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Antoine Mountain
Guest columnist
Monday, September 10, 2007
I would just like to add a word here in support of an excellent article written for the Inuvik Drum by editor Dez Loreen.
Mr. Loreen's contention that today's teachers are to be commended for past good works done and shown our support for their job ahead is a good, timely and true one.
As for myself I have received my well-deserved share of criticism for continuing to bring up the after-effects of the residential school experiences our past generations of native northerners have endured.
True some of these specific traumas of physical, sexual and psychological abuses will never quite heal, but the other side of that particular coin is that we did get a good and solid education out of it.
For me, anyway, my attendance at school and involvement in sports, art and writing projects were a real and viable way of dealing with the soul-scarring situation at Grollier Hall.
I was also lucky to be one of the brainier ones to be eventually chosen to go on to Grandin College in Fort Smith, a leadership school set up to further the best the North had to offer.
The constant, I found, throughout all of these educational years were the teachers. They had a tough job to do under hard living conditions, but consistently gave it their supreme effort.
There are, therefore, many of our generation of Northerners who did not especially feel the drastic effects of the residential schools and so live good, productive lives as citizens today.
One of the educators I would like to make mention of is Father Pochat, who acted as senior administrator of Grandin College right from the start in the early 1960's until it closed many years later.
One of this priest's qualifications we as students soon learned of was his military background, which soon became apparent in that we had to undergo group exercises first thing every morning before breakfast!
In between jumping jacks and deep-knee bends we definitely got the idea that these school years would be no piece of drymeat, rather a tough bone to gnaw on, academically-speaking, of course.
Well, and the required study of two hours daily, with five more for the weekend virtually guaranteed our success in the high school, too.
To make a long study short I still make an effort to wake up on time and to do my best to show up on time to do things, thanks in large part to all of my good teachers of the past.
So, once again, I do want to thank the writers like Dez Loreen who bid us rise from our chairs in support of our teachers, and offer them the apples of our eyes, whatever those may turn out to be.
- Antoine Mountain is a Dene artist and writer originally from Radilih Koe'/Fort Good Hope. He can be reached at www.amountainarts.com