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BEHCHOKO/RAE-EDZO - They trudged for hours through deep snow, breaking trail, symbolizing their years of hard work with a walk across Marion Lake, the way elders used to do it.

Around 50 people – students, teachers and elders – left the cultural centre in Behchoko after a feeding of the fire ceremony in the early afternoon of March 25 to walk to a village at the end of Marion Lake.

Julie Wedzin, 70, speaks to students, educators and community members in Behchoko before setting out on a walk across Marion Lake, March 25. The walk was held to symbolize the hard work aboriginal language and culture, and community education students have put in over the past four years. - photo courtesy of Wendy Stephenson

Xaeli, or Marion Village, sits at the mouth of a river and was a place where visitors from outlying communities traditionally used to meet.

In June, nine students will graduate from the aboriginal language and culture instructors program offered at Aurora College, and the walk was meant to commemorate their accomplishments.

"I enjoyed walking with the group," said student Joyce Washie.

"We talked, we laughed, we made jokes most of the time."

Washie said she walked for about five hours and whenever she wanted to quit, she would start saying prayers in her mind.

"I am doing this for my family, friends and my community," she said.

Student Emarance Apples said the walk was challenging.

"It was good for me because I wanted to experience it, because my grandma did it," she said.

She said the walk was exhausting and she wanted to quit at times, but thinking about her grandmother, kept her going.

Lucy Lafferty, director of education with the Tlicho Community Services Agency, said the walk was meant to demonstrate the hardships and challenges elders went through, and to symbolize the work the students had gone through in the cultural education programs.

"There would be so much laughter, they would be telling stories and just sharing a lot of laughter in a way, I think they were encouraging other people to get their strength back and their energy back," said Lafferty.

The aboriginal language and culture program is a two-year diploma program, where graduates will be able to teach Tlicho language and culture to students.

"They are learning how to read and write in their language, develop materials in their language, as well as classroom management," said Lafferty.

"Everything a teacher needs to learn."

Also, there are six or seven teacher education program students who are set to graduate from their three-year program in June 2010, which will enable them to teach elementary school students.

Both programs, which run through Aurora College in partnership with the Tlicho Community Services Agency, also require completion of a two-year community education preparation program, meaning the students in each program have been together for nearly four years.

The courses were offered in Behchoko, with students enrolled from Whati, Gameti and Wekweeti.

Lafferty said there were both educational and spiritual components in both programs.

Participants in the walk to the village – a 30 to 40 minute drive North of the community – were encouraged to dress traditionally, in long dresses and wrap-around moccasins.

They were sent out by a drum dance and song, and once out on the lake, the women broke trail in deep snow, as they traditionally would have when leading dog teams.

"We hear those stories (from elders) but we don't really relate with them because we haven't had the same lifestyle as them," she said.

Lafferty said one elder – Elizabeth Chocolate – who grew up on Marion Lake was thankful to see the group make the walk.

"She said, you brought back so many memories for me," she said.

The walk was also dedicated to the memory of two people formerly involved in the program who recently passed away: teacher Phillip Rabesca and student Janice Mantla-Richardson.

Rosa Mantla was Janice's mother.

"She was one of those first students to join the CEPP program from Aurora College and she was their student counsellor as an adviser for those students that first started the program," said Rosa.

She also acknowledged the tremendous work Rabesca did for the programs as an interpretor, instructor and organizer.

"He did a great amount of work," she said.

Rosa said it was also a way to thank students' families, the community and other supporters for helping them during their studies.

At the site, at Marion Village, participants warmed up in tents, ate hot food, drank tea and listened to stories from elders.

Helen Bekale will be graduating in June and said she has learned a lot about how to read and write in her language. She hoped to soon have a job teaching Tlicho language and culture in classrooms.