Kascey Crier, a student in the dual-credit carpentry program at Mamawi Atosketan Native School. (Supplied)

By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

word spreading about program among peers

High school carpentry program expanding horizons for Indigenous students in Maskwacis

May 16, 2024 | 2:01 PM

A new dual-credit carpentry program is helping to expand the horizons of Indigenous students at the private K-12 Mamawi Atosketan Native School (MANS), located north of Ponoka near Maskwacis.

The program allows students to shave a year off earning a professional carpentry designation.

Though it is available through a few high schools province-wide, only MANS offers it on campus. Jonathan Belinsky, a red seal journeyman carpenter and certified teacher, is the program’s instructor, which helped fast track its approval by Alberta Education.

“When you tell a high school kid they can do anything with your life, that’s pretty wide open,” says Lynn McDowell, communications with Alberta Adventist, which founded the school in 2018. “But if you can show them something they can do right now, that they can go on and get a pretty well-paying job, suddenly you’ve got a bigger reason to go to school.”

Skateboards made my carpentry program students. (Supplied/Jonathan Belinsky)

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One female student, McDowell shares, wants to start her own construction company.

The current cohort is small, but word is spreading quickly from students in the program to their friends, and interest is growing.

“Education is such an important part of children’s lives. There was a time for Maskwacis when a lot of kids weren’t registered for school, but they’ve come such a long way and I have a lot of admiration for the Chiefs who’ve brought them to where they are,” she adds.

“In the years we’ve been running this alternative, we’ve made really good connections with families. We encourage the kids to learn Cree, do outdoor and land-based learning, and we’ve really become part of the community in a significant way. That’s what reconciliation is about to us — mutual respect, and not doing something to people, but walking with them.”

(Supplied/Jonathan Belinsky)

McDowell notes that while the Adventist Church was not part of the residential school system, the organization recognizes it still has a part to play.

The program is made possible in part to financial support from J. Richard Bird and the Ptarmigan Foundation, McDowell points out. It is an extension of offerings of the Bird Construction Building Technologies Shop at MANS.

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by Josh Hall | @Vancan19

High school carpentry program expanding horizons for Indigenous students in Maskwacis

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