Cynthia Young brings authentic teachings to all six LCSD schools.

Cynthia Young’s husband built her a pipe that isn’t really a pipe.

It’s carved from wood, carries no tobacco and produces no smoke. It exists purely to teach. Students learn how to hold it, turn it and pass it long before they are trusted with a real one.

Young is the Indigenous programming coordinator for the Lloydminster Catholic School Division, known as LCSD. She works across all six of the division’s schools, building lessons from her own cultural experience and passing them on to students as young as 4.

“It’s authentic teachings that our students get,” Young said.

The programming doesn’t wait for a date on the calendar.

“Not just coming up to the National Indigenous Day, not just coming up to Orange Shirt Day,” Young said. “We have this accessibility all year round.”

Teachers can request Young for specific lessons. Bannock making. The Seven Grandfather Teachings. Strawberry teachings. Whatever a class wants to learn, she said she can build a session around it.

Parents who want their kids to learn more have one clear path in.

“Let the teachers know what you’d like your children to learn,” Young said.

Next week, the teachings move outdoors. LCSD is setting up seven tipis at Weaver Heritage Park on Sept. 30, each carrying a different lesson, from hair teachings to pipe ceremony teachings using the replica pipe instead of a real one.

Students who help run the ceremonies take on a formal role in the culture, one Young said comes with real responsibility. They learn to care for the pipe long before they are trusted with a real one at a feast or ceremony.

Young starts the program early on purpose. Students at Mother Teresa Catholic School begin at age 4.

“When we get them so early and they become familiar with the teachings, I want them to have that understanding and be worldly,” Young said.

She wants LCSD graduates to be able to speak up for Indigenous reconciliation wherever they land after grade 12, in university or beyond.

The goal is personal. Young has grandchildren of her own, and she wants them to feel free to express their culture without judgment, whatever that looks like.

“I want everybody to be inclusive with every culture they come across,” Young said.

She said her role shouldn’t be unique to her.

“There should be one of me at every school,” Young said.

At Holy Rosary High School, some of the oldest participants take on a mentorship role, helping Young run presentations for younger students. She said the group reaches beyond the Indigenous community, including Filipino students who take part as advocates.

“It gives them an identity,” Young said. “It gives them who they are.”