聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 聽 New to the staff of the Chief Gabriel Cote Education Complex this year are five teachers, four educational assistants and one administrative assistant.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Added to the school鈥檚 teaching staff this year is a hockey player who has been inducted into the Minnesota hockey hall of fame; a published author who spent 14 years travelling, teaching and writing outside of Canada; a Keeseekoose man who was taught Nakawe by his parents and is now teaching the language at the school; an Algonquin woman from Ottawa who is an avid reader and yoga practitioner, and a Pelly school graduate who entered teaching after having worked as an educational assistant and in the First Nation鈥檚 Treaty Land Entitlement office.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 In addition, Jackie Brass has been hired as the administrative assistant, while Darren Badger, Quintania Severight, Maureen Whitehawk and Angela Kostiuk have been hired as the educational assistants at the school.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Staff of the school numbers 23, including support workers, said Jonas Cote, who began his fourth year as principal of the school which as of last week had an enrolment of 145 students from Kindergarten to Grade 12.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 The new teachers are: Robert Kostiuk, who teaches physical education; Janet Love Morrison, Grade 8/9; Camay Cameron, Grade 4/5; Brian Kakakaway, who is teaching Nakawe, which is the authentic name for the Saulteaux language, that name having been adopted from the French, and Crystal Whitehawk, who is teaching Native and food studies and visual arts for grades 10 to 12.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Robert Kostiuk of Benito has been hired to instruct physical education for all the students, resurrecting a program that was not held last year. A graduate of the Swan River high school, Kostiuk attended the University of Bemidiji in Minnesota where he obtained a bachelor of science degree in 1986.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 While a student at Bemidiji, he was a member of the Beavers hockey team and helped the team set a college record of 42 wins and no losses, which was sufficient to have him, as a forward, to be inducted in the state鈥檚 Hockey Hall of Fame in 2015.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Kostiuk, who will be coaching almost all the sports at the school, has taught in communities in northern Manitoba and for the past two years he was teaching physical education at Pine House, located north of Prince Albert.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 He and his wife Angela, who was hired as an educational assistant at Cote, live on a farm near Arran.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Born in Toronto to parents from the Saltcoats area, and raised in Port Coquitlam, B.C., Janet Love Morrison, after graduating from high school, travelled for 14 years outside Canada, teaching and writing in India for three years, Japan for a year and in Malaysia. In 2003, she obtained a teaching diploma at Oxford Brookes University located near Oxford, England and is certified to teach English as a second language to adults, and took teacher training at Greystone College in Vancouver.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Morrison has had six books published including a history of Whistler, B.C. and one on the 鈥淐razy Canucks.鈥� Currently, she is distributing copies of a children鈥檚 book she wrote entitled Radar the Rescue Dog, which includes a forward written by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥�Radar the Rescue Dog is a fictitious children鈥檚 story based on a real dog,鈥� says a description on the book鈥檚 back cover. 鈥淭hree adventurous young skiers venture beyond the ski area boundary and find themselves lost on Whistler Mountain. Radar is their hero. It鈥檚 a simple plot to teach young skiers and snowboarders mountain safety awareness.鈥�
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥�(This book) is the best kids鈥� book ever, and parents can read it too,鈥� said Steve Podborski, a Canadian Olympic medalist.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Among Morrison鈥檚 interests is cross-country and downhill skiing and mountain biking. She is proud of the fact that a First Nation elder in British Columbia had given her a spirit name: Standing Tidal Horse Woman.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Persons may learn more of Morrison and her books at her webpage: .
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Born and raised at Keeseekoose First Nation, Brian Kakakaway graduated from St. Philips School in 1990 and has worked on the reserve with youth and was a social assistance worker at Keeseekoose. He spent two years working at Keeseekoose Chiefs Education Centre, teaching Nakawe, formerly known as Saulteaux.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 鈥淚 was taught the language by my parents, the late George and Sylvia Kakakaway of Keeseekoose,鈥� he said.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 A single parent, Kakakaway has two daughters aged 14 and 15 years, who attend school at Keeseekoose.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Among his interests are his horses, which he keeps as pets at his home at Keeseekoose.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Camay Coghlan Cameron, who was hired to teach the Grade 4/5 class, is an Algonquin woman who was born and raised in Ottawa as a member of Kitigan Zibi Anishbek First Nation located about two hours north of Ottawa.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Algonquin is similar to the Saulteaux language, she said.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 Cameron attended the University of Saskatchewan where she obtained a bachelor of arts degree in 2004, and a bachelor of education degree in 2007. She has since spent four years teaching Kindergarten to Grade 6 students at Whitecap Dakota First Nation south of Saskatoon and then taught Kindergarten and Grade 1 students in the Greater Saskatoon Catholic School Division.
聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽聽 While teaching, she spent three years as the student advisory counsellor for Whitecap and Saskatoon Public School Divisions
A parent of three children, Cameron is a certified yoga teacher who is still studying the discipline and says she likes to read 鈥渓ike nobody鈥檚 business.鈥�
Born at Kamsack, Crystal Whitehawk graduated from Fort Livingstone School in Pelly in 1987 and after obtaining a certificate in office education from SIAST in the early 1990s, she worked at the Keeseekoose Treaty Land Entitlement office for about 10 years, having opened the office and worked in reception and as a secretary. She obtained her levels one and two accounting certificates from the Academy of Learning in Yorkton.
After receiving her educational assistant鈥檚 certification from Parkland College in the early 2000s, Whitehawk worked as an EA at Keeseekoose for three years.
She attended the University of Regina, obtaining her bachelor of education degree in 2009 and worked at Cowessess First Nation for three years, teaching pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten students. Last year she worked as the learning resource teacher at Keeseekosoe.
She and her husband Mark Whitehawk, who teaches language at Keeseekoose have four children, of which she is proud to say that three are attending the University of Regina.
Asked what she enjoys beyond 小蓝视频 a parent, wife and teacher, Whitehawk said she enjoys movies and volleyball.
Hired as the administrative assistant, Jackie Brass is a member of Cote First Nation who was raised in Sturgis. After graduating from the Sturgis Composite High School, she worked for the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technology (SIIT) in Regina for 12 years as the campus manager and then moved over to the SIAST office in Regina.
She lives with her husband Allan Cote and is the mother of two adult daughters who live in Regina and Saskatoon and the grandmother of three.
