Thank You to the Teachers’ Idea Fund

St. Laurent School would like to sincerely thank the Teachers’ Idea Fund and Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning for supporting our multi-year project, Enhancing Community through Métis Cultural Exploration at St. Laurent School.

This project helped our school strengthen Métis and Indigenous cultural learning, increase Michif-French language visibility, and create more opportunities for students to see their culture, language, families, and community reflected in the life of the school.

Over the course of the project, students participated in a wide range of meaningful learning experiences, including:

• Michif-French language lessons with local Memayrs

• Drum making, drum care, and cultural teachings

• Beading, ribbon skirts and shirts, dreamcatchers, medicine pouches, and cultural arts

• Métis and Indigenous visual arts, including our Living Mural

• Traditional medicine learning, gardening, and land-based activities

• Elder, Knowledge Keeper, Memayr, and community presentations

• Storytelling, tipi teachings, Grandfather Rock teachings, and Seven Teachings activities

• Student leadership, cross-grade mentorship, and school-wide cultural celebrations

The support from the Teachers’ Idea Fund allowed our school to build lasting resources and experiences that will continue beyond the project. These include Michif-French signage throughout the school, classroom language resources, drums, student-created artwork, garden spaces, cultural materials, and stronger staff capacity to continue this important work.

Most importantly, the project helped students connect with local culture in ways that were hands-on, meaningful, and rooted in the St. Laurent community. Students had opportunities to learn from Elders, Memayrs, Knowledge Keepers, staff, families, and community members while also creating work that will remain visible in our school for years to come.

We are grateful for the opportunity to continue strengthening Métis and Indigenous cultural learning at St. Laurent School. The Teachers’ Idea Fund helped us move this work from individual activities toward a more embedded part of our school identity.

Thank you to the Teachers’ Idea Fund, Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning, Prairie Rose School Division, our staff, students, families, Elders, Memayrs, Knowledge Keepers, community partners, and Critical Friend Crystal Millar-Courchene for supporting this work.

St. Laurent School is proud to continue building on this foundation.