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Vital People: Totem project widens world for young Oaklands students

Young students at Oaklands Elementary School have collectively and individually put their mark on a three-metre totem pole taking shape in the school’s courtyard in a project that teaches them about history, culture and themselves at the same time.
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Renowned Kwagiulth/Coast Salish artist Carey Newman instructs Oaklands Elementary kindergarten student Iver Benson with the chipping of a totem pole the class is working on.

Young students at Oaklands Elementary School have collectively and individually put their mark on a three-metre totem pole taking shape in the school’s courtyard in a project that teaches them about history, culture and themselves at the same time.

The Oaklands Totem/Legacy Project is hosted by the Board of Education of School District No. 61 (Greater Victoria) and funded in part by the Victoria Foundation.

The project addresses a growing interest among educators to include more Indigenous learning in the school curriculum. The creation of a totem pole gives children an opportunity to learn about First Nations culture and perspective in a holistic manner. The hope is that children can at the same time discover their own identity, place and culture.

The carving began in February, with the aim that the pole will be finished in June 2020 to coincide with the end of the school year.

“All the students have embraced the project, even voting for their four favourite animals to be included in the totem pole,” said Sandy Smith, acting vice-president at the school. “It is a cross-curricular project as well, using the pole’s symmetry to teach math, for example. They learn First Nations culture in classwork and other subject matter.”

The project integrates Indigenous learning into childhood education in a meaningful way.

The school-wide, hands-on, multi-grade, collaborative and cross-curricular project sees classes visit the courtyard at least once a week to watch and sometimes help renowned artist Carey Newman (who has Kwakwaka’wakw and Sto:lo Nation ancestry) carve the totem pole.

Newman is also the artistic director for an eventual 50-minute film that documents the project, which includes the use of songs gifted by the Esquimalt and Songhees First Nations.

The documentary is being created to inspire other schools around the city — and the province — to host similar projects.

Plans are to install the completed pole in the front of the school with a totem-raising ceremony.

“The project is about having conversations, determining what makes a community and connecting with First Nations culture.”

For more information, go to oaklands.sd61.bc.ca.