A special place in my heart

"I want to go more places, but this one will always have a special place in my heart." I said that in reply to someone telling me there are other places I can learn so much from.
On my Facebook wall, actually so you can see it if you're my Facebook friend :P

But, watching a terrible movie that featured an elder of Chisasibi, Margaret Cromarty-Sam, and Jimmy Sam, a photographer that sparked a realization, after two months of living here, how egocentric some of my opinions of the people here are.  I don't understand these people because I don't understand the lifestyle that satisfies them.  I think it's so important for them to learn English and read English, but many of them would so much rather live a lifestyle that made their grandparents so happy.
I think the biggest issue is that children are so detached from their grandparents because when they were forced to move here from Fort George, their lifestyle changed so rapidly that there was no bridge of understanding whatsoever.  And the parents are the ones that went to residential schools, creating an even larger gap between generations.  And I've only really interacted with teachers and children (students) and not really any elders. Thats where the cultural discovery truly is.

Margaret read one of her poems in the film. It was about her home on Fort George, comparing it to the peace and calm of an owl. I recognized it immediately. I believe it was the first poem I bookmarked actually.  Such a beautiful woman.  The filming crew asked her if she felt alone in Fort George (it's basically a ghost town now since hydroquebec said it would flood, and it never did.)  She said no.  "I have the sky," and other things.  She continued to state that in Chisasibi, when she watches TV, she feels alone.   

I was looking through the pictures of the Cox family reunion thanks to Sylvain, and they just look so happy, naturally, in the photographs. And I've never seen these people in that setting. Oh, how can I think I understand them when I don't know their ways, I don't know their language?  There's so much more to learn than what the three months I have with Katimavik. I want to come back so I can learn everything myself without Katimavik limitations. (That's nothing against Katimavik, I wouldn't have learned nearly this much if it werent for Katimavik!)

The thing is, the children of Chisasibi are children of Chisasibi, not Fort George. Like myself, all they've ever known is electricity, running water and the things I too sometimes take for granted.  Meeting Sylvain for me, was a real pleasure because I got to meet someone that was living the lifestyle without running water or electricity and he is satisfied with that lifestyle.  It brings me great pleasure to see that there are hard-working people like him that can adopt such a lifestyle and appreciate it after growing up with such luxuries.

Sylvain explained many of these things to us, about the dying culture in Chisasibi, and the repression, and the many difficulties they've endured. This man has a better understanding of these people than, well, I believe, than any other white person here.  And in 5 days, I've learned so much from him.  I hope to learn more someday.  (Maybe even this summer!)


And I rode in an army tank today!  talked to some of the army guys. and sorry, I don't have pictures, but the americans (there is a platoon of 18 here, I talked to the commander :P)  were pretty funny- they gave some kids their ranks, and told them to tell the privates to do stuff.  Justin, who's about 2 or 3 i think, barely talks, so they stood behind him and had one of the troops do push-ups and I think Hailey (who's a sweetheart in the Grade 5 French Class) will keep the officer's rank with her forever.

I also talked to a Canadian soldier, a corporal, who drove the tank when we were in it :P, which was fun- I even shared some of my sister's stories! And maybe one of my own? Can't remember anymore, but he mentioned his tour and I asked about Cypress (the part of the tour where they do their "debriefing" and finally get their well-deserved fun.)


I haven't even mentioned Ashuugan!  I had the pleasure of being in this class to do a little 'presentation' (more like a discussion, it was sweet!)  with their small class, and talk to the teachers.  It was such a joy for me, to meet people who were so interested in what I had to say, and they seemed to really want to share some knowledge and share some of their contacts with us.  Ashuugan, in case you're wondering, is a pre-college prep course for students in Chisasibi.  Iit's funded by CEGEP Felicien, and for those of you that dont know, CEGEP in Quebec is schooling between high school and University.  The reason there is such a need for something like this is because there is not a whole lot available close to them, and even those schools that are available are schools in French, which is hard for them since french would be a third language for many (most actually) So this would make their transition from high school here so much easier.  We were talking about all the things we could combine groups with to do and it just got me so excited to be involved with people that live here, that are actually closer to our age!  


And there was a hockey game- Canadian Forces Vs The local Chisasibi team. SO INTENSE. It went into a shootout, which lasted about 5 rounds (I dont know exactly how many but it went for a while) and, I believe the army took the win. :(   This month something is happening everyday to get the Community Spirit going! Tomorrow I'm going to wear the skirt I made, the shirt, a pair of earrings I bought, and bring the slippers i bought :)
I even got a contact to do a fire in a TeePee so that would be a really cool experience if it happens!


