University of Saskatchewan (USask) College of Education students are helping to preserve the culture and history of the province鈥檚 oldest permanent settlement, one quilt patch at a time.
Established in 1774, Cumberland House is located in the heart of the Saskatchewan River Delta and is home to many First Nations and M茅tis peoples. As part of an Indigenous Studies course in the college鈥檚 Cree teacher education program, USask students located in the northern community have worked to translate the stories of their relatives and Elders into quilt patches.
鈥淧art of our Indigenous Studies pedagogy is that in order to know where you鈥檙e going, you need to know where it is you come from,鈥� said Lily McKay-Carriere, longtime educator, retired administrator, and program co-ordinator. 鈥淐onnecting students with the Knowledge Keepers and Elders in our community gives them a greater understanding of their history and helps them to be more grounded.鈥�
Student Pierrette Settee said hearing her mother share how her grandfather, Chief Tom Settee, had to relocate his community from Pine Bluff to Cumberland House, or risk all the children being taken by an Indian agent to residential school, inspired her to continue talking to her Elders.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of secrets and buried stories that I didn鈥檛 know because I didn鈥檛 ask,鈥� said Settee. 鈥淚t鈥檚 time to ask.鈥�
For student Jared Crane, this experience has helped him develop a deeper understanding of his ancestors. Crane created a moosehide patch, beaded in a medicine wheel pattern by his mother, whom he had interviewed.
鈥淲e talked about the intergenerational transmission of First Nation and M茅tis knowledge and the values and concepts behind the medicine wheel. We talked about how her parents taught her values such as respect for others and took her out on the land,鈥� Crane said. 鈥淎s I grew up, I participated in doing these activities with them, but I was young. We never really talked about it, I experienced it by doing it.鈥�
Initially intended to be sewn together, as the quilt patches came in, McKay-Carriere realized that the presentation format was going to have to be rethought.
鈥淲e discovered they were all done on different medium鈥攕ome leather, some cloth with beadwork, some on pieces of birchbark,鈥� said McKay-Carriere. 鈥淪o, we placed them in individual frames. We鈥檙e framing a story now instead of stitching it up.鈥�
McKay-Carriere said she is proud of the work the students did and is looking forward to the patches being placed on display at a museum run by the Kwegich Historical Society in Cumberland House.
鈥淭hese patches are a real representation of the Indigenous people here. It is only now as we decolonize ourselves that we are bringing back those traditions and those stories. You鈥檒l notice those themes coming out in these quilt patches,鈥� said McKay-Carriere.
鈥淭his project is to thank the many people in our community who have supported this program and these students. It鈥檚 our way of giving back,鈥� she said.
