Michele Schwab Transcript

Hi, my name is Michelle Schwab. I'm from Balcarres Community School in Balcarres, Saskatchewan. I teach grade 10 to 12 English, graphic arts, and photography. Our project was a professionally published magazine written by graphic arts students. It took a semester to complete. We interviewed kêhtê-ayak (knowledge carriers) and Elders in our community. From those interviews the students compiled either expository persuasive or explanatory pieces of writing as well as submitted artwork that has all been put into a magazine.

I believe that this project allowed my students to explore history firsthand. My students were able to hear stories from family members or people in their communities. They learned about the truth of our country, the atrocities of Canada, and from that they put together their thoughts and ideas. They are now the keepers of stories, they are the next generation of knowledge carriers, and from that their responsibility is to educate the wider public.

My approach to history has changed over the years in the sense that my students are gifted in having people in their community willing to share history with them firsthand. My students are able to access information that other students have to seek in textbooks, the internet, whereas my students hear it straight from people who have lived through the history. That allows them the opportunity to see a truth and a real side of history, and I believe that that is why my students are going to be the generation that pushes forward with true reconciliation in our country.

It is important for my students to engage with history because they in every aspect are part of the intergenerational trauma that has happened to Indigenous people in our country. My students have a path forward where they are the generation of change. Engaging with history and being able to have the stories of their Elders and grandparents, kohkoms, mosôms, allows them to be the generation that not only can speak the truth from a firsthand account, but can be the generation that will work towards the change that we need in this country so that Indigenous people receive the rights that that they are deserved.