Thinking About School

 Just west of Port Severn, ON there is a trail leading into the bush named the “Old Schoolhouse Trail”.  This trail leads from near Hwy. 400 to the site of an old schoolhouse named Ecole Pointe aux Pins.  This was Baxter Township\s first organized Roman Catholic School located at Honey Harbour and Macey Bay Roads.  It was built in 1909 by the local settlers.  The language used initially was French as many French-Canadians settled in the area to work for the Georgian Bay Lumber Co.  You can see the sign posted by the Township of Georgian Bay Historical Society below.  You can see children who may have had to walk quite a distance to go to school but they got to go home at night and live with their families.

At the head of the trail, the EarlyON Child and Family Centre has created a Story Walk with a series of signs using pages from the book My Heart Fills with Happiness by Monique Grey Smith.  A friend of mine took pictures of these signs last week and sent them to me which prompted our visit to the trail.  The words are in English and Cree and the images are simple and heartwarming.  So, take a little stroll along the Old Schoolhouse Trail and read along.

Pictures by Deepthie Rajapakse

"What fills your heart with happiness?" asks Monique Grey Smith.  Connection to family, language, culture and nature are some of the things that she suggests.  It is no accident that all these things were taken away from the children who went to residential school.

In light of the recent discoveries of unmarked graves at Residential Schools all across Canada, the theme of school is charged.  This juxtaposition of My Heart Fills with Happiness and the old settler school gets one thinking as you walk under the trees and by the wetlands about what we want for all our children today.  All Children Matter.