Meet the neighbours

You could cut the tension in the room with a knife.
Walking in to the gymnasium at Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School Feb. 15 had the feeling of a death row inmate making a final walk before meeting the executioner.
Staff had warned me; prepared me for the things I might hear. But there is nothing that can prepare you for intolerance and racism.
It should have been the third meeting in a series of such events to allow the school’s neighbours to learn more about the dorm to be constructed in the spring. But it was more than that. It was a chance for the people who didn’t want the school in “their neighbourhood” to begin with to voice their displeasure.
One of the more “positive” comments I heard during the time I spent at the meeting came from an elderly man sitting behind me and a few rows over.
Before a crowd of more than 100 people, including DFC principal Jonathan Kakegamic, DFC director Larry Howes and head of guidance Greg Quachegan, the man said he was against the school when it opened.
Speaking as a self-described “white … old man,” he said when he learned the school would be for Aboriginal youth, he had metal bars installed on his doors and windows and a high-end security system installed in his home.
“But I haven’t had any issues with your students,” he said.
Another woman spoke about how she is afraid to walk down the street between the school and McIntyre River with her three children because of the presence of all the students and drug paraphernalia under the bridge.
The insinuation that these students from DFC are solely responsible for the needles and artefacts is foolish.
Youth from elementary schools in the area and Churchill High School next door to DFC could be just as likely culprits.
On any day, driving down Edward Street, next to school, you will see a variety of people – old, young, some who appear homeless, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal – in the area.
Things reached a boiling point when treaty rights and taxation came up.
Ignorance is not an excuse but there has to be a better way to make a point than to ask: “Do you even pay taxes?”
Another great question was raised: “What do the parents of these students contribute to the school? Where does the school gets its money from?”
When it got rationalized down to “the DFC neighbours’ taxes” paying for the private Aboriginal school, a mass exit of those attending the meeting began.
Some of the neighbours were upset this was the third meeting which was held and they hadn’t heard about the first two.
In an effort to attract more people to the meeting, more than 1,600 flyers were hand-delivered by students to the homes around the school.
In the fall, when plans for the dorm were announced, DFC held a 10th anniversary open house. Conspicuous by their absence were many of the school’s neighbours.
The anniversary celebration attracted a great number of people from the Aboriginal community but few non-Aboriginals attended.
During that celebration, Howes displayed a rough mock-up of how the dorm may look.
Even today, there is plenty of time for suggestions to the design and concept, Howes said during the meeting Feb. 15.
The concept, as it stands and was approved by the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council (NNEC) board in October, would see Grade 9 and 10 students stay in the dorm, which is expected to be able to accommodate 100-110 students with two in each room.
The Grade 11 students will return to the boarding home system.
Grade 12 students would go to a modified boarding home system where they would receive their boarding home funds ($250 biweekly for food and utility costs) and will pay their hosts directly.
Construction of the dorm is expected to be completed in time for the 2011-2012 school year.