In order to organize that conference, we put together a national committee. We started out with a core group of seven. Our key selection criterion was to include people who demonstrated their Hearts and Spirits in their work. We called ourselves the National Aboriginal Design Committee (NADC)

At our second meeting in December 1998, I showed this second national committee the work I had done for Parkland Regional College, which I had now come to call The Rainbow/Holistic Approach to Aboriginal Literacy.

Another synchronicity happened! Derek Payne, NADC Treasurer, a man from the Sto:lo Nation in British Columbia gasped. He shared that, on his way to the meeting, he had a window seat over the wing of the airplane. He said that, for about half an hour, he saw a circular rainbow on the wing of the airplane. The committee and I discussed the Rainbow Approach, and they endorsed it.

That night, I had a dream about an owl. I shared this dream with the NADC the next day. As we were from several Aboriginal cultures – Mi’kmaq, Anishnawbe, Sto:lo, Cree – we discussed our various understandings of the owl. Our common understanding was that the owl signified wisdom, which is what the various types of literacy meant to us – the acquisition of wisdom, rather than mere cognitive outcomes. Thus was born the logo of the NADC – an owl inside a circular rainbow.

In the meantime, as a result of the National Aboriginal Literacy Gathering, we had expanded the NADC to eighteen people, including Elders and Learners. When I presented the “blended” Rainbow Approach/Medicine Wheel to this expanded committee last year, they felt it had merit. In response to the presentation, Edwina Wetzel, Conne River First Nation, sent me a three-page letter outlining how their community is committed to nurturing Spirit first in their educational programming. I’ll read a part of her letter to me:

In a community of 700 people ... There is 100% employment, either full-time or seasonal. Few people leave the reserve. All our directors are Band members…. We have four nurses, three lawyers, 20 educators…. You name it, we have it. We own hunting lodges, a garage, hardware store, grocery stores, construction co., etc.