Yesterday, they had their community month launch at the commercial centre. I went, because all I knew was that there was a walk and I knew I wanted to meet more people, as always :P  Well, we missed the walk, but they were giving out food and scarves, and there weren't as many people as they were anticipating since it was a pedagogical day and there were so few kids. I'm sure they spent a lot of money on that food to get people there, but what gets people's interest here is plain and simple:  Hockey.  I've never met people that loved hockey so much. EVERYTHING is Montreal Canadians!  Boo Leafs!  It's great!  
They were also selling all kinds of crafts at the arena- the mittens EVERYONE wears here (which Im going to make really soon! :))  slippers, lots!
So I bought a bunch of stuff :P  I dont mind spending the money because I feel like I'm giving back to the people that really deserve it.  The artists that handcrafted them. And the prices were reasonable I think.  $70 for my slippers, $15 for earrings, $25 for anther pair and $10 for a shirt!

My Tshirt, earrings and the slippers I bought!  in a while, I'll have mittens I will have made to add to the pile! :)

This is the chief doing his speech at the community Spirit month launch.  This month, there's something every day!  Today, for example, is dress traditional day, so I'm going to wear the skirt I made :)

"THE BIGGEST BOWL I'VE EVER SEEN!"  It's macaroni salad (at the community launch) and a LOT of it!

Sandwiches, meatballs and more from the community launch

A few days "dans le bois"

This is Grisou- a dog that is actually half wolf!  You can sort of tell by his size and muscular physique that he's an exceptional dog!  He's really shy though, and if you take him by surprise, he'll certainly take you by surprise, haha, he sure did startle me!

So we didn't get to go to the Elder's camp, but we were lucky enough to have Sylvain's warm welcome to his property near Radisson.  It was awesome! I'll have to write more about it in further details in a little bit.   Before I write much about it, I figured I'd post some pictures (some wouldn't load for some reason)  To refresh my memory when I feel like writing more :)

The guys at the army base we visited.  They have different groups of people that create a little competition against each other (even having different flags haha!)  But there's the truckers, mechanics and supply. 

Sylvain does not have a car.  Or rather, he does not use one I guess!

BOBO!  This one's not shy at all!  Shes a sweetheart and LOVES people!  She even came into our cabin to snuggle for a bit :)

We heated our cabin with a wood fire, which we had to wake up through the night to tend to

This one's just pretty.

I think someone started a dreamcatcher and left it, but it was hanging in a tree which I thought was interesting.

Our cabin! :)  It says "administration" in the front

Were working on our Quincy- a white man's igloo.  Or rather, the pile of snow we slept in :P for one night.

The campfire :)

One of the awesomely comfortable pieces of clothing we got from "the thrift store", or the room with boxes and boxes of used clothing.  This sweater is so warm and comfortable I had to take it home!

*Sorry this picture sucks :S 
this is us at the army camp! :)It was actually a really good tour and they were kind enough to give us a couple boxes of food with bread :D and fresh fruit after they let us go nuts at the canteen :) We were like poor children (not that we're poor with Katimavik, there's just little things we appreciate more after a bit- like YOGURT- Mmmmm....)

Northern Lights Viewing and so much more!

Northern Lights Viewing!

I just thought that I should note that my nails now are longer than they’ve ever been.  I’ve always bit my nails and wanted to see how long they can grow, but I always ended up biting them because they broke, I got bored, stressed or whatever.  Not here.

So I haven't been posting all my pictures (sorry!) I'll try to post a bunch tonight and tomorrow!

Last weekend, we walked to the elders camp, never made it (it was an adventure anyway)

Saturday, we went to the Elders camp as mentioned

And Sunday we went towards James Bay to see the sunset!

Last night, I saw the northern lights again!  They weren’t super bright, and please have patience for me on the pictures because I have no clue how to focus them :S but they were out there, and we got to see them change quite a bit! There was even a bit of red that we could see from our front porch!

PICTURES! Again, sorry for the delay.  Uploading pictures isn't my favourite thing to do, especially since the connection here is slow and I have to leave it over night to post them!  But I should be mostly caught up after this :)

Briana took this picture one day walking home from school.  Yes, it was that dark at about 445! When we got here, the sun rose with us as we walked to school and set as we walked home from school.  Now we have a little more sunlight though :)  Notice the icicles on my eyelashes-ridiculous!

