Friends, family, teachers, and Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division leaders were on hand to recognize Victor Thunderchild’s legacy with the unveiling of a special project at John Diefenbaker School.
The school is home to the Cree Language program for students from Kindergarten to Grade 5 in Saskatchewan Rivers.
The Cree Language program is Thunderchild’s legacy. On Thursday, his wife Vi Thunderchild said the project meant a lot to her.
“This was Victor’s dream,” she said. “This is for every person, I think, who’s been in Residential School who got hit for talking their language. This really meant a lot to, I think, to every person who speaks not just the Cree language, but every other language. It’s so important to learn your language, whether you’re Ukrainian, Cree, Saulteaux, Chinese. It’s your language, it’s who you are.
Vi said the Cree Language was important to him, but so were all languages. She said her husband was just passionate for people to be who they are.
“Your language is a part of you. Cree just was his language, so that’s what he fought for, but he would also fight for all the other languages. That’s just the type of person he was. Because it’s important,” Vi said.
The afternoon included an assembly with several speakers who echoed this message and his legacy.
“Be who you are. Be proud of who you are,” Vi said.
Orlanda Flett is currently the Cree Language Support at John Diefenbaker but was the original teacher of the Cree Language Kindergarten in 2020. She said the Cree program at John Diefenbaker has more than one meaning to the school.
Vi Thunderchil stands beside the greeting artwork in the Victor Thunderchild legacy project unveiling at John Diefenbaker School on Thursday morning.
Guests examine the art displayed outside the school during the Victor Thunderchild legacy project unveiling at John Diefenbaker School on Thursday morning.
“The big meaning it has is for Truth and Reconciliation, but the big part for me is it’s that belonging piece. It’s that making the school a safe place where our students, where our families, they feel welcome,” Flett said.
Flett grew up in Cumberland House and said she always felt like she belonged. That changed when she moved to PA. She said it wasn’t intentional, but not having Indigenous representation in Prince Albert made the move difficult.
“That was my school, my community, Indigenous community. I tried to come out to school for Grade 10 into PA as a person who hardly ever left my community. Coming into the city, it was a whole different experience,” Flett said.
“Then I went back home and I think, when we look at our Indigenous families, that’s the truth for a lot of us because it’s just that schools weren’t built for us, right? We have different learning needs, different learning styles, and having that spiritual connection and that connection, a deeper connection instead of just going to be the academic piece. We need to offer that.”
Flett said the Cree Language program at Diefenbaker has helped created a sense of belonging.
“That has been one of the leading factors,” Flett said. “What we’re doing is creating that sense of belonging for our families first and foremost so when they walk into this school, they say, ‘hey, this is me. This feels good in my heart. I want to be here. I belong here.’”
She said that part helped to bridge the gap for children who do not want to necessarily be in school.
“We want the kids to say, ‘I want to be here. I want to go to school. I want to go to that school’ and then they come,” Flett said.
She said that the legacy project was all about honouring Thunderchild. Speakers during the assembly spoke of how they want people to remember him in the future.
“But 10, 20, 30 years down the road, we want the people who come after us to know who he was and the work that he did in Culture and Language,” Flett said.
“He is a trailblazer. He is a language warrior and we want to honour that and remember that because without those language warriors, without those people who set the fire under us to get going, to get to where we are today, we’re just going to be plateaued in the same place,” she explained.
The legacy project includes art that was created through a Sask Arts Grant with work from Leah Dorion who helped make the art a reality. The project began in 2023 and took several years of work.
“We wanted his voice to be heard, we wanted to honour who he is, because he did this for the kids, he did this for his grandchildren, and we needed the kids to be part of the project,” Flett said. “That’s what we did, and we’re very thankful that Leah was ready for it.”
The art included a painting to honour Thunderchild as you enter the school and art on windows and on the walls outside the Library. There are also pieces throughout the wing of the school where the program is located.
“When we first started … I was just in this little corner in there,” Flett said. “I had my little classroom and that’s kind of all we had. There was next to no resources, there was next to no representation,” she said.
The Cree program began in 2020 and has now expanded to include students up to Grade 5 and this year students can be bussed in from other parts of Prince Albert.
Flett said the program had to be built but they could not have done that without the support of the Saskatchewan Rivers School Division.
“We needed that support,” she explained. “You can have the best teachers, but without that support from the division. we wouldn’t have made not even close to as much growth because having that support is crucial in the development.”
The afternoon assembly was emceed by Flett and opened with a song by the Prairie Thunder Drum Group. It included a prayer from Elder Liz Settee who reflected on the beginning of the program.
Principal Jenna Cross welcomed the crowd and reflected on Thunderchild’s contributions. Cross was in the science department in her early teaching days at Carlton while Thunderchild was in the social sciences department.
“Teaching was challenging at the beginning when you first started out,” Cross said. “You need a lot of support and Victor was one of those people who was always there. He stopped by almost every day after school, just to check in, say hello, and to make sure we were all okay. That was who Victor Thunderchild was. He was a mentor, and he became a very good friend to me.”
Superintendent Jennifer Hingley reflected on the program and Thunderchild in her remarks. Vi and Lori Corrigal, who helped to put together the foundation for the program also reflected on Thunderchild. When it was Flett’s turn she needed assistance from her fellow Cree program support staff.
The assembly concluded with almost half of the school’s students singing “The Cree Lullaby” led by Flett and Betty Eyahpaise.
Flett said that she hoped that the event would let more people know the program exists.
“Another thing I hear from community is a lot of people don’t even know that the program is here,” Flett said. “I think just getting exposure to the community and building that pride beyond our walls. I know it’s there in little pockets, but I think our community itself, more people need to hear about it, I think.”
michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
