Regina inner-city program drums up national support

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Mother Teresa Middle School is proudly marching to the beat of its own drums.

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Regina inner-city program drums up national support Back to video

The Regina inner-city school has received special funding through MusiCounts, a charitable organization that’s donating $825,000 worth of instruments, equipment, and resources to 73 schools across Canada (up to $20,000 apiece) through its Band Aid program.

When Mother Teresa school’s application was accepted, it allowed the Grade 6-8 institution to purchase a set of classic drums for its cultural program. Indigenous songs, language and other traditions are all part of the program, but the centrepiece is a large powwow drum used for music classes and special appearances.

According to the school, its First Nations dancers, singers and drummers perform for at least 200,000 people per year. However, when their lone powwow drum was recently damaged, it jeopardized the students’ ability to appear at important events like Truth and Reconciliation Week in September.

The drum’s replacement value is over $1,000.

For the students, it’s priceless.

“You want to do your best to serve them but money is a barrier for us too,” said Evie Koop Sawatzky, the school’s director of development. “To have that funding come through and to build our instrument library so quickly, that’s going to have an impact on these students that we’re already serving but (also) for decades to come.”

Some of the new equipment hasn’t yet arrived, but Mother Teresa school is expecting to receive four traditional powwow drums (two specifically for performances), 24 powwow drum sticks, one 17-inch buffalo hand drum, 10 16-inch deer hand drums, and 20 kits to build their own 16-inch deer hand drums.

Prior to this windfall, program founder Evan Whitestar had to make do with a solitary drum.

“It just wasn’t enough,” said Whitestar, who is the school’s full-time Indigenous advocate. “We needed more drums to meet the demand. Just having new drums provides a new outlook.”

Not only is the equipment drawing more kids to the music program, there’s also a larger mission at stake. It begins with creating a deeper awareness of Indigenous culture within the school.

“We’re giving back what was taken away,” said Whitestar, noting that many of his students are “hungry for more and more of their identity. Even our non-First Nations students are hungry to grow with us. One just walked by. He’s a Grade 8 student but he learns Cree, he sings powwow, he does all this stuff. He doesn’t realize it but to me that’s reconciliation right there. He’s taking the journey with us.”

Another school leader is 13-year-old Trevon Ironchild, a Grade 8 student who’s entering his third year in the program. Ironchild remembers the feeling of sadness when his school’s original drum was torn, followed by the excitement of receiving new equipment that will create “more opportunities” for students.

“I like that it brings us all together,” he said of drumming. “What it teaches me is to be respectful, be responsible and do good in all my spaces — school, home, or even when nobody is watching. It connects me and teaches me more about my culture and it teaches me to accept others and to be humble and love one another and help one another.”

Whitestar concurred, noting that the importance of drums in Indigenous culture cannot be overstated.

“We actually don’t have too many ceremonies where a drum isn’t present,” he said. “It’s actually a guiding factor in who we are culturally, religiously. What happens around the drum is not just singing. It shows you how to be a better person … and how to be there for your community. That’s what these kids are doing. They may be kids, but they’re taking these teachings and they’re learning how to represent their family at powwows, at feasts, at round dances. That all comes from the drum.”

Through his cultural program, Whitestar is teaching students about “old ways” so they can use the knowledge and pass it on to others.

Such efforts are designed to help ensure the culture survives and thrives.

“Just a few years ago, I’d go to a powwow and it would be nothing but older people singing. No kids,” he noted. “Now when I go to a powwow I know for sure there is going to be one youth drum group there. I don’t know if I could leave my community anything better than that. My kids are included and everything we do is actually for the community. We’re doing this because we need a better community.”

Whitestar emphasized that his program is part of the school’s regular curriculum, not just a voluntary after-school offering. He hopes to convince other school boards of the value in that approach, helping to improve access and participation levels.

“My people don’t deal very well with roadblocks,” Whitestar said. “Part of what we do here is we try to remove so much of that. They have access to First Nations culture the minute they walk in that door.”

Whitestar is proud of what has been accomplished since the program began about seven years ago.

It started with “no budget” and ambitious hopes.

“We just went ahead and did it because our leadership knew that our families needed this,” he said. “We’re reaping the benefits now.”

The program also struck a chord with Sawatzky, who arrived at Mother Teresa a year ago. Doubling as the school’s choir teacher, she appreciates the connection between music and culture.

“Our program has gotten more robust and larger over the years,” she added. “It’ll be really exciting to see what happens this year because of the instruments being infused into our program and the tools the kids have now. That’s the key to being able to share their culture with their community.

“The drum is about bringing people together.”

gharder@postmedia.com