Heritage key to overcoming problems - teacher

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The recent disintegration of Native culture has left youth reeling without direction in a non-Native world so a Cree teacher at Fort MacKay School is doing his part to help children take pride in their heritage.

"I firmly believe Indian people have lost their identity and the only real way of teaching Native kids is teaching something they can identify with as an Indian person," said Dale Awasis.

"The young look at me and they see the dance and the song, and they say, 'Wow, can we learn the songs, can we learn how to dance?"

The children thrive on his program because many Native youth seek an identity, he explained.

If a firm Native identity can be passed on, it will be a step to helping Indian society deal with mainstream values. Traditional philosophies can overcome the problems of alcoholism and drug abuse, among other things, Awasis insisted.

"When I took a psychology class in university, the first thing they said that really stuck was, 'Before an individual can function in any society, they must first have an identity. We as a group need to have an identity."

Awasis offers that chance with an extracurricular powwow dance program. Students learn traditional dances as well as the way of the sweat lodge, ritual fasting and old Indian philosophies.

The cultural programs in the school are very experimental and have never been done before, he noted.

Awasis urges youngsters not only to listen to what he can offer through the rituals, the dances and the songs, but also to tale to their own elders.

Ironically many Native people fight the return to traditional Native values because they have been completely assimilated by non-Native values.

"For example, in the last community I worked I was labeled a witch," he sail. "They said what I was doing was hedonistic and not what the Lord wanted. It really hurt to see people the same color as me turn against what I was doing, because I figured they would understand, who I am trying to be, and Indian person."

He meets with each class over the course of a week, dealing with 85 students. He has been at the school since the fall and the affects have been dramatic, especially with school attendance.

"The attitude is just so different," he said. "When I first came here the attendance rate (jumped to) 95 to 100 per cent, and I guess that's not the case for a lot of schools. Here? Kids are always here."

Born and raised on the Thunderchild reserve in northern Saskatchewan, he spent a large part of his life on the Onion Lake reserve, about 35 miles north of Lloydminister.

During his tees his interest in Native culture grew to include the singing and drumming at powwows and the Native identity and philosophy attached to it.

"I loved the ways the songs went and I sat in the bleachers and sang with the songs. I found in time I was able to follow it easily, but I really didn't get into it. I don't know why."

Being homeless at the age of 16, he remembers how his search for himself and an Indian identity had him literally roaming Canada meeting different Indian tribes. He traveled from the west coast across western Canada.

He traveled for two years.

But it wasn't until he was 25 years old that he started participating in the drumming, dancing and singing at powwows, as well as learning religious rituals.

"Then I started Sun Dancing. That really helped to open my understanding of who I am as a Native person," he added.