School board hears new Indigenous student support worker’s impact

GUELPH – Sylvia Kablutsiak is working for the Wellington Catholic District School Board in a newly-created role: the Indigenous student support worker.

Kablutsiak offered a presentation during a Nov. 3 school board meeting to outline the new role and the impact so far.

Kablutsiak is Inuk, from the southern part of Nunavut, and recently graduated with a bachelor of Indigenous studies.

She described the philosophy behind her role as Indigenous student support worker as being like an auntie to the students.

“In Indigenous communities, an auntie is known as somebody who nurtures Indigenous children and guides them through cultural identity,” Kablutsiak said.

The biggest part of her role with the Catholic school board is to “support students holistically, looking into the four directions of their well-being,” she said.

This includes physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

Her role is never meant to replace other supports such as school social workers, mental health counselors or guidance counselors, Kablutsiak noted, but to “bridge the gaps between all of those support roles and make sure Indigenous students are not falling through the cracks.”

Kablutsiak began her work by meeting with school principals and vice principals and identifying each school’s priorities, and which students would benefit from her support.

She then started making connections with individual students to build the foundations for strong relationships.

Kablutsiak is intentional about getting to know each student that she works with as an individual, “meeting them where they’re at and really getting to know who they are ...

“I have a number of students I’ve been connecting with and they are lovely students. I love working here.”

Kablutsiak follows the students’ leads and accommodates their individual needs, often meeting with them away from their schools by going for walks on wooded trails, sitting outside to smudge, or enjoying snacks and drinks at Tim Hortons or McDonald’s.

And the meetings don’t follow a strict structure, she said, but cater to each individual student.

Kabultsiak talked about one student who is struggling with attendance – but is always sure to show up on the days they’re meeting with her.

“That’s, I think, the point of my job,” she said. “I want them to come and build these connections.”