A milestone for an Indigenous language skills competition.
Gagwe-gikendamaawiziwin (Quest for Knowledge) was recently held for the 25th time at Seven Generations Education Institute.
Robert Horton, Anishinaabemowin Coordinator and Instructor at Seven Gens, says the event brings young Indigenous language learners together to test what they have learned in class.
“You can really see the fruits of the labour of these learners and these amazing language teachers,” says Horton.
“We have many judges that are local elders, true elders, and they are struck by how proficient these kids are, and it warms their hearts.”
Horton also gives credit to the language teachers for their work with the students.
Eight schools and 15 teams from across the Rainy River District took part.
Students went head-to-head in five stations.
One tested the students’ public speaking skills.
Students compete at Gagwe-gikendamaawiziwin at Seven Generations Education Institute, Rainy Lake campus, April 23, 2026. Image: Randy Thoms/Acadia News
A second used the popular game, Jeopardy! to test the students’ vocabulary.
A third required students to come up with new words.
“One of the reasons that Anishinaabemowin is called a living language is because we have to keep adapting it to the world that we’re in to make it relevant,” says Horton.
“If we don’t have words for Lamborghini or plastic house plant or something like that, then it becomes irrelevant to the world that we live in today.”
Other stations encouraged students to use charades to explain a word to their classmates, while the fifth used art to showcase the student’s understanding of their language skills.
Gagwe-gikendamaawiziwin was first held in 1999.
Students compete at Gagwe-gikendamaawiziwin at Seven Generations Education Institute, Rainy Lake campus, April 23, 2026. Image: Randy Thoms/Acadia News
Horton says the focus has changed since its early years.
“It wasn’t necessarily language. It was community names, leader names and stuff, not necessarily history, but the reality of our region,” says Horton.
“Then a few years later, it started to move over to language, and we’ve kept that trajectory very, very strong.”
This year’s winners came from Robert Moore School in Fort Frances in the junior division and Crossroads Schools in Devlin in the senior division.
The Rainy River District Festival of the Performing Arts resumes this week.
The vocal competitions will take place on Wednesday and Thursday at Knox United Church in Fort Frances.
Almost 80 performances are scheduled over the two days before adjudicator Judith Oatway, a vocal instructor from Manitoba.
Choirs will perform in the morning, including a grade 7 and 8 ensemble from St. John’s Ravenscourt School in Winnipeg.
Solo performers will take to the stage in the afternoon.
Drama and Speech Arts competitions in Anishinaabemowin, English and French took place over the last two weeks.
The Anishinaabemowin Speech Arts portion of the festival saw 7 performances, including an adult hand-drumming group, who were adjudicated by Roy Tom, an educator from Big Grassy First Nation.
As the division is non-competitive, no scores were given.
English and French performances last week were before adjudicators Robin Taylor Wright and Kim Anderson.
Wright also held a drama workshop that attracted 10 students from Fort Frances High School.
The festival organizers and the school’s Arts and Culture Specialist High Skills Major (SHSM) program partnered on the workshop.
A workshop, entitled “Deconstructing the Message”, was put on by Mr. Robin Taylor Wright (red shirt), who served as an adjudicator in this year’s Rainy River District Festival of the Performing Arts. Ten students from Fort Frances High School took part. Photo supplied by Rainy River District Festival of the Performing Arts, April 6, 2026.
Another workshop will take place this Friday from 1:30 pm to 3 pm at Fort Frances High School, led by Oatway.
The free workshop is open to all performers in the festival’s vocal division, as well as cast members of the upcoming high school musical Hadestown and students enrolled in the high skills major program.
Pre-registration is appreciated by emailing rrdist.festival@gmail.com.
Here are the results from the first two weeks of the festival.
English Drama & Speech Arts Division Results – Tuesday, March 31
CLASS D308 English Drama, Choral Speaking, Grade 3 FIRST: Robert Moore School Gr 3 (Ms. A. Norris) (Honours)
CLASS D809 English Drama, Skit, Grade 8 FIRST: Cornerstone Christian School Gr 6-8 (Ms. Y. Veldhuisen) (Honours)
CLASS PSA9067 English Drama, Solo Spoken Poetry, Classical, Grades 10-12 FIRST: Alexis Latter (Honours)
CLASS PSA9134 English Drama, Solo Reading, Canadian Prose, Grades 10-12 FIRST: Alexis Latter (Honours)
CLASS D1117 English Drama, Quick Study, Grades 11 and 12 FIRST: Alexis Latter (Honours)
CLASS D1106 English Drama, Sight Reading, Grades 11 and 12 FIRST: Alexis Latter (First Class Honours)
CLASS D308 English Drama, Choral Speaking, Grade 3 FIRST: Olivia Sivonen and Marlena Johnson
CLASS D401 English Drama, Serious Solo Poetry, Grade 4 FIRST: Rebecca Margison
CLASS D302 English Drama, Humorous Solo Poetry, Grade 3 FIRST: Nash McMahon
CLASS D202 English Drama, Humorous Solo Poetry, Grade 2 FIRST: Mackenzie Christian (Honours)
CLASS D402 English Drama, Humorous Solo Poetry, Grade 4 FIRST: Bristol Christian (Honours) SECOND: Rebecca Margison
CLASS D916 English Drama, Shakespearean Soliloquy or Monologue, Grades 9 and 10 FIRST: James Gagne
CLASS PSA9093 English Drama, Dramatic Monologue, Own Choice, Grades 10-12 FIRST: Alexis Latter (Honours)
French Drama & Speech Arts Division Results – Thursday, April 2
CLASS F108 French Choral Speaking, Own Choice, Grades 1 and 2 FIRST: St. Mary School Grade 1 FI (A. Coyle) (First Class Honours) SECOND: St. Mary School Grade 1/2 FI (M. Brady) (Honours)
CLASS F308B French Choral Speaking, Own Choice, Grades 3 and 4 FIRST (Tie): Lex Norman, Collins Armstrong, et Signy Green (M. Brady) (First Class Honours) and Brielle Stus et Ember Van Troyen (M. Brady) (First Class Honours) SECOND: Noah Whalen, Porter Coyle, et Cohen Gushulak (M. Brady) (Honours)
CLASS F508B French Choral Speaking, Own Choice, Grades 5 and 6 FIRST: Rosina Woodgate, Elena Bottomley et London Lees (M. Gowdar) (First Class Honours) SECOND (Tie): Aria Brady et Naomi Gerber (M. Gowdar) (Honours) and Tilly Sexton et Alexis Reather (M. Gowdar) (Honours)
CLASS F704 French Solo Prose Reading, Own Choice, Grades 7 and 8 FIRST: Teagan Sether (M. Wright)
CLASS F708 French Choral Speaking, Own Choice, Grades 7 and 8 FIRST: Sisily Morelli et Firdaus Toure (First Class Honours) SECOND: Aria St. Onge et Chase Bruyere (M. Wright)
CLASS PSA 9053 Solo Spoken Poetry, Multilingual, Own Choice, Grades 7-9 FIRST: Teagan Sether (M. Wright) (Honours)
