K’alemi Dene School stands in the centre of Ndilo, a tiny community of about 200 aboriginal people on the outskirts of Yellowknife. It’s more than merely a symbolic location. The school, which teaches 86 children from kindergarten to Grade 10, is the heart of the community: a place where residents gather and celebrate and where kids are cared for and shown they have a future. It’s also a place where a school food program has made a profound difference.
Fruit for fuel
The school has a morning snack and lunch program and offers breakfast to kids who are hungry when they arrive in the morning. “They know they don’t have to ever feel embarrassed,” says principal Angela James, a Métis raised in Manitoba who has lived in this community for 30 years.
Each day at 10:30 a.m., children eagerly await the arrival of a big plate filled with bannock (an aboriginal bread), fresh fruit and dry caribou meat. “There are some fruits that are their favourites, like watermelon and pineapple. They’ll gobble up,” says Angela, adding that many families can’t afford to buy fruit for their kids to eat at home.
An elder comes to the school in the afternoons to make fresh bannock for the next day and then teaches language lessons. For lunch, every class has bread, peanut butter (no allergy concerns here), jam and Cheez Whiz in their classroom fridge. “We encourage kids to bring a lunch, but sometimes they forget and sometimes they just don’t have food (at home), and that is a real concern for them,” says Angela. “Other times they prefer to eat what is at school. We don’t ask any questions.”
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