On the way to the Elders camp, we decided to take a different, more adventurous route, which apparently (someone decided) entailed climbing a really steep little hill.  We even had to push Lady, the dog that follows us everywhere, up!  We all made it and it felt like "climbing mount Everest," Michael said.  Hahaha, only us!

This one was taken when we walked the undriveable (another truch got stuck and we pushed them out) towards James Bay to the sunset. (not at James Bay as we planned though)  we've found that none of our plans work the way we plan them, but they always work out to our favour in the end anyway. :)

KATIMAVIK!  We tried spelling such with our bodies (I took this one) and even if you cant see it, we look pretty goofy so I figured it was well worth posting!

<3  Oh the sunsets here...

This is a picture taken at night from just out front of our house!  It's not the greatest depiction of the red I could see (on the horizon) which would be the northern lights ;)  but you get the idea.

This one was actually taken a while ago in our backyard. That's Michael (yes, in a Tshirt for picture sake) overlooking the gorgeous sunset after a long day on the weekend.

I should warn you guys once again about the difficulty of taking pictures of the Northern lights.  I don't know if I'll be able to figure it out, but Ill certainly try to do some research to help me out!  You can see the green in there though, which is what really matters, isn't it? Well, in this one (despite the blurriness- I believe the lens was frosted since I misplaced my cap) and I had it on a 20 second exposure with the lowest Fstop.  Next time- higher ISO, I'll wear better gloves so I can put the shutter on Bulb.  Any suggestions for the manual focus (which I find the most difficult aspect)  And if you have no idea what this means, don't even worry about it ;)

The "mitchuap" (cree word for Tee Pee) at the downtown of Chisasibi!  I took this one after school when the sun wass setting.  There, they also have a commercial centre, with Northern, the Grocery store, the post office, a co-op an more.  That's where all kinds of people hang out!

Disappointement

It’s dinner time and all I can hear is the sound of eight forks and three spoons (we don’t have enough forks) on 11 plates.  It’s another quiet meal because we’re all so hungry after a hard days’ work.  “Okay,” our project leader says, “my apple cannot wait- it’s a big one.”

Every day, each of us share an ‘apple’ - the good thing that happened that day and an ‘onion’ which is something bad that happened that day.

I can’t remember his exact words, but he told us that we would be going to the elders camp for 9 days in two weeks and that day that he visited the Elders camp, he was right into the caribou face- eating it that is, of course. 

 “Ohh my,” he often says.  We might tease him a little for that because I don’t think our Saskatchewan-born adventurer really notices.

Friday, he shared a big onion: Elders camp is cancelled.  Meetings of some sort?  We would still visit the Elders camp Saturday for snowshoeing, but the cultural experience we were looking forward to would not be happening.  Deçu was the French word of the day.

Saturday was a long day for me.   Before going to the camp, we had a house meeting to figure out if we wanted to walk there despite the wind and weather conditions.  We all agreed to brave the cold and found that we were the only brave ones that day! The camp appeared to be mostly deserted until we came across Margaret, a woman I know from school.  We hung out in a tee pee with her for a while, and then walked home.  

Later, I wrote in my journal and realized that what I was seeing at school was that some children, feeling misunderstood, were metaphorically locked in cages, and they've been acting up, waiting for someone to tear down the barrier of misunderstanding and unlock their cages.  Many are hungry for an education that doesn't just teach them, but understands them, and caters to the way they learn best.  On the plus side, the pilot project of half Cree half English/French is believed to have done wonders for them.

There is a child whom I have reason to believe is dyslexic, for example.  After doing a little research, I found that 19% of dyslexics have suicidal thoughts.  I can’t change everything, but if I can give light to one child by assuring that more are aware of the problem, my duty here is done.  That thought alone is what may very well one day bring me back to the Chisasibi I’ve grown to love.

Luckily, Chris managed to find something other than the Elder’s camp for us to get a cultural experience. Instead, we’re off to a man named Sylvain’s camp for five days.  We’re not all too sure what we’ll be doing- “outdoor things,” Chris said, but it’s something different.  The camp is about an hour and a half away from here, there is no running water or electricity and Chris said he saw some Caribou when he was out there. And maybe we'll even see some wolves! We’ll have to keep a fire going all night long and it looks like it’ll be a well-deserved break and a really unique experience for us.

