The students, school staff and community members gathered at the Birch Narrows Dene Nation Administrative Building at precisely 2 o'clock in the afternoon on June 2, 2009. We then walked a few paces to the west into a large field that construction workers had recently cleared of every plant including all of the trees, bushes, grass, weeds and moss. One of the teachers turned on a microphone. An elder said a prayer. The students sang two songs. A bunch of politicians took turns giving speeches.
It was hot standing out there in an open field under a sunny sky. The blackflies were getting annoying as they swarmed around us. Blackflies were flying into people's ears, noses, mouths and eyes. There were blackflies crawling through our hair and finding ways to crawl under our clothing onto our skin. We moved a bit farther apart as none of us wanted to share a flying swarm of blackflies with the person standing beside us. Every once in a while a gust of wind would blow up from the southwest creating a sandstorm cloud as it crossed the barren field coming toward us. We turned our backs toward the politicians and wind to try to avoid having the flying sand hit us smack in the face. It was a relief to have the wind temporarily blow away the blackflies. The blackflies always came back within a few minutes.
Finally we reached the climax of the ceremony. With two shiny new shovels the politicians began digging a hole. It was not a deep hole. Not big enough to bury one of their shoes in. I had been watching a few little kids in the audience playing with their toys dig much deeper holes by the feet of their teachers or parents as the dignitaries had been speaking. But the politicians' feeble attempts to dig a couple of partial shovel blades of sand per person was significant. After about 12 years of planning and negotiations they finally began digging a hole for the basement of the new school. This sod turning event marked the official start of the construction of the new school.
When the ceremony ended a few things happened. The politicians and dignitaries gathered around the two still clean new shovels to have their official photos taken for the event. The audience lined up at the band office for cheese, crackers and a few finger foods as a nourishment reward for having listened politely throughout all of those speeches. The construction workers began planning how they were going to use their big equipment to begin building the new school once everyone cleared out of the field. And I am sure a committee began planning the ribbon cutting ceremony that will take place in a few years when the politicians return to make speeches at the official opening of the new school.
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