Walking the Path of Truth and Reconciliation: Integrating Faith, Culture, and Learning at LCSD

At the Lloydminster Catholic School Division, our mission has always intertwined faith, learning, and community with our tradition of academic excellence. Over the last decade we have renewed our commitment to the path of Truth and Reconciliation, striving to ensure that Indigenous teachings, culture, and voices are not add-ons, but woven deeply into everything we do. 

Planting Seeds of Understanding Through Culture and Faith

Meridian Source Article: https://meridiansource.ca/2025/10/01/gallery-lcsd-plants-knowledge-through-culture-and-faith/

On September 22 at St. Joseph Elementary, our Indigenous Programming Coordinator, Cynthia Young, led an afternoon of cultural sharing and learning — mixing storytelling, bannock baking, discussion, and curiosity. Students asked about treaties, hunting, and even the ingredients of bannock. Through those conversations, we plant seeds of understanding in young hearts, promoting empathy over fear. 

Our division also extended these learnings into the community during the City’s Culture Days at Weaver Heritage Park, encouraging participation in Orange Shirt Day and reflection on reconciliation. In all these efforts, we don’t simply teach Indigenous culture — we treat it as a living, breathing part of our shared community and faith journey.

Building a Centre of Culture and Connection

Meridian Source Article:
https://meridiansource.ca/2025/10/14/young-shares-indigenous-culture-centre-story-with-rotary/

In 2023, LCSD took a bold, intentional step by opening the Indigenous Culture Centre at Holy Rosary High School named Kakisimokamik. This building is more than a room — its circular design echoes the shape of ceremonial lodges, with a central tree blessed in ceremony, and a medicine wheel surrounding it in the heart of the space. Our Indigenous Coordinator, Cynthia Young, recently shared the impact the space has had on our students and community since we opened the doors to a local Rotary chapter. 

Our Centre hosts weekly smudging ceremonies, and has become a place where staff, students and the community live out reconciliation in real ways. Cynthia Young often speaks of walking in two worlds — as a Catholic and as a bearer of Indigenous knowledge — and she encourages our students to do the same. Opening the Centre was years in the making and watching the impact it has now a couple years after opening shows us often limitless positive ripples. 

Embodying Reconciliation in Everyday Education 

Our hope is that truth and reconciliation are not one-off events, but core to how we teach, how we lead, and how we walk together. We know reconciliation is a long, complex journey — not a destination. Yet, we believe that by embedding Indigenous culture, relationships, and truth into our faith-based mission, we can help foster a community rooted in respect, understanding, and hope. Let us continue to lean into curiosity, humility, and the shared work of healing. Through prayer, education, and community, we are committed to walking this path — not because it is easy, but because it is right.