There was a moment where Chisasibi lost its charm for me, but it only made me feel even stronger that there really is a place here for me. I can really make a difference!  Disappointment was only temporary, since here, I feel there is nowhere to look but up.

The wonder of wonder

So I was reading James and The Giant Peach to the kids in the Grade four class, as I have been for over a week now.  I think they really enjoy it now, even if, at first, they just seemed to just not understand much at all. 

Today I had a bit of a breakthrough.  So I had them start their own picture version of James and the Giant Peach.  Eventually, I'd really like to see them be able to create some sort of story of their own, maybe even in pictures.  I just want them to use their imagination :) So, I've been emphasizing Roald Dahl's vivid descriptions, especially the use of a simile.  Today, I took a look at some of their drawings and I realized that they actually understood the story. And they enjoy it.  I explain the little jokes, English expressions and sometimes even make lame jokes of my own on the way, and I really think it's 100% worth it.  

As many of you may already know about me, I sometimes like to take my time to (pardon the cliche) stop and smell the roses.  Well, I got an unexpected lesson from James and the Giant Peach's friend the Old Green Grasshopper.  

"My dear young fellow," he said gently, "there are a whole lot of things in this world of ours that you haven't started wondering about yet.  Where, for example, do you think that I keep my ears?"

"Your ears? Why, in your head of course."

The grasshopper continues to say that he hears, in fact, from his stomach.  I never knew that.  What a curious concept!  Earlier in the story, there was  a part where the creatures we really excited about all the things they might see in an imaginary world.  The kids were participating when I called on them, but most of them gave me examples of mass amounts of their favourite food.  They would LOVE Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory... but I love the theme that "A little magic can take you a long way," and this book does it exceptionally well, of course.

So I feel good.  I've done something for them already and it's only going to get better!  Hopefully I can get more creative about something else since lately I've been coming up with everything on the spot. (I've actually impressed myself a great deal with this much.)  

Next week, our group is off to Elder's Camp for the whole week. So we'll be there every day 9-5 type thing, doing traditional native activities (this is to replace the billeting portion of the program that usually exists but was eliminated in Chisasibi for many reasons.)  

The only thing is, I'm not going to be at school that week :(  I'm actually really going to miss them.  I was off one day when I was ill, and I actually missed them so much! I asked them if they missed me and I was surprised when they all wholeheartedly said "yes."  I think they care more about their education than many may think.  They're only harder to discipline because that's what they know.  I love these kids.  

I love my job here.

I really do love Chisasibi.

Our group Dynamic and some corrections from the last post

"I'm so happy"  were the first words I wrote in my journal today.

Even if it wasn't that spectacular, my day could not have gone any better.  I felt like a really big help.

So, a lot of what I wrote in my last post was not necessarily incorrect, just not exactly practised the same way in Chisasibi. The sweat lodge, for example, varies a great deal from place to place for how it is done, but it is apparently far more intense than anyone had expected. Wish I could've gone!  As for the pipe ceremony, here (or at least in Jack's house,) women do smoke from the pipe.  I couldn't participate though, so I can't really describe it, or give great detail of how I felt before and after.  The ideas, however, are consistent for the most part though.

So pardon me for using internet sources, for they tend to generalize all native practises into one group, as if they are all the same.  They're not, by the way.  One Cree settlement's practises may vary a great deal.  Just like your traditions may vary a great deal from your mother's mother's way of living.  

I don't believe that I have mentioned that we have a visitor with us this week, staying with us!  Her name is Andre-Anne, "the most beautiful woman I've ever met" (from Norman, which I have yet to blog about...) and I think what I love most about her is how great of a listener she is! She is also very productive and helpful all the time.  We were talking about the Katimavik bursary that is no longer available, for example, and she informed me of a few opportunities to make money as a Katimavik alumni doing work from home, and promotional stuff.  I'm DEFINITELY down.She mentioned that she would definitely recommend me for any job with Katimavik because I seem to have a really "mature" perspective of Katimavik.

"Merci," I said.

"Well," she said, "matter-of-factly, it's the truth" she replied in her lovely English accent.

Today, she had to talk to us about our competencies,  the community, work, and how everything functions in the house in general.  She's here to give the Katimavik office a better idea of how we all work, but also, to be sure that we get the best opportunity we possibly can.  Thus, it helps that she's such a great listener!  

