Students at Penelakut Elementary School celebrated months of hard work, and powerful learning, with the opening of the Spaal’i’Skwitth’uts’Shelh (Raven and Stellar’s Jay Trail) April 24.
It’s a 1.5 kilometre path winding through the island’s coniferous forests, but more than that, it connects the community’s past and future. Penelakut Elementary School Principal Len Merriman described his walk along the trail, with stops at a couple of the gathering places along the way.
Elders were teaching students the traditional ways of their people. A deer hide was flanced, students also discussed the song they would dance-to, celebrating the opening of the trail – including one specifically composed for the occasion.
“The trail is getting our students out onto the land,” he said. “We’ve had deer skinning, and duck plucking, oyster shucking.” It’s not only a journey through the Penelakut First Nations territory, he said, its stations are places where students and elders will gather to share cultural awareness about themselves and the place they live.
Riley McIntosh, the contractor who helped plan and construct the trail (a project he has done with other First Nations communities), said the eight month project brought people together in a positive way. “It’s been incredibly positive and tons of kids are learning teamwork, overcoming challenges and connecting to their territory,” he told the Chemainus Valley Courier in an April 18 article.
Penelakut Elementary students Nicholas, who named the trail, and Student Council President Arthur, unknotted the cedar rope under the entranceway to Spaal’i’Skwitth’uts’Shelh, officially opening the trail. Then hundreds of students, teachers, elders and guests walked into the traditional lands of the Penelakut people.
