At the 33rd kilometre of the In-SHUCK-ch Forest Service Road on the west side of the lower Lillooet Lake, lies the Q'aLaTKu7em—a small community within Stl’atl’imx Nation. For the last seven years, a community school nestled in the Nation has served roughly a dozen local students out of a portable.
They’ve just welcomed their first graduate, Raoul Peters. He sums up how he feels about his graduation, succinctly.
“Accomplished.”
Opening the school
Jillian Fraser is the vice-principal and sole teacher at Q'aLaTKu7em Community School. She's been with the school since its inception back in 2018.
Thanks to a partnership between SD78—the Fraser Valley School District in whose catchment the Nation technically resides—and the Sea to Sky’s SD48, whose proximity through the Forest Service Road makes it the best entity to service the community—a community school was born.
The number of students registered oscillates as people move or students opt for schooling in Pemberton. When the school opened, Fraser was surprised to have as many as 13 students between the ages of six and 16. This year, she has 8 students enrolled, including Peters.
Fraser, originally from Ontario, had been working with Xet'òlacw Community School in Mount Currie when SD48 superintendent Lisa McCullough reached out and asked her to develop a curriculum for the new school in summer 2018. She and Peters have been there ever since, working and learning alongside an education assistant, Q’aLaTKu7eM elders and community leaders.
Peters remembers how he felt when the school was opened in 2018.
“I was excited,” he said. “Before, I wasn’t able to go to school every day due to the bus.”
Until the school's opening, students from Q'aLaTKu7em had to make the trip up from the Nation to Pemberton for school, every day. Under ideal conditions, the bus ride would take at least an hour. But with harsh weather, an unpaved road and the risk of landslides, the journey could often take longer or be cancelled outright, leading to plenty of missed education days.
Building the program
Because of how small the student population is, Fraser teaches every grade. As such, each student has a tailored teaching plan that incorporates the B.C. curriculum while also addressing their learning interests and emotional needs. She also reached out to Q'aLaTKu7em elders and leaders early on to bring traditional teaching and regular meals to the school.
Partly by necessity, due to the school's remoteness, Fraser incorporates several community initiatives and projects within the curriculum, many of which involve going out into the community to help students foster a relationship with the land. That means plenty of time spent in nature.
"We don't have a gym in our little portable, but we have the beautiful territory and the land," she said.
That always appealed to Peters, who said Fraser provided him with opportunities to explore more outdoor projects and learning during his time at the school.
“I was going into gardening [and] learning how to live off the land," he remembered. “Every project, she’d give me some choices about what I wanted to work on, what kind of subjects I would be interested in, like fishing, hunting."
The school's remoteness does pose challenges for getting resources and opportunities to Q'aLaTKu7em. So, Fraser regularly reaches out to the Sea to Sky community to tee up opportunities for students. She said the larger community has been "really receptive."
"It's really great to be able to try and make these connections for these students who have that barrier of the remote school and transportation and just knowing you know what choices they have," she said. "There are a lot of people willing to donate time, services, snowsuits, whatever it is to help, and so that's been a really beautiful thing, is to see that there are a lot of people that want to just help develop the program and give the kids these opportunities."
That spirit of cooperation extends to Peters' graduation gift, organized by the school in partnership with Chromer Sport Fishing in Squamish. Fraser reached out, never expecting to hear back from Chromer, about sponsoring an overnight trip in Squamish. They accepted, and during the second weekend in February, Peters and his dad, along with two others, set out on the Squamish River for a fishing trip on a four-person raft.
What's next
Fraser is based in Pemberton, which means she still makes the hour-long drive to see her students every day. But she said moments like Peters' graduation make the long trip well worth it.
“When we've been together this many years, it becomes like a little family," she told Pique. "Seeing him grow into this young man who is following the dreams that he has set out and explored for himself, completing his education... we're just so super proud."
Fraser said Peters had the option to graduate this summer, along with the Pemberton Secondary School students, but felt it would be more meaningful to have his graduation be held in his home community.
“He said, 'I've opted all this time to just be here in my own community,' and so that's ultimately what he chose, which I thought was a really beautiful thing, and really was such a celebration of little community.”
Now that he's graduated, Peters will continue working with Murphy Construction and earn his Red Seal certification—a Canadian national rating for tradespeople. He's been working with the local construction outfit for more than two years in a position Fraser set up for Peters' work experience.
This was Fraser’s first time planning a graduation, but it won't be the last. She's expecting another graduate this fall.
She said Peters is a role model for the younger students that follow; both because of his graduation and because he's pursuing his passion. She hopes it'll inspire them to pursue what interests them, too.
"And it doesn't have to be the same story as Raoul's," she said. "They know that Raoul's story is his own, but that there are opportunities for them to follow their passions too, and for us to help to get them there."
