.School students and staff attended the grand opening ceremony of the Nihithow Askiy Cultural Education Camp. (Facebook/Cook-Searson Tammy Jim)

By Derek Cornet

Land of the Cree

LLRIB celebrates opening of new culture camp near Stanley Mission

May 25, 2022 | 5:13 PM

The Nihithow Askiy (Land of the Cree) Cultural Education Camp near Stanley Mission is now serving a steady flow of local elementary and high students.

The camp, located 10 minutes away from the community on the southern end of McCaffery Lake, held its grand opening on May 24 and it was attended by Lac La Ronge Indian Band (LLRIB) leadership, community members and residents including camp teacher Isabelle Hardlotte.

She explained the camp has been hosting students since January, but it officially became operational about two and a half years ago.

“Because of COVID, we never had a grand opening and we’ve also not had a steady flow of students because of the shut down of schools,” Hardlotte said. “When the province opened up a lot of Saskatchewan for gatherings and stuff like that, we decided now would be the time to actually have a grand opening.”

Hardlotte mentioned the idea for the land-based program was first brought up many years ago after it was decided the Cree culture and language in Stanley Mission shouldn’t be taught in a western school setting but rather a more traditionally one. Fundraising occurred and organizations, including LLRIB Family and Child Services, contributed financially to complete the project.

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The camp consists of two buildings for accommodations, a main kitchen building and a fourth main learning building as well, which is a big open area for kids to sit, learn and gather.

Fried fish was served to those who attended the event. (Facebook/Cook-Searson Jim Tammy)

Activities such as wild meat preparation also took place. (Facebook/Cook-Searson Tammy Jim)

“Because we have two schools, we have an elementary school and a high school, we can only accommodate so many kids given our school runs on a six-day cycle,” Hardlotte said. “The even days are for the high school and the odd days are for the elementary school. We have kids out here half a day at a time because, in a school setting, you only have a subject for one hour. When you are trying to teach culture, one hour is not enough time.”

At the camp, students learn Cree language skills, as well as activities like setting snares, snowshoeing, skiing, berry picking and whatever is traditional for the season.

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derek.cornet@pattisonmedia.com

Twitter: @saskjourno