Paisley Road Public School - Guelph

The moccasin event was excellent at our school. Lots of good feedback from parents teachers and students.

At Paisley, we ran it in two different events. I had a daytime event with about 26 students and coordinated 14 volunteers to work with them. Students in this group ranged from 5 to 12 and most were under the age of 10. We have a very young student population so I didn't delve into the issues so much with the little ones.  I had lots of good conversations with parents and teachers as well as grade 6 students about the issues. The younger kids understood they were making baby moccasins for First Nations babies in the hospital who needed a little extra love. I explained to them the importance of moccasins to connect babies with their culture and explained how we often keep baby shoes for when kids grow up as a keepsake.  They may have them forever as a symbol of love and their heritage.  Our director of education came for a visit on one of the days that volunteers were in working on the moccasins with students. 

The second event was a family moccasin making evening. We had about 30 people come out for the event.

We are still working away on doing beadwork for the vamps. The kids are keen on making them fancy and I have 36 kids who want to bead them up. 

Chi miigwetch for the great project and relationship building and awareness for those involved.

~ Julie Richer