Greetings all

As we enter the fall season, I hope that you and your family are maintaining a sense of health and happiness, and navigating this current wave of illness moving through our community.  I witnessed first hand the effects of being unwell for the first time in 3 years when I went down for 6 days last week with a nasty bug.  Now as others on our team, and in our school population are also experiencing illness, it invites in each of us the opportunity to extend our compassion outward into the world.  

This is a concept that has found it's way into my life from several angles in the last while.  As the world is awakening from the tumult of COVID and stretching itself into new opportunities, one of the learnings we are moving forward with is how our ability to connect with others, and extend compassion, is a vital source of kinship and community that helps us grow.  I was fortunate enough to work with Margaret Wheatley over the past year, an incredible fount of knowledge in the area of leadership for the past 40 years.  Her work is now focused on the power of Compassion and Insight, what she feels are the two cardinal tools of leaders who are moving their work forward.  

This past weekend as part of the Pro-D day on Friday, I was also fortunate to join the Kootenay Boundary Compassionate Systems Leadership cohort where we deepened our understanding of this concept.  Some incredible takeaways, and for me a realization that there are 75 other school system leaders who share my interest in compassionate systems, and leading through deep listening, understanding, patience and caring.  And a re-connection to aboriginal ways of seeing and knowing that have assisted me to develop my own work along a compassionate path. 

Growing up in the Cowichan Valley, I was surrounded by aboriginal culture and was influenced deeply by the space and place known as The Warm Land.  This connection with space I have carried with me, such that now when I go to a new place my first instinct is to get out on the land and explore.  When I am not in my office, I am prowling around the trails, paths, backroads, alleys and laneways to build a felt understanding of this place where I work and play.  How do the kids get to school?  Where are the paths along the river, how are they interconnected?  I have explored Buchanan, Sourdough Ridge, the Riverside Trails and all around this area to get a sense of how geography impacts our experience, and it has deepened my appreciation for where I spend my time. 

This weekend I was also fortunate to have shared with me some new learnings which came from Lorna Williams, an aboriginal educator from the Lil'wat Nation.  Through her work we learned about the Principles of Learning her people have identified, which live alongside the First Peoples' Principles that are central to schools' work all across the province.  These are concepts I was aware of and understand deeply, but have now been synthesized into my own felt language of teaching and learning, and will undoubtedly influence my work in the schools for some time. Here they are:

Kamúcwkalha - acknowledging the felt energy indicating group attunement and the emergence of a common group purpose.

Celhcelh - each person being responsible for their own and others learning, always seeking learning opportunities.

Kat'il'a - seeking spaces of stillness and quietness amidst our busyness and quest for knowledge.

A7xekcal - valuing our own expertise and considering how it helps the entire community beyond ourselves.

Cwelelep - recognizing the need to sometimes be in a place of dissonance and uncertainty, so as to be open to new learning.

Emhaka7 - encouraging each of us to do the best we can at each task given to us.

As each of us works to build a more compassionate and caring world, I would encourage you to think about these ancient ways of knowing and consider how they can assist us along the path of development.  For me, Kat'il'a is always a good reminder and an opportunity to step away from the busyness of my life and appreciate the joy and gratitude for this place and the work I do. 

I wish each of you Kat'il'a, and the best of the season