It was really nice talking about the group dynamic especially because I feel like we're all really close, we get along really well, we respect each other and it all just seems to run fairly "swimmingly," I said.  (Chris sort of made fun of me for using that word, but it works.) 

We all said that we work pretty well together and we have small things to improve, but when we asked for Andre-Ann's perspective, she was more optimistic than I thought.  Honest too.

She's seen quite a few Katimavik groups and usually there's at least one or two that are left out of the group.  Then she continued to say that she wrote in her notes that she thought that she thinks they could actually use our group for a Katimavik promotional video.  Thus, we are the examples of Katimavik. What an honour.

As lame as it is, I started to tear up, because I remembered what I went through in CELP and how terrible our group dynamic was, how that took a lot away from what I found to be a beautiful opportunity and, I smiled.  It felt really great to know that I'm a part of that.

Rituals, Spontaneity and Religion!

Oh my Geepers!  There are so many things to blog about!  And I actually have time! :)

So Chisasibi's unpredictability is really quite wonderful at times!  (frustrating at others...) 

So, we (generally) plan out our activities every Sunday night (unless we have to move things around) for the rest of the week.  It's a structured group meeting called "CCK" (not sure what it stands for- Council Committee something.)

Just to tell you more about CCK, we're organized into three different councils- Activity Committee, Community Committee and Languages Committee.  They're kind of self-explanatory, but each is responsible for coming up with activities that adhere to the 8 Katimavik competencies.  We have to have so many activities each week with 4 slots for Free time. Slots are just morning, afternoon and evening and each activity has to be at least 1.5 hours.  The meetings are quite structured, with a President, Secretary and Treasurer and there are specific rules for when we can do certain things (For example, you can't have two free times in a row.)  We also discuss details of plans and whether or not the whole group is for that activity.

So, in short, we plan out our whole week every week and every week we have to have at least one more group meeting to change our plans around to accommodate another community event that we find out about.  For example, last week we were informed that our help was wanted at a hockey tournament, so we changed a bunch of things around in order to be able to go.  This week, we were supposed to go to a Pipe Ceremony at a friend's place, which was canceled (a second time) because our friend was invited to a sweat lodge.  

(Give me some time, I'll explain!) 

A pipe ceremony is a sacred practise in their religion (I believe this is generally practiced throughout native cultures) that is meant to unite the spiritual world and the physical world[1]. As a general summary, a pipe ceremony is a ritual where tobacco with a mixture of herbs is burned, smoke will rise, representing the invitation for spirits to enter and prayers are sent to the spirits all around.  Everything, I should add, has a spirit - "Every rock, and tree and creature has a life, has a spirit, has a name." (Thanks Pocahontas!:)

I don't know specifics since we have yet to partake in a Pipe Ceremony, (this is supposed to happen Sunday now, but I won't be able to participate.)  But the pipe represents prayers in physical form.  More specifically, the stem of the pipe and the bowl are a metaphor for the marriage of Mother Earth and the creatures that inhabit the earth. [2]

I'm not sure if this varies from culture to culture, but at least for Cree, men and women smoke from different pipes because in some cultures women are believed to be more powerful than men and others can get sickness after women smoke from them.  Instead of smoking from the pipe, women are touched upon the brow and that is how they send their prayer to the spirits.  Unfortunately for me, women cannot participate in the ceremony during their time of the month because they are believed to be the most powerful during that time.  (This is a really interesting concept I'd like to learn more about.)  Women have their own pipes and rituals that they smoke from that men can not even touch.[2]  Also, women must be fully covered in skirts to their ankles and shirts that cover the chest and men only need to wear shorts and all are barefoot (no jewelery since that is how we were born)

So we were originally going to do a pipe ceremony last week, but our friend's kids were sick and this week, he is attending a sweat lodge, which is another religious ritual here that you must be invited to.  

A sweat lodge is basically a really hot sauna that men and women attend if they are invited to pray for a specific request.  For example, people may request a sweat for someone who has cancer and the community will come together to perform this practise to pray for this person to get better.  The same deal applies for women in their time.  It's also a practise that is believed to generally cleanse the mind of all impurities or negativities and provide all with new hope (rebirth) [3].

I should also add that in both practises, the number four is a significant number to represent the four directions of Mother Earth

There are four rounds of a sweat lodge that are meant to honour for specific sources:[3]

     First:  Mother Earth - giving thanks for our creation and all that exists

     Second:  Sisters - the backbone of first nations

     Third: Brothers

     Fourth: Oneself

So, we actually ended up being welcomed to the sweat lodge (five of us including Chris are there now since two are at our time, two are sick and two are babysitting our friend's kids.)  And I'm anxious to see how it goes! 

