Deh Gah School searching for answers after break-ins
'This is not who we are,' says principal Lois Philipp
April Hudson
Northern News Services
Monday, February 15, 2016
DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE
Staff members at Deh Gah School in Fort Providence spent an afternoon of bonding and healing through on-the-land activities at T'elemia camp on Feb. 10 after discovering the school had been broken into overnight.
Vice-principal Jeremy Kielstra said the wellness camp gave staff an opportunity to let out their emotions after the break-in, which they spent the morning cleaning up.
The break-in, which was discovered the morning of Feb. 10, left the school with two broken interior windows. A fire extinguisher was discharged, and two iPad tablets were missing along with two iPhone 5s, according to an RCMP news release.
The school closed down for the day in order to deal with the damage. This crime follows on the heels of numerous other break-ins around the hamlet over the course of last year, which has sparked the community-led Citizens on Patrol group to form.
Since September, there have been four break-and-enters to the school alone reported to police, stated RCMP Const. Samuel Holm in an e-mail.
"It is especially troubling for a school to be the target of these types of crimes, as ultimately it's the children of the community that suffer from the loss of the items," he stated.
Reached at the school on Feb. 11, Principal Lois Philipp said the crime does not reflect the community of students and staff at Deh Gah School.
"Let's focus on the great things our youth are doing with the support of the amazing people at Deh Gah, and never lose sight that we are not defined by our break-ins but come together in strength as we deal with the effects of another break-in," she said.
"At Deh Gah this week, we are youth at the Indspire career fair and award ceremony in Vancouver; we are youth in Fort Simpson at the Dehcho First Nations strategy meetings; we are seven youth and staff who have been named Team NWT for the Arctic Winter Games in Greenland. And we had our first Grade 12 student ever who received an acceptance letter into the University of Alberta yesterday."
She said she posted a similar statement on social media to remind friends and community members that focusing on the damage can detract from the school's successes as well as underlying issues that fuel criminal behaviour.
"I think the bigger story is, how do we as a territory, as communities, as First Nations and regional organizations, begin to say, 'You know what? Our greatest assets in the North are our young people. What's going on in their lives that (breaking in) is their only (course of action)?" she said.
Part of addressing destructive behaviour like this means recognizing the challenges still faced from residential schooling, Philipp said. That involves working with intergenerational families in order to give them back the voice many of them lost while in residential schools - and that does not just involve people from Fort Providence, but from all over the North and the rest of Canada as well.
"How do we support our communities that are hurting? By acknowledging that residential schools played just an incredible role in our chaos," she said.
"I don't think we'll see any change until we begin to work with intergenerational families and they begin to understand, it's not their fault."
Holm said there were no suspects in custody. The investigation is ongoing.
