Playing around with cultural differences

Northern Nishnawbe Education Council is looking for opportunities to introduce its students to productions such as the recently performed play Spirit Horse.
“We want to give them the same opportunities as the provincial schools are providing,” said NNEC executive director Jennifer Manitowabi after Drew Hayden Taylor’s adaptation of the Irish play Tir Na N’Og was performed Nov. 2 at Algonquin Avenue Public School in Thunder Bay. “Federally funded schools are not given these opportunities. We are expected to do the same amount with half the dollars.”
National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo emphasized in June that First Nations students receive on average $2,000 less in educational support than other students in Canada.
“For far too many First Nations students, the current system is under-funded, under-supported and unfair,” Atleo said. “If we support our students, bring fairness and equity to First Nations education, we will spark success, create jobs and build economies.”
Manitowabi was looking to raise awareness of the needs of NNEC students among the organizers and the theatre group delivering the 55-minute play. The Elementary Teacher’s Federation of Ontario and the Ontario English Catholic Teacher’s Association sponsored the 33-community tour by Roseneath Theatre, with funding from the Ontario Ministry of Education.
“As much as you’ve done for the past two years, there is still another audience out there that is not being reached,” Manitowabi said. “And they’re looking in the windows and wishing. So please let’s find the support.”
Manitowabi brought two students with her from Lac Seul to see the performance and about nine Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School students also attended a Nov. 4 performance.
Spirit Horse focuses on the challenges faced by two Aboriginal children whose family is caught between the traditional ways and contemporary urban culture. The presentation also features a guide for teachers that covers subjects such as residential schools, treaty rights, medicines and traditions and celebrations.
“Through this initiative, we will continue to focus on creating welcoming environments as key strategies in engaging our First Nations students and communities,” said Cathi Siemieniuk, director of education for Lakehead Public Schools. “Our educational resources are designed to build a supportive school climate, meet educational needs of Aboriginal students and strengthen school relationships with Aboriginal parents, guardians and families.”
Metis actor Michaela Washburn said it is important to start representing the truth in education, arts and culture.
“It’s important for us to be able to tell our stories in the way that we experienced them as opposed to in the way other people would like us to represent them,” Washburn said. “It is important to be able to speak our truth.”
Washburn has done hundreds of Spirit Horse shows for audiences across Canada and the United States, averaging two shows a day five to six days a week.
“It’s definitely a rollercoaster ride,” Washburn said. “You hear them laugh, you hear them gasp, they are very quiet, so overall it has been a very positive experience.”
Washburn noted the prejudiced reaction the father receives from the police at the beginning of the play.
“The teachers are well informed about the issues that are going to be in the play,” Washburn said. “They have to trust in the track record of Roseneath Theatre and the study guide ... that we handle it in a fashion that is safe and responsible for the young audience that we are targeting.”
Manitowabi said it is important to empower students about how to respond to racism.
“Inevitably, they are going to face racism,” Manitowabi said. “So if they can do it in a venue that is protected and where they can be resourced by teachers and curriculum and it is a comfort zone, then they will respond appropriately when they face it in reality.”
“We just have to model appropriate responses and empower students how to respond, not that they shut down, not that they are silent and colonial oppression continues, that we empower them to stand up and speak for themselves and say ‘no, that’s not right.’”