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Garry Robson
Written by Anna Pellissier
As an Aboriginal Awareness Consultant, with the Aboriginal Education Directorate, Garry Robson sees firsthand the effects of cultural awareness and environmental training on children and youth. Working out of the Murdo Scribe Centre at 510 Selkirk Ave. in the North End of Winnipeg, Garry travels to schools, teacher’s in-services, day care centres, and universities to foster awareness to Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students about First Peoples culture and heritage.. This awareness building includes the unique relationship of the people with the land and the specific worldview that ensures Mother Earth’s care.
When it comes to environmental issues, Mr. Robson instils a long-range view in children and youth, “We teach about the seventh generation,” says Mr. Robson, “in which every action taken should be measured by how it will affect the next seven generations into the future.”
With this worldview in mind, Mr. Robson has been actively involved in supporting programs that develop this forward thinking in young people. In 2006, Mr. Robson, along with Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre (MFNERC) and the Fur Institute of Canada — an organization of trappers and government officials designed to promote the sustainable use of Canada’s fur resources — formed a partnership to create the “Reconnecting With the Land” program for Aboriginal youth. This program is comprised of various classes such as Community Studies, Hunting, Fishing and Trapping. These courses can be incorporated into the mainstream high school curriculum in Manitoba. Youth in these classes learn valuable skills and sustainable trade practices with an emphasis on land stewardship and traditional beliefs.
Mr. Robson believes that this kind of earth-focused, practical education that includes outdoor sessions promotes the wise use of resources as well as cultural awareness in a more lasting way than the classroom experience alone. The Inuit people have over forty words for snow because they need to know exactly how to live in that climate; a person’s success depends upon being precise in knowledge of the environment. Likewise, in other Aboriginal communities there are over eighteen different names for spruce trees based on uses in the community and the growth stages of the tree itself. This kind of knowledge is indispensable in learning how to treat the environment with respect. Mr. Robson states, “A tree is not just a tree - it has a reason and a purpose”.
Mr. Robson stresses the importance of oral traditions in helping youth understand Aboriginal culture. In societies that value writing more than speaking, the lessons instilled through oral traditions are
often lost. Writing is a solitary act; therefore it is inherently individualistic and singular in perspective. Oral communication, on the other hand, contains a repetitious communal element where the teachings of the community can be told again and again. Mr. Robson also tells us that Aboriginal Peoples of Turtle Island do have a writing system but some of us have lost the ability to read it. Evidence of this writing system includes the wampum belts, the winter counts, rock paintings, petroforms, petroglph and scrolls. “These are all a form of writing and there are still people that can read and talk to us and re-teach us how the read them, I believe,” says Mr. Robson.
Youth have a distinct place within traditional Aboriginal oral culture. “We have four levels of stories,” explains Mr. Robson, “one for children, one for youth, one for parents and one for grandparents.” By connecting with youth through stories, and keeping an open dialogue with them, lessons can be repeated as often as needed. As a result, traditional practices are undertaken with these teachings in mind. All people require this constancy, says Mr. Robson, because when it comes to our impulses to sacrifice the environment for our own comfort, “We give in too easy.”
We need to remember our place, Mr. Robson notes, in order to take proper care of our environment. “We must remember we are the youngest of creation. If the water dies, we die; if the trees die, we die; and if the animals die, we die. But if we die, everything else will continue, so how important are we?” By teaching Aboriginal children and youth, especially in urban areas, about their cultural heritage and the specific responsibilities that are part of traditional practices like hunting, fishing and living in harmony with nature, Mr. Robson ensures that the environmental worldview of Aboriginal people will be passed on for generations to come.
