Ottawa mothers explore appetite for Indigenous elementary school

Two Ojibway mothers are reaching out to the community to discuss the idea of starting anIndigenous elementary school in Ottawa.

The idea came to PaulaNaponsefollowing the death earlier this yearof her partner and the father of her children.

"He was a fluent Cree speaker. He was very strong in being a Cree man and he passed that along to my kids," Naponse told CBC'sOttawa Morning.

Naponse is Ojibway and grew up just west of Sudbury, Ont. She speaks a bit of the language, but not well enough to pass it on to her children.

Naponse, who has a master's degree in education fromthe University of Ottawa,shared the idea with a former classmate who is also Ojibway, Lindsey Kirby-McGregor.

The two are hosting a community event on Thursday night to begin discussions on what such a school would look like.

"Because Ottawa is so varied how would we set it up we really need some community input for that," Naponse said.

Children looking for identity

Both Naponse and Kirby-McGregorsay their own children are learning about Indigenous topics in their current schools, but struggling to connect it to their identity.

Kirby-McGregor'sson, whois Inuk, attended the Ottawa Inuit Children's centre as a preschooler, where he learned much about Inuit culture.

But he's now five years old and the only Indigenouschild in grade school andKirby-McGregor saidhe doesn'twant to standout.

"He's learning amazing things at the school he is at now, we love his school," Kirby-McGregor told CBC's Ottawa Morning.

"But I'm not seeing his pride of saying 'This is part of me and this is part of my culture' and he's the only one that can bring that to his school."

Her son brings traditional food to school butis usually shy about showing it to other kids, Kirby-McGregorsaid.

He even struggled in identifying himself as one of Canada's first peoples when the topic comes up in class, she said.

Naponse said her daughter in high school also doesn't feel comfortable bringing up Indigenous topics in classes such as geography where they are learning about different areas of Ontario.

"She's feeling a little bit isolated that she has to say something but yet at the same time she is scared to say something because she doesn't want to get questioned."

Naponse and Kirby-McGregorare holding their community meeting Thursdayat 5 p.m. at Willis College on St. Laurent Boulevard.