This story is part of a series where staff participated in Indigenous Focus Day on April 20, 2026. Indigenous Focus Day is a District-wide professional development day dedicated to deepening educators’ understanding of Indigenous perspectives, histories and ways of knowing.

Keynote speaker: Mary Point 

On Indigenous Focus Day, elementary school staff gathered at Killarney Secondary School to connect, learn and reflect. Mary Point, member of Musqueam Indian Band and director of Indigenous relations at the Vancouver International Airport was the day’s keynote speaker. Her presentation was grounded in personal story, lived experience and a reverence for the land.

 “We can’t walk too far before realizing that our history is written in this earth,” she said. 

Point spoke about her own journey of reconnecting with relatives and reclaiming stories that had been lost or silenced. She described this relationship building as an important part of healing and learning. Point also encouraged the audience to get to know Indigenous Peoples by connecting and asking questions. 

“Find a way to connect, take a little time to share food, to read and to learn. There are so many ways to get to know us, and all those ways are uplifting,” said Point. 

Workshop: Indigenous Storywork

After the keynote, participants attended various workshops. The Indigenous Storywork session explored the rich oral traditions of Indigenous storytelling. It was guided by the seven Principles of Storywork, developed by Stó:lō educator and scholar Dr. Jo-ann Archibald. 

The workshop was facilitated by VSB educator Manjit Torrance. Participants were divided into groups and engaged with oral stories from Museum of Vancouver’s Temixw: Stories from the Land. These short stories, shared by Squamish Hereditary Chief Ian Campbell, offer a deeper connection to local Indigenous knowledge and narratives. 

The story, “Mink and Skunk host a Potlatch,” tells the origin tale of B.C.’s Gambier Island (stápes). According to legend, the main mass of the island was created after a longhouse, filled with animals during a potlatch, collapsed and turned to stone. The tail of the southwestern end of the island is the tail of the whale sticking out of the longhouse. The stories also convey moral lessons. 

According to Torrance, sharing Indigenous stories with students can be an act of Reconciliation, but it’s also so much more. 

“In the past, education has been very linear and product based, focusing on outcomes and grades. But Indigenous teaching is about learning, thinking and experiencing more than anything else. That’s what stories give students,” she says. 

The First Peoples Principles of Learning state that “learning is embedded in memory, history and story.” 

Indigenous Storywork draws from this idea, embedding both lessons and history into tales that inform and awaken the imagination.