NIITSITAPI EDUCATION PROGRAM PARTICIPANTS. Front row, L to R: Duane Mistaken Chief, Kainai Studies Instructor; Bruce Wolf Child, elder; Far left: Roy Weasel Fat, VP, Academics, and students. Photo supplied by Neal Shade, RCCC staff member.

What happens in the classroom when a Native teacher has a healthy cultural identity and a positive regard for community and family? How is the student affected when the teacher’s training has been experienced through an indigenous lens?

Historically, education has forced Native youth to enter a non-Native mainstream society through a one-way process that has generally excluded Native culture and language. Many Native teachers’ educational careers may subtly require them to screen out their Native identity and knowledge.

Often they begin teaching without having fully learned their own cultural or communal identity. The skills to do so have been denied them vis-à-vis colonization processes. When such teachers interact with children, research indicates that it impacts the manner in which children engage their world.

In 2002, Red Crow Community College (RCCC, Blood Reserve, Canada) created a 3-year teacher training effort called the Niitsitapi (“Real People” in Blackfoot) Education Program (NEP). Funded by the Alberta Provincial government, NEP promotes Kainai (“Blackfoot people”) knowledge and culture as the basis for student learning.

In June 2006, the first nine graduates made history when they earned bachelor degrees. Ten more NEP students will graduate in the next few months.

RCCC was founded in 1986, initially as an adult education center under the Blood Tribe Education Committee. In 1992 Marie Smallface Marule (Blood Nation/Blackfoot Confederacy) became its first president, and in 1995 it became Canada’s first tribal college. It has since evolved into a complete post-secondary institution with a mission to nurture self-determination based on Blackfoot knowledge and cultural values.

The NEP graduates will work in various K-16 education contexts: non-Native, all-Native, or First Nations schools. Some will begin work on Kainai culture and language immersion programs. Others will address special education needs of First Nation students. (Canadian Natives use “First Nation” instead of tribal to identify themselves.) NEP staff will provide follow-up support for graduates, including monitoring their teaching experiences.

The NEP was 10 years in the making, starting in 1995 when Marule and Kainai Board of Education Superintendent Joyce Goodstriker conceived the idea of on-reserve coursework framed by and founded on kippaitapiiyssnooni (“Kainai way of life”) principles. Despite some initial setbacks, the program was eventually funded with a one-time only, 3-year grant thanks to the perseverance of Kainai and University of Lethbridge (UL) leadership.

NEP goals were partially influenced by a 1997 study that revealed differing expectations between teachers and Blood tribe students and parents. Students carried the highest expectations for themselves, while teachers had the lowest expectations for students. Parent attitudes formed a middle ground (“Will Students Succeed,” TCJ, Vol.8, N.4).

The NEP student experiences have been exciting, according to Roy Weasel Fat, RCCC NEP coordinator. “It was the cultural foundations course that did it; students came together as Kainai people. Everyone was supportive. There was no competitive nature, like ‘I alone want to be the A student.’ Students helped each other. ‘We became a family’ is what they kept saying. We came together as a community, like we were over the centuries. We were always about the collective.”

Mary Weasel Fat, NEP graduate, says, “The program was awesome. I learned a lot from the RCCC elders. They transferred their traditional knowledge to us so we would be able to pass it on to our students. They instilled in us our Niitsitapi values — being kind, sharing, being aware of our environment, prayer, traditional knowledge, ways of knowing, our grandparents, our language, spirituality, and customs.”

She continues, “We took courses like Teaching Blackfoot Immersion and Teaching Blackfoot as a Second Language. In addition, the elders instructed us on traditional child-rearing practices and Blackfoot protocol of how to enter a teepee and how to address elders. We also researched topics like how to interpret weather, using our environment.”

Mary Weasel Fat interviewed elder Bruce Wolf Child on how to interpret the weather by observing the moon and animals. He said the winter would be cold if the horses grew thick hair or if the frogs buried themselves deep into the ground when they hibernated. “It was harder than the regular teaching program because we had to know the Blackfoot language and cultural component.”

Various institutions worked together for Kainai students to learn teacher education through a Kainai cultural and historical lens: UL, three Kainai School Boards, Kainai elders, and RCCC. According to Cathy Campbell, a UL faculty member, from the onset the project attempted to build a trusting relationship between UL and the Kainai Nation community.

“I will never forget these young people,” Campbell says. “They taught me more than I taught them. We cried and laughed together. When one young man sent out an email for help, within an hour, three people responded. We all sustained each other. This is what families do. Students, faculty, and elders became family.”

“The elders were quite impressed with our students,” says Roy Weasel Fat. “Regarding my own learning, I was a student right along with the students, culturally. Day in and day out, we never forgot the program’s cultural aspect. It just kept coming up. It was what made these students succeed.… I personally think we can do it again. It’s just a matter of trying.”

“Here in Alberta,” Roy Weasel Fat continues, “aboriginal education is a priority. You have to be a helper in the community in a collective way…It’s about having compassion for each other. We don’t treat each other in a bad way. We treat each other in a good way, reflective of collective culture.”

He also acknowledges the spirituality. “Our elders are in societies, like the Corn Society and Buffalo Woman Society. They are the core of our cultural community. The teaching and interacting with students did a lot of good for elders, too.”

NEP students and staff have taken to the road to discuss the impact and meaning of their experiences, telling their stories to various Canadian educational associations. They hope that this exceptional program will continue.

Larry Emerson (Diné Nation) is an artist, educator, researcher, activist, and writer who works for cultural restoration for healthy Indian nations. He has a master’s in counseling from San Diego State University and a doctorate in education from the Joint Doctoral Program of San Diego State University, San Diego, CA, and Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA.