After nearly 40 years, students at a language immersion school in Six Nations of the Grand River near Hamilton, Ont., will get their own building.
Kawenni:io/Gaweni:yo Private School is the only school in Canada offering Cayuga and Kanien’kéha (Mohawk language) immersion from kindergarten through Grade 12. Despite many language revitalization efforts, all dialects of Kanien’kéha are considered “definitely endangered” by UNESCO, while Cayuga is considered critically endangered.
News of the $26.8 million in funding from the elected council was announced Wednesday. Construction is expected to take two years to complete.
“When we first got the notification, the board was in shock and I think we still are there to some degree,” said Ruby Jacobs, the school’s board chair.
“It’s been a long haul for the school and the joy is immense for everyone from all the founders to the parents.”
Kawenni:io/Gaweni:yo was started in a garage by a group of parents who saw a need for their children to learn the language, and it has been looking for a home ever since.
Students have been bounced around from place to place as their school spaces were condemned or deemed unsuitable.
The school currently operates on the second floor of a lacrosse arena — and has for a decade. It lacks space for larger classrooms; students must cross a busy parking lot to get to the playground area and half of the classrooms are windowless.
Jacobs said although they are grateful to the arena’s owner who donated the space, it’s not equal to national standards.
Kawenni:io/Gaweni:yo’s founders and board of directors decided the students would learn the Ontario curriculum and tsi niyonkwarihotens (our cultural responsibilities) simultaneously to promote understanding and pride in being Haudenosaunee while preparing students for life after high school.
Jacobs said in spite of challenges and setbacks they’ve maintained this vision.
She said they applied five times for funding for a school building from Indigenous Services Canada and the Green and Inclusive Community Buildings Program.
Amos Key Jr, Six Nations councillor responsible for the education, culture and language portfolio and one of Kawenni:io/Gaweni:yo’s founders, confirmed in an email the council had found a way to fund the project. Keye said he considers the school to be a basic human right.
Six Nations CEO Nathan Wright said in a council meeting Aug. 13 that he has been directed by council to seek a loan to fund the construction.
More space means more students
Tammy Jonathan, the school’s principal, said in her two decades of work at the school, many prospective students have had to be turned away for lack of space.
“Every child deserves the opportunity to learn their language and culture,” Jonathan said.
She said the school benefits the community as a whole because students learn ceremonies, speeches and songs, and are often the only ones who are able to carry out that responsibility in the Longhouse, sometimes taking that role of speaker early because their community needs them to.
Katsitsionhawi Hill, who is a former student, a teacher of Grades 5 and 6, and a parent, said she’s elated about teaching at the new school, which she said will have more space than the current facility.
“The environment is a first teacher … right alongside the land being our first teacher,” Hill said.
“Safety, structure, and respect for both the environment and our classroom, for students, they need all those things to truly thrive and to be mentally well.”
Hill said she’s happy that her daughter will be able to attend high school at the new building.