Students from Toronto and members of Thunderchild First Nation join in on a round dance. (Nikita Ganovicheff/meadowlakeNOW Staff)

By Nikita Ganovicheff

Sharing Experiences

Thunderchld F.N. says farewell to Toronto visitors with a round dance

May 6, 2019 | 3:30 PM

Thunderchild First Nation held a round dance on May 3 as part of a farewell to their 21 student visitors from Toronto.

Students from James Cardinal McGuigan School spent one week living in Thunderchild as part of the YMCA Youth Exchange Program. The students took part in nature hikes and a powwow demonstration to break down stereotypes and learn more about Indigenous culture.

“Being able to have an opportunity like this breaks down some of those walls and creates room for respectful dialogue,” Lydia Sunchild, a teacher at Thunderchild’s Piyesiw Awasis School, said. “In the meanwhile creating lifelong friendships that we hope will last a long time.”

Sunchild said after the shock and shyness wore off on the first day, students from both schools quickly opened up.

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“[The students] were able to talk, discuss and share stories and backgrounds. After that it’s just been a floodgate of sharing. One student from Toronto was already saying this feels like home and that was our hope to let them feel that this is a safe place,” she said.

Asana Khudabaksh from James Cardinal McGuigan School said the aspect that she will take back with her to Toronto are the empathy and the relationships she formed in the tight-knit community of Thunderchild.

“I’ve learned to value your relationships with others and that’s something I really miss,” Asana Khudabaksh, a Grade 12 student from Toronto said. “I miss that acceptance and being in a community that does accept you, it made me feel really happy. It really did.”

Khudabaksh said she enjoyed the trip and wants to return to Thunderchild in the future.

“I know that there is going to be a community waiting for me there,” Khudabaksh said. “I know that there is going to be people looking forward to seeing me here and welcoming me again.”

Sunchild was thankful for the work that went into this project and was proud of the experiences the students took away from this trip.

“We have strong ties, strong kinship ties, in our community and we want to be able to portray that and I think that their reaction was a sign of that,” Sunchild said.

As part of the YMCA program, 24 students from Piyesiw Awasis School will head to the James Cardinal McGuigan School in Toronto in late May.

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nikita.ganovicheff@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @Nikitaganov