Image Credit: CFJC Today / Kent Simmonds

By Jill Sperling

Grand Opening

Adams Lake Indian Band celebrates new building, expanded curriculum at Chief Atahm School

Aug 15, 2019 | 5:10 PM

KAMLOOPS — It was an exciting day for the Adam’s Lake Indian Band, as the community celebrated the grand opening of the Chief Atahm High School and Language Centre.

“We’ve had an elementary school for many, many years, but the parents wanted to go further on, rather than transfer to the public school at Grade 7,” said Principal Rob Matthew. “Right now we have Grade 8 and 9, but we want to add Grade 10. So, this coming year we’ll have up to Grade 10 — nursery, kindergarten to Grade 10 in both schools.”

After cutting the ribbon on the brand new centre, Indigenous Services Minister Seamus O’Regan took a tour of the building.

The project received $2.7 million in federal funding.

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“The days of the federal government coming in from Ottawa and imposing solutions and just building buildings and just walking away (are) gone,” O’Regan said. “Now we work with communities from the ground up, they develop and design with us, we take our lead from the parents, and we enable the community.”

Image Credit: CFJC Today / Kent Simmonds

In addition to the federal government’s contribution and funding from the Indian Band, parents of students have raised hundreds of thousands to furnish the classrooms.

“The community (is) always being a great part of everything,” said Kukpi7 Cliff Arnouse of the Adams Lake Indian Band. “If you want to move things forward, you’ve got to do you part and be responsible and say, ‘I’m part of it, so let’s do the work, take the action and do the walk rather than just the talk.'”

The Chief Atahm School has been using a variety of methods to teach Secwepemctsin to young learners, including online games, elder recordings and a collaborative online dictionary.

The curriculum for the high school students will help further their understanding of Secwepmec history and improve their language skills.

“Although they’ve learned it in the past, now they sort of have to make sure that they’re able to develop oratory skills, be able to think and speak and write in the language,” said Curriculum Coordinator, Kathryn Michel. “It’s just a further development of what we do at the elementary school level.”

There is hope the school will expand up to Grade 12 in future years.

O’Regan says the Chief Atahm School marks a change in the way First Nations schools are funded.

“Our new [system] for on-reserve education in this country now means that we’re funding Indigenous students at the same level as non-Indigenous students, finally,” he said. “Like, that hasn’t been done for so long. Now we’re funding them at the same level, plus $1,500 per student going towards language and culture on top of that because this is essential.”

The new building will open for classes on September 3.