Checking in with the Education Center
The second annual Inter-School Walk for Truth and Reconciliation on October 1 was a major event for the Kanesatake Education Center in 2025. File photo
As the Kanesatake Education Center (KEC) looks back on the highlights from the end of the year, educational staff are preparing for future projects.
Since 2024, KEC’s director of education Watsenniiostha Nelson has released a newsletter summarizing the community events and activities at the centre and at the schools for each three-month period.
One of the main highlights from the most recent quarter was the second annual Inter-School Walk for Truth and Reconciliation on October 1. The event saw around 400 students, about twice as many compared to the first year, said Nelson.
She remembers the students’ laughter ringing out at the social, a planned communal dance that day, where youth were hopping and twirling while shoulder-to-shoulder in the lacrosse box at the elementary school.
“You could see a stream of orange, and you would think that there would be enough room in the lacrosse box for everyone, but it was a tight squeeze,” said Nelson. “I look forward to it every year now.”
More neighbouring schools in Oka and Two Mountains attended the walk, noted Amber Simon, student life animator at the Rotiwennakéhte Elementary School.
In future walks, Simon hopes schools in Kahnawake, Akwesasne, and other non-Indigenous schools surrounding Kanesatake will accept invitations to join the walk.
“Hopefully it just grows and gets bigger each year,” said Simon.
In November, Nelson, along with Ratihén:te principal Kimberly Simon flew to Winnipeg, Alberta, to attend the National Gathering for Indigenous Education, a conference which aims to advance Indigenous education through shared learning.
“We were buzzing and like, ‘Oh, my God, I can’t wait to go back home and try and see if there’s certain things we can bring back into the community,” said Nelson.
One idea from the conference Nelson is working to implement is a crisis response plan. The plan would inform how different organizations would handle a crisis situation in the community.
“We need this, not only within the schools, but to work with MCK and the health centre to try and form something, so that we’re aware if, God forbid anything were to happen, we’re prepared,” said Nelson.
The first quarter of this year has other exciting new developments for the education sector in Kanesatake.
Next week, Nelson will attend a conference with the First Nations Education Council (FNEC) to take part in a discussion about the Regional Education Agreement, the funding plan for 22 member communities, including Kanesatake.
Also, next week, on Thursday, February 5, the Rotiwennakéhte Elementary School will host a Midwinter ceremony with the Ratihén:te High School students.
Melissa McGregor, Rotiwennakéhte principal, said the event will help better connect students with their culture and language.
This year, she also aims to continue increasing the students’ exposure to Indigenous traditions. Every week, they sing and drum with an Indigenous Healing and Wellness Worker from the Kanesatake Health Center.
“This is such a new experience, even for me,” said McGregor. “But what I really enjoy, too, is that the children are walking around the school singing. They’re singing, they’re making their own drums, they’re making their own rattles. So we’re really seeing how it has such a positive effect on them.”
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