Ground broken for new Piikani schools

By Alexandra Noad - Lethbridge Herald Local Journalism Initiative Reporter on November 9, 2024.

Herald photo by Alexandra Noad A grass dance was performed by Cooper Plain Eagle and Ezra Brave Rock at the groundbreaking ceremony for the new schools being built for the Piikani Nation in Brocket.

A traditional groundbreaking ceremony was held for the new Piikani schools being built in Brocket on Thursday afternoon.

Last month, Patty Hajdu, Minister of Indigenous Services Canada, announced Piikani Nation would receive funding to build two new schools to better service the students of the nation.

Lisa Crowshoe, superintendent of Peigan Board of Education, says they are overdue for a new school as the current elementary school is 65 years old.

Once the new elementary and high school are built the current elementary will be taken down and the high school will be turned into a post-secondary school who will work in conjunction with institutions such as the University of Lethbridge and Lethbridge Polytechnic.

Crowshoe says the new schools will bring more opportunities into the children’s lives not just culturally but also in their career aspirations as they will be able to have classes they currently do not have the capacity to have.

“We’re really excited. This really expands for our students and the children of Piikani. A lot of the culture and language aspects, but also the career transitions and career foundations where they can have mechanics and welding and cosmetology, a lot of things we cant host in the current schools,” said Crowshoe.

The new school will have a deluxe gymnasium as well as contemporary kitchen and cafeteria spaces and will have the capacity for 580 students.

Along with supporting current students, Chief Troy “Bossman” Knowlton of the Piikani Nation, says he hopes the building of the new schools will help members of the nation return to their roots whether they live on the reserve or not.

“Having this school, I think can be the catalyst for the generations to come that identify as Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot) and be connected back to the land and to the people,” said Knowlton.

Along with helping future generations of Siksikaitstapi children, the building of the schools will also bring in contractors such as contractors and painters.

The groundbreaking ceremony wasn’t the usual dirt upheaval most organizations hold – the ceremony was a traditional ceremony which consisted of a pipe ceremony and a grass dance to help prepare the earth for the change.

All the students were present for the pipe ceremony and two students, Cooper Plain Eagle and Ezra Brave Rock, participated in the Grass Dance following the pipe ceremony.

“What we try to do here is ensure that our children, even from the young little ones that were sitting right at the front closest to the teepee, to those that are older and were at the back, that they have a sense of who we are as Piikani,” said Crowshoe.

Crowshoe added they were on a time crunch for this specific ceremony because of the significance it is to their culture and they had to do it before snowfall, otherwise they would have had to wait until the spring and the development would have already begun.

An earth-cutting ceremony will take place at a later date as it wasn’t as time sensitive as the pipe ceremony and grass dance.

According to Crowshoe, only select ceremonialists participated in the pipe ceremony and it consisted of prayers towards the students for the upcoming school years.

“Everyone in the teepee were ceremonialists, they have that permission to go sit in there and with that it’s a lot of prayers for our children and the upcoming years before the school is built,” said Crowshoe.

Knowlton says the journey to obtain the grant was not an easy one for the nation.

Knowlton was a part of the council back in 2017, when the nation was just starting to have the feasibility studies for the school.

“I attended some of (those) early meetings and we were talking about what their dreams were and I supported leadership of course and as the years progressed to the point where I am the chief today, I’ve been in support of all of the endeavors,” said Knowlton.

When Knowlton was elected chief last year, he took it upon himself to lobby for the funding, and asked Minister Hejdu for an answer as the nation had already jumped through several hoops to receive the funding.

The new school is just one of the hurdles Chief Knowlton is planning on tackling during his time as chief.

Knowlton says they are currently working on a regional education agreement to help fund and promote programs in the school they don’t currently have such as home-ec, cosmetology mechanics and welding.

Knowlton is also hoping to build a driveable bridge, which the reserve hasn’t had since the 1950s. This bridge would reduce emergency response times.

In January Piikani Nation issued a state of emergency after five consecutive overdoses in five days at the end of December of last year.

Since then, they have taken drastic measures to combat the opioid crisis on the reserve and remove the drug dealers who were on the reserve with little resources they had.

Knowlton is hopeful that a detox centre will be built on the reserve to help those battling addiction have a safe space to get clean.

“Detoxing is one of the biggest obstacles for people who want to change their lives and it’s because every detox is full. The opioid epidemic, it has such a missive hold on the entire North America. Every detox is full and hospitals are completely full, so there’s a waiting list,” said Knowlton

Knowlton added that if people don’t get help today, tomorrow might be too late, so it’s critical the reserve gets a detox as soon as possible.

Through his connections with many political leaders both on the federal and provincial levels, Knowlton hopes to be able to advocate for his people during his time as Chief.

“It’s beneficial to the nation for me to be able to have that connection with the premiers and ministers and have a good relationship,” said Knowlton.