School of Indigenous Learning offers traditional Anishinabek knowledge and land-based skills for youth
Aug 10, 2023 11:14AM ● By Content Editor
Photo: The School of Indigenous Learning (SOIL) was created by Fort William’s Jeordi Pierre and Marlene Pierre and Dorothy Rody to provide Indigenous youth with language and cultural programs and to give them back their identity. – Photo by SOIL
By Rick Garrick - Anishinabek News - August 10, 2023
By Rick Garrick - Anishinabek News - August 10, 2023
Fort William’s Jeordi Pierre created the School of Indigenous Learning (SOIL), located about 35 minutes south of his community, in 2017 to provide an opportunity for youth to get back out on the land.
“[My father Xavier Michon and mother Marlene Pierre] had this camp called Camp Nanabijou long ago and we used to go there from Monday to Friday — we had a cultural night, we had a recreation night, we had a talent night, we had various things going on out there,” says Pierre, owner/operator at SOIL. “As I got older, a lot of these people that were at that camp always talked about it with good things being said about it, about how we felt we were safe out there and had really good memories.”
