Garden River First Nation Education Unit

800m Ahead
Small Public Libraries in Canada

Ernie Ingles & Allison Sivak

Stretching along the shores of the St. Mary's River in northern Ontario, the Garden River reserve was created over 150 years ago through the Robinson-Huron Treaty. The land is lush and dense with trees. Across a fast-moving river, one can see the United States border. The vista takes in several islands, including Squirrel Island, land that was returned to the band 15 years ago in claim negotiations.

A five-minute drive from Sault Ste. Marie, the Garden River First Nation reserve sits between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, and is approximately 16 km wide and 16 km long at its longest points. Cutting through is the Trans-Canada Highway 17, which traverses northern Ontario from east to west. The Ojibway name for the area is Ketegaunseebee, which loosely translated means "the Creator's Garden." This name hearkens back to the history of the fur trade, when the people grew lush vegetable gardens along the river, selling their produce to the voyageurs via the local store on Sugar Island.

The Resource Centre is housed in the basement of the band administration building, a small wooden structure just off Highway 17. The Resource Centre is composed of a room with several shelves of books, videos and archives, as well as a computer lab with 14 public access terminals. The adjacent meeting room is covered with a colourful ocean mural, as part of the province-wide reading program, "20,000 Reads Under the Sea." In the main Resource Centre space, children's books take up a significant number of shelves, with two shelves dedicated solely to First Nations books and videos for all ages. The walls are covered with posters that present some of the basics of the Ojibway language.

In 1976, the band formed the library as part of the Education Department of Garden River. Forming a library had been a major goal for Bontje Williams, the Education Manager, who continues in the position to this day. The close connection between the Resource Centre and the band's education goals means the centre is thoroughly integrated into the other education activities undertaken by the band. Ideas for education programs and services are discussed around the table, with all staff contributing suggestions as broad as a new program idea and as detailed as the kind of food to be served at an event.

Irene Gray has coordinated the Resource Centre since 2001, at first on a six-month temporary position, which ended up being a full-time, permanent job when the previous librarian decided to change careers. She and the education staff have brought many new ideas into being, including increasing children's programming, expanding the computer lab, and hiring a full-time Computer Coordinator.

Irene's plans don't stop there. Future projects include the renovation of the main Resource Centre space, which would entail purchasing more furniture and expanding the centre's physical space. Irene's brother Robert, the Computer Coordinator, jokes, "We call her Martha Stewart." Irene's future objectives are to renovate the space and purchase new furniture, should funding come through. Certainly, Irene and Bontje Williams have been most resourceful in their efforts to obtain materials and hardware for the centre, achieving particular success with donations of computer hardware.

Garden River Resource Centre began to build its computer lab as early as 1997, with funding from the Community Access Program through Industry Canada for three computers. Since then, more hardware has been obtained through a variety of sources, including the Gates Foundation, and such local business supporters as Union Gas. Today, with 14 machines in the lab, the Resource Centre acts as a major Internet access site for the local community.

Robert Gray works full time in the computer lab, troubleshooting the machines and providing one-on-one technological tutoring, as well as assisting lab users with online research. He notes that most of the users, who are usually young, are already computer-literate, and much of his work with younger Resource Centre users involves assistance with homework assignments. The computer lab is open extended evening hours to encourage all community members to use the resources for their research and leisure needs.

One of the Resource Centre's major projects is the supplementing of the Garden River First Nation archives. The archives currently contain a range of materials, including documentation of powwows and other events, newspaper articles, treaty information, and coverage of significant national events, such as the 1990 conflict at Oka. Irene has focused some of her energy on building the contents of the archives, and in 2003 she organized summer students to collect oral histories from the Elders in Garden River. This transfer of knowledge from the Elders to the youth not only ensures that important stories are preserved in the band's archives, but also gives students valuable experience in building an archive from oral histories.

Preserving these histories is of fundamental importance for the people of Garden River. As recently as the 1960s, First Nations people faced restrictions on the right to vote in federal elections, and were not allowed to hold property outside the reserve. As with all other First Nations in Canada, the Ojibway language and cultural traditions had literally been forbidden to the people of Garden River by the major authorities of the church, the federal government and the Canadian education system; it was a difficult road to cultural freedom. Indeed, Bontje notes that the Ojibway in Garden River did not even have the option of keeping their own names; last names were assigned to the people by the government, or had to be chosen on a moment's notice by the Ojibway, when they began receiving a marginal amount of treaty pay.

Bontje also recalls that in the first year of the Education Department's existence, there were no high school graduates from Garden River. Now there are 30 graduates each year, with a total of 125 enrolled in some sort of post-secondary program (either on reserve or off). The adult education program, Adults in Motion, is the only school on reserve, and it allows adults to continue to complete their high school equivalency.

Bontje's vision of the kinds of projects that the Education Department can realize include a dramatization of Longfellow's poem Hiawatha, which is understood to have been performed on the shores of Garden River a century ago.

Today, the Garden River First Nation Resource Centre serves a population of almost 2,000. As Garden River is located so close to Sault Ste. Marie, the Resource Centre and education staff on reserve work to avoid replicating what the larger city library does, and try to present the most relevant and convenient resources possible for this small community. However, staff are aware that their community members often have very different needs from city dwellers. For example, Irene notes that the Resource Centre may be difficult to get to for people who live without vehicles on the reserve. Extended opening hours for the Resource Centre and computer lab are one way that staff have tried to increase the physical accessibility of their resources.

Irene feels that working with the children is one of the high points of her job. The Resource Centre has presented children's programming since its beginnings in the 1970s; when Irene took up her position, she sought to build on the solid foundation laid by previous librarian Lisa Mitchell. Irene initiated a visiting program between the library and the Garden River Child Care Centre, which includes a reading circle, puppet shows and crafts. Elders often come to the circles to tell traditional stories, and other community members are also invited to work with the children and talk about the importance and magic of reading.

The Resource Centre's rejuvenated focus on children's activities won Garden River the Innovative Children's Program or Service award in 2002 and the Certificate of Congratulations for continuation of Children's Programs/Services in 2003, both from Ontario Library Service North. Today, Garden River preschoolers receive the benefit of the technology that the Resource Centre houses through the computer lab. Children attend short sessions where they can play games and do activities, allowing them to become familiar with technology. Bontje Williams notes that once you get children used to the idea that the Resource Centre can give them access to a variety of materials, you get them for life.

To promote the Resource Centre to the members of Garden River First Nation, the entire Education Department takes a broad approach.

Irene works to instill a love of reading and books in as many members of the Garden River First Nation as possible, working with the provincial reading program and initiating reading contests for youth. Adult programming is an upcoming priority, one that could effectively dovetail with the proposed renovations. The renovations will create a larger meeting space and house expanded activities for the residents of Garden River.

All activities and initiatives from the Resource Centre staff are meant to serve the broad goals of providing relevant and accessible education to the members of the Garden River First Nation. Whether Irene and Robert are teaching children computer technology, facilitating storytelling from Elders to youth, or preserving the history of the people through the archives, they are bringing people and resources together. As the Education Department web site says, "Coming together is a beginning... Keeping together is progress... Working together is a success."

Ernie Ingles
(ernie.ingles@ualberta.ca) is Associate Vice-President (Learning Services) and Chief Librarian at the University of Alberta.

Allison Sivak
(allison.sivak@ualberta.ca) is an Library Intern at the University of Alberta Library.

Photographs courtesy Allison Sivak
Robert: The photos will be added when they are scanned in.

Garden River Education Unit

800m Ahead Small Public Libraries in Canada

800m Ahead
Small Public Libraries in Canada