Leask drum awakens school
- Roberta Cross | October 15, 2014
Silence. That’s
all you could hear in the Leask School gymnasium, as eighty students sat during the first Cree cultural ceremony ever held at their
school. Their silence carried their respect and the importance of the day.
Leask School’s first Cree student enrolled in 1953. Today ninety-eight percent of students, from pre-K to grade twelve, come from nearby Muskeg Lake Cree Nation and Mistawasis First Nation.
After the pipe ceremony, 26 men, youth and boys gathered around two drums, and the silence was replaced by the powerful sound of their singing and drumming. The circle included the Principal, a four-year old, and a grade five boy called by the drum to join in at the last minute.
The drumming fed Leask School’s drum in the autumn season, and Kihiw Waciston School on Muskeg Lake Cree Nation brought their drum for it to be blessed and initiated. Elders, community members, teachers, administrators, Saskatoon Tribal Council representatives, band and city councillors attended.
There are three drum-keepers at the school, students Zane Arcand and TJ Thomas, and Chris Pechawis. Pechawis’ job title is Community Liaison, and he’s deeply dedicated to the students.
“We’re trying our best to do what’s right,” says Pechawis, “and to bring people, everybody, together.”
Pechawis started at Leask School at five years old, and now he’s spent the past ten years working there.
“I’ve heard about bringing culture to the school for years and years,” says Pechawis. Talk finally turned into action when Kendra Worman, Music Director of the Prairie Spirit School Division, offered to fund the cost of a drum.
Pechawis and Principal Gord Smith agreed that their students needed to lead, and build their own drum.
Smith and Pechawis began looking for a drum-maker, learning about protocol as they went. They were introduced to Rick Arcand. At first, Arcand was not sure that they were serious. He himself had not made a drum in over seven years. After a few meetings, he realized teaching students to build their own drum was the right thing for him.
Arcand is now regularly at the school, comfortable in the industrial arts shop, where students work on drum frames and hides, beading, and making traditional designs in wood. At lunchtime, any male student, regardless of nationality, is welcome to drum with the group.
Building the drum, drumming and singing has woken something at Leask School. “It’s been life-changing, spiritually, emotionally, and physically,” said Smith of his own experience.
Kihiw Waciston Principal Connie Regnier is surprised at the strong effect the Leask drum has on her students. “They’re interested in leaning to drum,” she says, “and we need the practice, because it’s difficult to teach culture, values and protocol without it.”
The Leask drum is taking the group places they hadn’t imagined. They were invited to Prairie Spirit’s fall professional development day, giving Pechawis the opportunity to share his story about working with indigenous students to 800 teachers and administrators. He’s now known as the “grow-some-balls guy” in the Division.
The Leask drummers were first on the stage at a multicultural event in Saskatoon on September 27. When Pechawis invited the crowd for a round-dance, only a small group joined hands. Slowly, more and more people, mostly newcomers in traditional dress, began to join hands. Finally, he drummers and the drum, and the voices of the singers, called the circle to completion.
“This is about working together, about being together, about believing together,” says Pechawis. “We’re not the best drum group ever, but we are trying our hardest to make this happen for our school.”