Happy screams and laughter echoed across the playground behind Father Gorman Community School as students climbed onto a dogsled in groups of three and four, pulled by a four-dog team moving at a steady clip.
For the school, it was more than a winter activity. It was its first-ever dogsledding day, designed to give students a hands-on connection to Indigenous culture, history and life on the land. They were expected to put nearly 20 classes through the experience before the end of the day.
Each class rotated through the experience throughout the day, with students also taking part in Bannock on a Stick, hot chocolate and cultural learning stations.
Cynthia Young, Indigenous coordinator with the Lloydminster Catholic School Division, said the focus was on giving students a strong foundation they could carry beyond the schoolyard. From the dogsled, dogs and other things they did today.
“So all those kind of things, that’s what we want our students to have,” Young said.
“We want them to have a good base, good roots of what it means to be cultural.”
Young said the hope is that students go home and talk about what they experienced.
“I hope they tell them they ate bannock and jam and hot chocolate and had a great day outside and just on the land,” she said.
“That’s the big thing, is on the land and with the dogs.”
Principal Zoey Hein said the dogsled event fit naturally with the school’s curriculum and student population.
“Well, we’ve got so many students with Indigenous culture, it fits our curriculum perfectly,” Hein said.
She said she hopes the stories students share at home go deeper than the excitement of the ride.
“I hope that they say, we got back to our roots, we got to enjoy our animals, we got to cook with fire and tell stories,” Hein said.
Métis Local 18 member Leah Boyer said experiences like this help make history feel present and relevant.
“I hope they go home and tell their families they had a great day outside, that they got to make bannock or ride behind the sled dogs,” Boyer said.
“And I hope they say they had fun and they learned.”
Boyer explained that sled dogs were traditionally used for transportation, hauling supplies, mail and game during the winter months when waterways froze.
“This is happening today still,” she said. “It’s a big part of Métis culture.”
As sleds circled the playground and cheers carried across the yard, the lesson was clear. For these students, culture was not something read about in a book. It was something they felt, shared and took home to talk about around the dinner table.
Dogsledding would be so much fun!! Hope the kids had a blast. Bannock to boot.