May has been a bright, sunny, and busy month in Ab Ed! To honour MMIWG2S+ for Red Dress day on May 5th, students beaded and coloured dresses, writing inspiring messages of support and ideas in solidarity to break the cycles of violence.

Catherine Spencer’s photography class voyaged in LVR’s ecologically diverse backyard to create unique photographic explorations of Metis artist Jaime Black’s Red Dress exhibit, landing thrifted red dresses on cedar boughs, in blooming cherry trees, and amidst sticky poplars. They examined the systemic roots of the marginalization of Indigenous women, and wrote reflections on the pathway forward.

Dawson Parnell’s First People’s English class and examined MMIWG2S+ through text and documentary,  and joined the Trafalgar Ab Ed team on May the 5th for a ceremonial hike up to Pulpit rock, culminating in a special Red Dress commemoration ceremony that lovingly recognized all the missing women through silence, offerings, and song.  Our hearts were full with connection, sadness, and hope for the building up of all Indigenous People through active truth and reconciliation!

Grade 11 Social Studies classes are currently exploring how the Indian Act has historically marginalized Indigenous women, and are registering just how catastrophic this form of genocide has been for their identities.  I am hopeful that through education and awareness, students, teachers, and communities are rallying together to put an end to these cycles of oppression and violence.

As we near May 19th and Pow Wow, I am inspired by the opportunity to celebrate Indigeneity through dance, song, drumming, and ceremony.  Ȼmeqna, the Ktunaxa word that means “the power to believe strongly in what one is doing”, is the heart fire that can change the world!  I look forward to stoking the flames of that fire through my learning journey.

Submitted by Liv Hilde, Aboriginal Academic Success Teacher, LVR