I couldn't be happier that I'm keeping this blog because it forces me to research some things and now I can educate the group as well! :)

But yes, if you ever get the opportunity to perform any of these practises and you're not getting many specifics from anyone, once I've performed one of these ceremonies, you can always check out these sources or ask me to give you specifics ;)  In fact, I might just try to perform some of these with friends at home if anyone is open to it! 

Gosh, I'm learning so much and I hope my readers are too! This is so darn fantastic!

1.http://www.native-americans-online.com/native-american-pipe-ceremony.html

2. http://www.gct3.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/pipe_ceremony.pdf

3. http://www.firstnationstreatment.org/sweatlodgeceremonies.htm

Community Coming together

So Friday at lunch time, I witnessed the power of the people in Chisasibi for the first time.  It truly is magnificent. 
When there is an issue worth fighting for, they'll come together, really quickly and they're strong.  "It may seem a little disorganized here at times," a teacher said, "but they come together real fast when there's an issue."

I get the feeling that they're used to fighting.  The dam, not that long ago for example.  They really put up a fight for that one.  Having to move their whole settlement, change their lifestyles and, changing their whole way of life after residential schools.  It seems so unfair to me that the ones that were here first were the ones that had to fight for the land they lived on.  The land they actually respected...

What I witnessed was a small-scale protest in the front office of the school.  The principal announced that he was to close the school for the afternoon because it was below -25, the wind was greater than 20 Km, and parents were calling him, complaining that their kids would have to walk home.  One person spoke up, then another, then a huge circle of people were standing around the Vice Principal, saying that they didn't want the school to shut down.  "My child told me he doesn't want to miss any more school," one woman said, "are we here for the parents or the children?" 

They didn't close the school. 

In fact, I think that they shouldn't be able to close the school so easily.  Their education matters just as much an anyone else's!  And these kids are really falling behind and it's not fair to them.
 
All this just gives me one more reason to really love the people of Chisasibi.  Three months does not feel like it's nearly long enough to do everything I want to do!  I really do feel there is a spot for me here to help the kids, but more than anything, I honestly, truly feel I can learn so much from them too.

So much Love

You know, I was feeling pretty crummy today.  yesterday I stayed home sick and I considered coming home at lunch, but now, Im thinking it was actually alright.

But the reading situation is a little more difficult than I thought.  More than half the class can barely read.  Opportunity?  I think so.  I'm going to try to give them as much individual attention as I can, because I think that's probably what they need most.  As for the one boy, I'm making arrangements with his mother :)

Plus, all the encouragement coming from home. My mom. She's wonderful.  And my sister.  Some unexpected friends too!  And the group. 

So much love.  So much

There's so much good here!

New member and a guest!

As always, there's so much going on here, so much to write about!

I'm currently uploading pictures which is always fun, even if it takes a long time!

So this week, our family is yet again complete!  Luke from a small town near Victoria, BC is with us now!  Unfortunately, he's a terrible person... (just kidding)  All jokes aside, he seems pretty comfortable already and I think he fits in really well with the group.

"No taboo!" our friend, the PLC Denis always used to say.  That still stands within the group, and honestly, I don't think I've ever met a group of people that were so open with each other, which makes me really happy and  I get the feeling that Luke is pretty open-minded as well.

Last night, we also got to have a guest for dinner!  Francoise, the principal at JBES (the school) informed us he was coming the first week when we arrived.  "Someone famous is coming to Chisasibi!" she said.  His name is Nathanial Arcan and he's a main character in Heartland, among other things.  He's kind of a big deal in the Cree community, so it's actually really great that he's here to encourage the students, especially for drama.  (He helped the secondary school film some of a script they wrote)  And he's actually quite modest and does not look nearly his age!  He'd never really heard much about Katimavik, so he was pretty impressed with everything he was learning  about the program. 

And, of course, we had to get a picture with him (to put on the wall of fame for Katimavik, of course!

On the far left is our newest addition to the group, Luke, the little girls near the middle are our neighbours who came to visit and Nathanial is in the back, with his head tilted :P  Julie is missing from this picture because she was in bed sick       Oh, and the big Katimavik thing is our lovely table that was hand painted by another group :)