How Indigenous students 'blossom' at Soaring Eagles school in Niagara by learning 'on the land'

In between classes, one of Alice Lefebvre's favourite places to go is the gurgling creek behind the school house. 

She hops from rock to rock and soaks in the golden fall sunshine. It's a typical day for the Indigenous Grade 9 student at the one-of-a-kind Soaring Eagles Secondary School program in Thorold, Ont., outside of St. Catharines in the Niagara Region. 

Lefebvre came to the program a few years ago after experiencing bullying at a "mainstream" school, she said. Since then she's thrived 

"So far high school is great," she said. "I've learned a lot of things about my culture and who I am and it makes me really happy." 

The Soaring Eagles elementary and secondary program is run by the Niagara Regional Native Centre and Niagara Catholic District School Board, which owns the forested property where about 30 students across the region and all grades come to learn. They follow the Ontario curriculum with extra attention paid to outdoor activities. 

Gary Parker is the board's Indigenous lead and said Soaring Eagles helps students who were struggling in the institutionally based classroom setting. 

At Soaring Eagles, students spend hours outside each day, go on hikes, garden and on Fridays gather around a bonfire. The program has been running for nearly 10 years.

"For people who are very close to nature, have a different learning style, it gives that opportunity to be right here on the land and learning and it's almost like a home environment," Parker said. "It puts a lot of people at ease." 

Parker said the partnership with the Catholic board shows its working to address historical harms. The church ran over half of residential schools in Canada that more than 150,000 Indigenous children were forced to attend between 1870s and 1997. 

"Moving forward in our modern day, we see the Catholic board really wanting to make a heavier stride in mending those old impacts and there's a lot of support of Indigenous people," Parker said. 

Principal John Belcastro said he's watched students "blossom" in the Soaring Eagles program. Some attend for a short period of time and then go back to mainstream school, while others stay long-term. 

"The nicest thing I see is a lot of these students go from being disengaged to being leaders in their community."

Alistor Hands-Pare joined the program in Grade 8 after struggling to get good grades, showing up on time and interacting with other students. Now in Grade 12, she's excelling academically, involved in cultural activities and also taking college courses. 

"Soaring Eagles definitely makes me feel more connected to my culture," Hands-Pare said.