High school students use Métis fingerweaving to support a good cause
Students at St. James Catholic High School in Guelph are learning Métis fingerweaving ahead of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation on Sep. 30, while also giving back to the community.
Students taking NAC10, a Grade 9 visual arts course, have been focusing on First Nations, Métis and Inuit cultures. In this part of the program, they used fingerweaving techniques to create bracelets. Students that identify as Indigenous were also invited to participate.
Fingerweaving is a traditional skill used to create the Métis Sash, a significant symbol of heritage that often represents special occasions, family ties, as well as other practical uses.
The bracelets will be sold at St. James Catholic High Schoolon Sep. 30.
“Those bracelets will then go to fund a little portion of Geronimo's Dream, and just to give back,” said teacher Katrina Musselman.
Geronimo Henry spent more than a decade at the Mohawk Institute Residential School in Brantford. His campaign, Geronimo’s Dream, aims to build a monument to all residential school survivors and those that never made it out.
Students taking the high school course learned the fingerweaving technique from Alicia Hamilton, a member of the Red River Métis Community and a Métis community partner with the Wellington Catholic District School Board.
She said it’s important to share Indigenous traditions.
“All those things were lost when our culture had to hide for so long and secrets were kept, you lose all those bits,” Hamilton explained. “To see the new generation carrying on these cultural skills and arts, and things like that, is so exciting to me, because it's part of Canada's history. I think it's wonderful that it's not just something of the past.”
She’s also encouraged to see more schools teaching Indigenous history.
"When I was growing up we didn't learn hardly anything,” Hamilton said. “It's really exciting that learning about Canada's First Peoples is part of the curriculum and that it's becoming more and more just part of what schools are doing. And through the year, not just one time, one day.”
Students also enjoyed learning a new artistic skill.
“It's super awesome, especially learning about a new culture and getting to know something that I've never done before, as well as knowing that I can teach others how to do it,” said Grade 9 student Maliya Pigozzo.
“It's a really cool experience because we can find out how to do something that's new and something that really relates to our history,” added Treisha Villahermosa, the president of the Social Justice Council at St. James Catholic High School.
"I think it's really important to remind ourselves of the past and how the Indigenous and the Mohawk, and everybody else, suffered through all of that," said Grade 9 student Luke Zettel.
"I just think that it's really good what we're doing here today,” Ryder Cantwell, another Grade 9 student, said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Trudeau's 2024: Did the PM become less popular this year?
Justin Trudeau’s numbers have been relatively steady this calendar year, but they've also been at their worst, according to tracking data from CTV News pollster Nik Nanos.
Back on air: John Vennavally-Rao on reclaiming his career while living with cancer
'In February, there was a time when I thought my career as a TV reporter was over,' CTV News reporter and anchor John Vennavally-Rao writes.
The winter solstice is here, the Northern Hemisphere's darkest day
The winter solstice is Saturday, bringing the shortest day and longest night of the year to the Northern Hemisphere — ideal conditions for holiday lights and warm blankets.
Death toll in attack on Christmas market in Germany rises to 5 and more than 200 injured
Germans on Saturday mourned both the victims and their shaken sense of security after a Saudi doctor intentionally drove into a Christmas market teeming with holiday shoppers, killing at least five people, including a small child, and wounding at least 200 others.
Poilievre writes to GG calling for House recall, confidence vote after Singh declares he's ready to bring Liberals down
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has written to Gov. Gen. Mary Simon, imploring her to 'use your authority to inform the prime minister that he must' recall the House of Commons so a non-confidence vote can be held. This move comes in light of NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh publishing a letter stating his caucus 'will vote to bring this government down' sometime in 2025.
Overheated immigration system needed 'discipline' infusion: minister
An 'overheated' immigration system that admitted record numbers of newcomers to the country has harmed Canada's decades-old consensus on the benefits of immigration, Immigration Minister Marc Miller said, as he reflected on the changes in his department in a year-end interview.
School custodian stages surprise for Kitchener, Ont. students ahead of holiday break
He’s no Elf on the Shelf, but maybe closer to Ward of the Board.
Kelly Clarkson's subtle yet satisfying message to anyone single this Christmas
The singer and daytime-talk show host released a fireside video to accompany her 2021 holiday album, “When Christmas Comes Around” that she dubbed, “When Christmas Comes Around…Again.
Pope Francis reprimands Vatican staff for gossiping in annual Christmas message
Pope Francis told Vatican bureaucrats on Saturday to stop speaking ill of one another, as he once again used his annual Christmas greetings to admonish the backstabbing and gossiping among his closest collaborators.