Azhemiinigoziwin program empowers Anishinaabekwe through culture, education, and land-based learning

By Rick Garrick

THUNDER BAY — Seven Generations Education Institute is holding its second year of Azhemiinigoziwin Program classes for Anishinaabekwe who are living in the Thunder Bay area. The women’s empowerment program, which focuses on Anishinaabekweg revitalizing their inherent strength through education, Anishinaabemowin, cultural engagement, and other learning or skill development opportunities, has also been held at Seven Generations Education Institute’s Rainy Lake and Sioux Lookout campuses.

“It started here in Thunder Bay last October with our first cohort doing 15 weeks between November and March, and then our second cohort doing 15 weeks between March and June,” says Julie Harmer, Vice Principal/Teacher at Seven Generations Education Institute. “The women get a full wraparound holistic program, so they get time to work on academics if they want to finish their high school or move towards something in the post-secondary, they get time to work on pre-employment skills and explore careers, they get time to do beautiful culture and land-based activities as well as language [and] artwork.”

Harmer says the students also get to go out in the community and explore community resources such as Oshki-Pimache-O-Win: The Wenjack Education Institute, Confederation College, and Lakehead University.

“They’ve done tours of the library and the art gallery, and they’ve been to local artists for workshops,” Harmer says, noting that they also do Anishinaabemowin and mental health and well-being sessions. “We try to get them out on the land and working with natural and traditional materials as much as possible, so furs and leathers and medicines.”

Harmer says they also do a lot around food sustainability, including having a grocery market that is free for students.

“They learn food preservation techniques and harvesting,” Harmer says. “Last year they did wilderness first aid, they also did regular first aid, food handling, [and] smart serve, so things that help them with their employability and career goals.”

Harmer says one of the activities the students did last year was making Red Dress pins and pin kits that they shared at the Second Annual Red Dress Run at Boulevard Lake in Thunder Bay.

“They were able to share some of the teachings they had received around Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls with local Elder Diane Hardy from Rocky Bay (Biinjitiwaabik Zaaging Anishinaabek),” Harmer says.

Harmer says they also did a partnership with Roots Community Food Centre in Thunder Bay.

“They learned a variety of cooking techniques from lots of different backgrounds and using different locally harvested ingredients,” Harmer says. “They had a teaching around B.C, salmon.”

Raven Linklater, Azhemiinigoziwin Program Instructor and Coordinator at Seven Generations Education Institute, says they do a lot of cultural skill building and academic activities during the program.

“I introduce Indigenous world view and knowledges, and we go into land-based activities,” Linklater says. “A lot of people are really surprised with the amount of skills that they already had, they didn’t realize how amazing they already were and that’s a big piece of my job — is just showing people that you have innate skills and you have gifts and we’re just shining those gifts up so you can go out and share them with the world.”

Linklater says the Indigenous world view and philosophy sessions include the Seven Grandfather Teachings, sweetgrass teachings, and All My Relation teachings.

“We bring in a multitude of different Elders and Knowledge Keepers,” Linklater says. “We also will make traditional items, like we’ll do hand drums, rattles — which are very special in my heart because the rattles carry the Creation Story and the Knowledge Keeper that I bring in shares all of those pieces with it, so they’re not just making a craft, they’re building their knowledge base in Indigenous world view, they’re building their sense of identity, [and] they’re building their sense of purpose by realizing they can do amazing things.”

Deana Archie, one of the Azhemiinigoziwin Program students, says it is an interesting program.

“I’m looking forward to all the projects,” Archie says, noting that she joined the program to learn more about the teachings and the crafting. “I like the crafting part, so we’re going to learn a lot actually, some stuff I haven’t done before. I’m still learning.”