Ten children from Haahuupayak School will take part in the Alberni Valley Museum’s annual Heritage Fair, which takes place this weekend at Echo Centre.
Five students each from Carolyn Thibodeau’s Grade 4/5 and Rose Doerksen’s Grade 5/6 class earned a berth in the upcoming Regional Fair after competing at the School Fair at Haahuupayak on April 5.
On Thursday evening, students from schools from across Central Vancouver Island will set up their displays, then, on Friday, they will take part in a series of heritage workshops and undergo interviews with the community judges.
At stake is a chance to be selected for the B.C. Provincial Fair, according to AV Museum education curator Shelley Harding.
“We get to send five children and one chaperone to the provincial fair. There will be a five-day history camp in Victoria and they go to the Parliament building.”
The winners will set up their displays in the provincial museum. That is not a judged event, Harding added.
Haahuupayak School began attending the Heritage Fair four years ago, but skipped the event in 2012, while Thibodeau was on maternity leave. Doerksen said the students were eager to return to competition this year.
“We had a really good turnout for the school fair on April 5. We had 31 kids entered and lots of parents and community members,” she said.
This week, the Heritage Fair stand-up displays, minus artifacts and regalia, are on display in the school foyer. On Monday, Ha-Shilth-Sa spoke with eight of the 10 student hopefuls. Two of the entrants, Justin Nookemus (Cedar) and Hector Little (Salmon), are re-working their displays.
According to Harding, in some years, the topics are open, while this year, there is a First Nations theme. The Haahuupayak students have demonstrated that they are not afraid to take on painful or political topics.
Jasmine Charles, 12, and Evelyn Charleson, 9, each chose the Idle No More movement as their topic. Each child has also taken an active part in the movement.
“Idle No More is very important,” Jasmine said. “Most of my family goes to Idle No More events in Vancouver. I went to the event at Walmart on Christmas Eve.”
“I chose it because it was happening all over Canada,” Evelyn said. “I was there at the bottom of Watty’s Hill. We stopped cars and talked to people.”
Despite having to stop, Evelyn said most people were friendly.
“They honked,” she added.
Ashton Mack may only be nine years old, but he wasn’t shy about taking on the topic of Canada’s residential schools.
“I thought it was harsh that this happened to aboriginal people,” he said. “My dad didn’t go, but my grandpa and my uncle both went.”
Ashton said some of the things he learned were scary, but he also found out that some progress has been made in dealing with the legacy.
“I learned that Stephen Harper apologized in 2008 and that some people got money from the residential school [compensation] program.”
Howie Little, nine, chose the topic of Nuu-chah-nulth animals, and he is able to recite the names of both the familiar, such as the cougar and the salmon, as well as spirit figures such as the Sea Serpent and Thunderbird.
“I chose animals to learn how they move, so I would know how they dance,” he explained, adding that he dances as the Sea Serpent with the Animal Kingdom dance troupe.
Grace Sarlandie, also nine, chose the masks prayer as her topic. She said she is just learning the prayer herself and is also a member of the Animal Kingdom.
“I dance a mask – saasin, the hummingbird,” Grace said.
For McKenzee Clayton, 10, the topic of dentalia shells was something her family has a tradition with.
“There are tooth shells and tusk shells. My grandmother made earrings, necklaces and bracelets with them,” McKenzee said. “She gave them to my mom and my mom gave them to me.”
Cassidy Little, 11, and Marley Dick, nine, each chose cedar as their topic.
Now in Grade 6, Cassidy said she first entered a project in the school fair in Grade 3, but wasn’t chosen that year. She admits she doesn’t have a family connection.
“I got all my information from books,” she said, adding, “I just learned to make a cedar rose today.”
Marley said he is learning how to carve.
“My uncle, Gordon Dick, has a gallery [Ahtsik Gallery],” he said. Part of the art is to know your wood, Marley explained.
“You can tell by the roots. You can tell if the wood will carve or if it will split,” he said.
Marley said he has also learned how to make a cedar rose, as well as the braided cedar rope that was used for a multitude of purposes.
Doerksen said some of the students selected their topics during Cultural Week, which took place at Haahuupayak in the last week of March.
“The kids really enjoyed it and picked their own topics. It was another resource for them,” she said.
It will be a busy week for Doerksen and her class. On Tuesday, she was scheduled to take 13 students to Bamfield for three days, which will be spent at the Bamfield School and the Bamfield Marine Sciences Centre. Then it’s back just in time to set up at Heritage Fair on Thursday evening.
Competitors are judged on the quality of their research and write-ups, as well as their presentation and their interview with the judges.
The public is invited to view the displays on Saturday, with student award presentations at 3 p.m.
