A group of Muslim youth have held an online fundraiser to help Ontario’s only indigenous school get a permanent home to continue preserving and revitalizing indigenous languages, culture, and way of life for current and future generations.
“We are a group of Muslim youth working under the Muslim Indigenous Connection (MIC) and have taken the last couple of months to learn about Indigenous peoples and how we can connect with them while also learning how we can support them,” said the MIC youth organizers.
“We have decided to hold a fundraiser to save the only indigenous immersion school.”
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The January 15 fundraiser was held to support the Kawenni:io/Gaweni:yo Elementary and Secondary School, a Gayoghno (Cayuga) and Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) language immersion school located on the Six Nations of the Grand River Territory in Southern Ontario.
Kawenni:io/Gaweni:yo Private School is the only school in Canada that offers Cayuga and Mohawk languages, both of which are critically endangered, from kindergarten through Grade 12.
As first-language speakers of Mohawk and Cayuga continue to pass away, the push for Kawenni:io/Gaweni:yo to have an adequate space to educate its students is urgent, say members of the school’s board.
The Muslim Indigenous Connection (MIC) program was launched on September 30th, 2021 to support Canada’s indigenous people. Till the time of writing, the group has raised $2050.
According to MIC, “the Muslim-Indigenous Connection is a unique discovery program which hopes to develop the knowledge of Muslim Canadian youth in inter-Religious Dialogue and social-justice knowledge, specifically concerning Indigenous social justice issues.”
Online Event
Speakers at Saturday’s virtual event included Sherlene Bomberry from the Wolf clan, Cayuga nation of the Six Nations of the Grand River; Dawn Hill, a former residential school student of Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School in Branford and a retired elementary school teacher; and Muneeb Nasir, a Muslim community leader and Chair of the Olive Tree Foundation.
Dawn Hill, a former residential school student of Mohawk Institute Indian Residential School spoke of how Indigenous Peoples were regarded by the early settlers.
“Indigenous peoples were always addressed as if we were children, that we needed a lot of direction,” she said. “However, if you read the history the early settlers would not have survived if it were not for the Indigenous peoples who had a lot of knowledge about their own environment.”
Muneeb Nasir encouraged the Muslim community to become more engaged with Indigenous communities and to build lasting relationships with them.
“The future of the Muslim community has to be in engaging with the Indigenous Peoples. Our sense of belonging is tied to our relationship to Indigenous Peoples, our Muslim Canadian identity is tied to our relationship to the Indigenous communities,” said Muneeb Nasir.
As of the 2016 census, Indigenous peoples in Canada totalled 1,673,785 people, or 4.9% of the national population, with 977,230 First Nations people, 587,545 Métis, and 65,025 Inuit. 7.7% of the population under the age of 14 are of Indigenous descent.
There are over 600 recognized First Nations governments or bands with distinctive cultures, languages, art, and music.
National Indigenous Peoples Day recognizes the cultures and contributions of Indigenous peoples to the history of Canada.
This article was published with a kind permission from Iqra.ca.