There’s nothing like seeing a young person light up when they’re on the land, says Michael Corston.
His work as a traditional Aski co-ordinator with Mushkegowuk Council’s Six Seasons Youth program has shown him and the rest of the team the importance of keeping children connected to their culture.
“We try to teach having your voice,” said Corston. “Even at dances, meeting people, cooking class, sewing, beading, they help each other, so it trickles off from the workshops to the classroom to Snapchat, and they build friendships that way.”
The program started over a year ago, focusing on giving Indigenous youth in Timmins the same cultural and educational opportunities as their peers on reserves.
“When families move from the communities and they come to Timmins, they’re looking for services like education, healthcare, housing,” said Jamie Davey, the program’s cultural co-ordinator. “Throughout the years, we have noticed that there is a great need for cultural identity for families and youth to have that knowledge and these opportunities to go out on the land and get reconnected to the land.”
Their workshops and events include everything from hunting and cooking to beading and painting moose antlers.
“They’re reconnecting with people who are originally from their communities, so it’s pretty cool to see that sense of community,” said Davey.
The six-person team also holds cultural events with local schools to educate Indigenous and non-Indigenous students about the communities around Timmins. This includes Cree language learning at O’Gorman High School over lunch for anyone interested.
“A couple of teachers came in, as well as the students,” said Corston.
They’re talking to Timmins High and Vocational School about cultural experiences.
“We’re definitely open to doing classroom visits when we can,” said Davey. “It’s based on requests.”
The program got its name from the traditional six seasons that Omushkego people use to mark different times of the year: winter, spring, break-up, summer, fall, and freeze-up.
“We used to do certain things in those months where we had to get to the next month. We had to survive,” said Corston. “If we had to move where the food was, or we had to go inland to go trap, come out to go fish, stuff like that.”
The youth involved are offered a space to be themselves and feel safe.
He said the connection with the children can also be validating for him, especially after someone feels safe to open up.
“We can’t meet the needs of everybody, but we do our best,” he said.
Those activities can be an important moment for the children, said Davey.
“They're living here in an urban area, so sometimes we think, ‘Oh, we’re in the city, so we don’t always have the opportunities to do traditional activities,’ but going out blueberry picking could be a highlight for that kid,” said Davey. “Maybe it was their first time ever going blueberry picking and it’s something they’ll never forget.”
The program also allows families to share different techniques and teachings between the communities.
“I never knew all those different areas do different things, but there are so many innovative ways to do things, even splitting wood or carrying water,” said Corston.
“We need to teach living skills,” he said. “Not everyone is going to be a doctor or lawyer, or an electrician or cook, but everyone needs to know how to cook.”
The diverse backgrounds of the team allow for many different approaches.
“For me, growing up, I wanted to be a photographer, so I went to school for photography, never knowing I was going to come back to Timmins and provide cultural programming for youth, but it’s because of all my experiences, growing up in my communities, learning about ceremony, learning about reclaiming our traditional ways,” said Davey. “Now, working for a program where we can do this for a living, we’re teaching the youth that you can learn these skills, and you can do this as a career!”
Not everything is strictly culturally significant. The youth have gone on trips to hockey games in Toronto and this weekend there's a Halloween dance.
“It’s not just crafts,” said Corston. “They ask us for what they want, one kid wanted to do karaoke.”
They also hosted a carnival for the youth during the evacuations this summer.
The team is currently working toward the second annual youth treaty conference in November.
They’re looking to have around 200 people gathering in Timmins to learn about Treaty 9.
Corston says the program is a way to heal and to move forward as a community.
“If our people had that nurturing and love, we’d be so different. It would be so different for us,” said Corston. “We’re coming back, and it’s only going to get better.”
