Anishinaabe teachers among education experts preparing next Teach For Canada teachers

By Rick Garrick

THUNDER BAY— Nipissing First Nation’s Bryan Bellefeuille and Red Rock Indian Band’s Cecilia Person enjoyed sharing their knowledge of Indigenous mathematics and Anishinaabemowin at the Teach For Canada Summer Enrichment Program in Thunder Bay.

“For many years, including my education, there was absolutely no content on Indigenous people — so why would we ever think we ever had mathematics?” says Bellefeuille, who studied at the Schulich School of Education at Nipissing University after completing an undergraduate in Mathematics. “The truth be told, we had very complex mathematics — it’s documented that Indigenous people even understood quantum physics, the interrelation of many things.”

Bellefeuille says the teachers “absolutely loved” his July 31 presentation on Math – Intermediate and Senior.

“The teachers were amazed by the depth of mathematics that we truly did do,” Bellefeuille says. “The way I facilitated my activity is for them to slowly understand through the process of how we had our mathematics.”

Bellefeuille says he showed the teachers how gathering teepee poles has mathematics in it.

“In their learning process, I’m trying to get them to find poles of the same height and the teachers didn’t know how to calculate the height of a tree when they are in the bush with just their hands,” Bellefeuille says. “When they finally understood how Indigenous people measure the heights of trees, they were flabbergasted by how knowledgeable we were.”

Bellefeuille and Person were among a group of Indigenous leaders, northern teachers and education experts who helped prepare about 30 Teach For Canada teachers for their upcoming teaching roles in First Nations schools beginning this September.

“I was teaching adults some basic [Anishinaabemowin] to take back to their communities just to get them familiar with some of the words they may be hearing or they might be learning while they are there,” says Person, a Native language teacher with the Thunder Bay Catholic District School Board. “They are very eager learners, they’re friendly, they’re funny. It’s been a good experience for me and for them.”

Person says it was important for her to get involved with Teach For Canada because an Elder once told her that if the Anishinaabe lose their language, they will lose their culture.

“So I feel that I need to be a part of the people that are trying to preserve our language, trying to keep our language going so that we don’t lose our culture and we don’t lose our ways of living and the way we used to live,” Person says. “I just felt I wanted to be a part of this — it’s my first time with Teach For Canada.”

Marsha King, a Teach For Canada teacher who will be teaching in Pikangikum First Nation this fall, says Person’s presentation was “fantastic.”

“Pikangikum is a fully fluent Ojibwe community so I’ll be teaching students who have only spoken [Anishinaabemowin] from birth,” King says. “So having a basis of readings, numbers, colours and even just to be able to begin practicing that has been a really big gift for me.”

The Summer Enrichment Program, which ran from July 13-Aug. 3 at Lakehead University, included a four-day visit to the Ojibways of Onigaming First Nation, located between Kenora and Fort Frances.

“I can say that was the highlight of their time here at Teach For Canada,” says Kevin Berube, executive director of Teach For Canada and a Flying Post First Nation citizen. “We started the first night with a community feast, so there were a lot of community members who came to the school. They did drum songs, they did an honour song for the teachers.”