Meesingw – Kaakaapush Wihkiit
Language & Culture
School/Environmental Training Centre
Our nation is
the Lunaape, traditionally from the east coast area of New York, New Jersey
Pennsylvania and Delaware. Our nation, in particular the families of our
community in southwestern Ontario have historically been through a lot. Our
history is like many others on the east coast who have faced the removal from
our homelands. We have faced many forces of colonization, assimilation and
genocide that have misplaced our families from our language and ancestral
understanding of identity, natural law and reciprocity within creation.
Our youth and
families continue to proudly refer to themselves as Lunaapeewak, which means
‘they came from thought’. This name
refers to our understanding within our creation story dating our identity back
to the time when human beings first came into creation. This identity carries with it ancestral
understanding of how we first were introduced into creation along with our
original instructions to relationship, responsibility and interdependence with
creation.
Today as a community
we know little of that cultural Lunaapeewak identity. We understand that this
loss of identity has historically created confusion in self, family and
community. The loss of cultural values
and social structure has contributed to many of the social problems our
community faces. In addition, our connection and relationship to our environment
has been compromised to our loss of cultural worldview and natural laws.
We believe very
much in family training, programming and ancestral philosophies and practices
of education. Our traditional teachings that make up our ancestral
worldview are very much environmentally based. We have created an
innovative program that focuses on individualized education plans to allow
multiple learning styles, cultural teaching practices, land based education and
the revitalization of our identity, language and cultural knowledge.
Our Vision of A
Private School and Environmental Training Centre
Meesingw has recruited
brothers Brent and Bruce Stonefish to help our organization bring our vision of
a language and culture school to a reality.
Both Brent and Bruce attended doctoral programs in education at the University
of Toronto and Harvard University. They
are both known more for their cultural knowledge rather than their western
education making them excellent candidates for putting our vision into reality.
The Stonefish brothers drawing on years of
experience in First Nations education and Lunaapeewak culture have put together
programs, environmental projects that are meant to create alternative
opportunities for education and training for our youth and their families. Our self-sustaining language and culture
school and environmental training center will blend ancestral ways with
contemporary practices to offer a programs and training modules meant to
prepare our youth for today’s world and renew our relationship with our
land. We envision a facility that is
based in environmental conservation and cultural revitalization with a
concentration on developing individual, family and community wellness.
Our Core
Values
In our Lunaape cultural teachings it has been
told that we have four (4) laws that we had agreed to follow at the time when
we made our original agreements with creation. These four (4) laws include:
- Honesty – To be honest in living our lives with family, nation and
creation. For us this includes
teaching in way that allows our students to come to understand their own
truth of existing within creation.
This will ensure we give our students to explore all families of
creation.
- Respect – To learn to be respectful in living our lives with family,
nation and creation. For us this
means providing an educational experience where understanding and
acceptance are pillars of co-existing with all families of creation
whether they be human, animal, plant fish, bird or the mother earth
herself.
- Sharing – To learn to share in living our lives with family, nation and
creation. For us this value ensures
that we teach our students to understand responsibility and
interdependence with family, community, nation and creation.
- Kindness – To learn to be kind in living our lives with family nation and
creation. For us this centers
around understanding holistic development and wellness. It is important that our students are
provided with opportunities to be taught reciprocity in creation in order
to understand the importance of all families in creation.
Our Goals
and Objectives
The following are goals and objectives that are
central to our green private school and
environmental training center:
● To
work toward the revitalization of our Lunaape language and the ancestral
worldview for our families, community and nation.
● To
provide opportunities for identity development (mental, emotional, physical and
spiritual) through traditional cultural on the land educational experience
● To
create a green facility that is environmentally friendly in its construction
and operation by using green techniques and technology
● To
ensure our students have the opportunity to work on curricula (including math,
science, language arts) that prepares students to move on to post-secondary
education such as college, university, trade school or directly into the
workplace if they desire.
● To
provide environmental training modules that reconnect the family to their
environment including seasonal activities and conservatism.
● To
develop partnerships and opportunities for sharing in educational participation
and environmental conservation.
● To
promote the importance of and reciprocity of family, community, nation and
creation.