London high school students connect with their Indigenous culture through song

A group of teenagers is using music to connect with their Indigenous culture and each other at a southwest London high school.

A handful of graduating girls at Saunders Secondary School started a social singing group at the start of the school year and have spent the past eight months getting in tune with the Haudenosaunee tradition. 

"I'm very grateful that I am part of this," said Grade 12 student Ava Summers. "It makes me very proud to have this group of girls here that want to participate in this, and I'm glad they joined with me so we can show the rest of the school how powerful and meaningful it is to be Haudenosaunee and embrace our culture and traditions."

The group is supervised by Saunders transition coach Trisha Whiteye, who is part of a social singing society herself.

"Songs are the fun part of it, but there's a lot of benevolence that goes along with being part of a singing society," said Whiteye, adding that most groups also spend time giving back to their community through helping elders or feeding those in need.

The school group, which is called the Young Women Singers, say they are currently focused on building their musical skills. So far, they have performed at Saunders' Multicultural Day event and for the school board.

For some of the girls, the singing group is an opportunity to learn more about their Indigenous background. 

"I never grew up super close with my culture," said Gr. 12 student Emma Smith. "I grew up away from the reservation, I went to schools where there were barely any Indigenous people [so] it's just a way for me to connect."

"It's also important for us to embrace our culture anyway because we fought so hard to keep it," Smith said. 

For others, it's a memory of their families and growing up: "I used to sing with my sisters when I was smaller and go to the longhouse, so it makes me think of that," said singer Emma Doxtator. 

Alongside learning singing skills like rhythms and harmonies, the students said it's also been a chance to strengthen their friendships before they graduate. 

"It showed me the friendships that can be created when you have a group, and you do something so big like that for your school," student Taylin Doxtater said. 

"I'll be doing this for the rest of my life"

Another pair of Saunders students are embracing musical traditions that they learned from their families growing up.

Grade 12 student Liam Peters and Grade 11 student Zaidis Deleary have brought drumming and singing to school performances this year.

"I learned it from my dad, and he learned it growing up as a kid … from being in an environment of people who know how to sing and use those drums correctly," Deleary said. "He just passed it down to us, and now we're learning as well."

Both the girls and boys primarily sing round dance songs, which are social songs to be shared with the public for entertainment, rather than ceremonial songs, which are only used among the community during ceremonies.

"The round dance songs that we sing were from the Cree people," Deleary said. "They were their memorial songs and they used it for ceremonies, but later in history, they gave it to more communities and started using it as a social dance and social song."

Peters and Deleary said performing helps lift their spirits, understand stories of their culture and connect with the community.

"You're singing for people, more than yourself," Peters said. "You hope that it does make them feel good. It's healing. It's more than just singing."

With graduation less than a week away, Peters said he doesn't plan on stopping music any time soon.

"I think I'll be doing this for the rest of my life, forever," he said. "As long as I can sing, I'll keep singing."

Whiteye said she is sad to see so many of the students graduating this year, but hopes they will carry on the musical traditions into their next chapter.

"They fill my heart," Whiteye said of the students. "When I hear them sing, I know that these things are going to be carried out for our future generations, and when they have kids, they're going to teach them the songs."