have anything like it in Cree. I didn't know until later what the nuns meant. I didn't like it when they cut off my long hair, took away my homemade dresses and put me in uniforms and hard shoes."

As a mother and grandmother returning to high school, almost half a lifetime later, there were some real stumbling blocks that Carter had to get past, including anxiety about speaking in public and the idea that, because she was older, she must be wiser.

"I thought that as an Elder, I'd be wiser, but I find that it's the young ones that are teaching me things now, helping me with my speaking and writing. In my mind I would know what I wanted to say, but I had a very hard time saying it. I grew up learning Cree and English together and at the [school] we weren't allowed to speak Cree - but they (the nuns) couldn't stop us. There were more than a few ear pinchings and twistings, but they couldn't take that away from us," said Carter.

Currently enrolled in the Adult Basic Education program at the Sakeweskam Learning Centre in Onion Lake, Sask., Carter said she has finally found a way to put all the pieces of her life together, in a good safe place and on her own terms as a Cree woman who is deeply committed to her own Native spirituality.

"It's so safe here. That other school was so scary and intimidating," said Carter.

Coming back to finish high school after a 40-year absence, she is busy tackling new challenges and a heavy Grade 12 course load, including computer technology and subjects like algebra and biology that weren't taught in her time.

Yvonne is one of more than a hundred students working on the GED, (general educational development), which will give her the Grade 12 equivalency of university entrance, explained Marie Tootoosis, an instructor at the learning centre.

Each student is assessed and works at their own pace in a personalized program that addresses their own goals and needs, and includes students who have been classified as completely illiterate (starting at a Grade 1 level) right up to those wanting to upgrade for university entrance.

Onion Lake First Nation, which plows a lot of time, effort and money into adult literacy, offers the year-round programming to all adult band members, said Tootoosis.

The literacy program, an extension program of Eagleview High School, is designed to meet the needs of adults coming in from all walks of life, including the learning disabled.

Few students are classified as totally illiterate, said Tootoosis, with many returning to pick up lost or rusty skills. Adults can sometimes be hard to assess, she said. They often know words that children don't know, but cannot comprehend sentences or paragraphs. Some have set challenging, long term goals for themselves in terms of further education, and others want to learn basic skills like how to count their own change and sign their name to a cheque.

"One of our students, a very shy Elder, grandmother, and friend of Yvonne's, came in to us with a special goal of her own, to learn to pen enough words to be able to write her own shopping list. She had spent a lifetime drawing columns of little pictures on a shopping list to remind herself of what she needed to buy at the store. For her, this is a big goal and an important one, to be able to do this thing," said Tootoosis.

For Yvonne Carter, high school graduaton in June will not be a beginning or an end, but another link in a strong circle and a big step forward in a life of learning, serving and healing.

"Because of what I have been through in my life, surviving the residential school, losing my husband to alcohol, and grandchildren to a fire, I know what it is like to go through healing and I really believe in my Native culture. I have been helped by traditional healing, go to fasting rituals down south, and sun dances in the States, and it feels like somebody is always looking after me. I almost turned to that other religion (Christianity) one night when I was stuck, with no way to go to my sun dance. I prayed to the Creator and said, 'Well Creator, if you want me to go to that other religion I will, give me a sign.' I got a call early next morning from a couple traveling down from Fort Chippewa who were on their way to a sun dance in North Dakota and wanted to pick me up and take me with them. That's when I knew, a sign that the Creator was looking after me. That's why I believe so strongly in our Native culture. There's someone looking after me, someone standing behind me."

Born in Thunderchild First Nation and currently a member of the Onion Lake Band, Carter is determined to put her new literacy to work, both on the reserve and out in the bigger community.

"My mother was Cree and my father Saulteaux, and it was from my mother, Mabel Paquette, that I learned how important it was to share. I thank my mother who was so loving, so kind hearted and never hurt anyone. I remember as a child that if we were down to our last flower or bannock and somebody hungry came to our house, she would share what we had. That's what she taught us, to help and share. My new literacy, learning to speak and write better, has opened up the world for me. Learning to work well with other people is another challenge, to see what use they can make of me and I to them," said Carter.

Recently elected to be an Elder advisor on the board of theLloydminster Native Friendship Centre, she is also looking forward to a graduate year, a 10-month residency for Native artisans at the cultural school in Lac La Biche, Alta. where she wants to be able to deepen and share her own knowledge and understanding of Plains Cree culture and spirituality.