Location: Pikangikum First Nation
Date of Completion: 2016
Architect: Number Ten Architectural Group
Nominated by: Sol Mamakwa, MPP (Kiiwetinoong)

After its original school building was destroyed by a fire, the community of Pikangikum set itself to building a new facility—the Eenchokay Birchstick School—that would not only replace what was lost, but also improve the community and proudly represent its values, culture, and traditions.

A Commitment to Indigenous Culture

Pikangikum First Nation is home to a remarkable statistic: some 97% of its residents speak fluent Anishinaabemowin, with most students entering kindergarten speaking Anishinaabemowin as their first language. According to Statistics Canada, the national rate of First Nations people who are able to speak an Indigenous language is just over 13%. This makes Pikangikum home to one of the highest rates of Indigenous language retention nationwide.

So when Number Ten Architectural Group were given a task to design a new school building, they looked to the community to help define its mandate and architectural identity. Not only did the community need spaces for learning and teaching for 900+ students, but it also needed a building that would support and reflect the language, culture, and traditions that have empowered the Pikangikum for generations.

An important example of this can be found in The Teachings of the Seven Grandfathers, an important cultural and pedagogical touchpoint for Anishnaabe people that has been passed down through generations that speak to what it means to live a good life. These teachings—love, truth, wisdom, humility, respect, courage, and honesty—are represented in the form of murals, quilts, and graphics, adorning the school’s halls and common areas, acting as both placemaking and identity-affirming tools. Artists for the pieces include Pikangikum locals Mario Peters, Darwin Peters, and Barry Peters, as well as outside collaborators Michael Cywink (Ingersoll) and Jimmy Baptiste (Ottawa).The school’s commitment to upholding the Anishinaabemowin language can also be seen in its signage, which is written in both Latin script for English and Canadian Syllabics for Anishinaabemowin.

Left: Artist Barry Peters standing next to one of several murals in the school. Right: example of wall graphics applied throughout the interior to denote spaces. Images courtesy of Number Ten Architectural Group.

More than a Building

The construction of Eenchokay Birchstick School was no small feat. Not only is the school large—at 105,000 square feet, it can house up to a third of Pikangikum’s population at once—but the location is remote, accessible by plane or boat only, with winter road access limited to the cold season when the ground and waterways are frozen.

However, this challenge also presented a significant opportunity to upgrade Pikangikum’s civil infrastructure and utilities. The project scope reached beyond the school to also encompass necessary roadworks, including ice road work at an unprecedented scale, and a new diesel generating station–a hugely important asset for a community that wasn’t connected to the provincial power grid until 2018.

Double-height front lobby. Image courtesy of Number Ten Architectural Group.

However, investing in physical infrastructure can only take you so far. Building a complete community takes investment in people, too.

In order to facilitate a bilingual education, Anishinaabemowin-speaking community members are brought into the classroom to participate in teaching. A new program, expected to begin in 2024, will give these community members the opportunity to seek professional certification and access to a viable income. Through a partnership with Queen’s University, the Indigenous Teacher Education Program allows community members to study remotely and receive training on the job, providing a pathway to receiving a bachelor of education and an Ontario teaching certificate while staying in Pikangikum.

New buildings can play an important role in shaping the people and places around them. In the case of this Northern locale, a new building not only brought much needed new space, but also catalyzed a host of physical and social infrastructural improvements that will benefit the Pikangikum for decades to come.

This post forms part of our World Architecture Day Queen’s Park Picks 2023 series in which the OAA asked Ontario’s Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs) to nominate a prominent building, past or present, in their riding for a chance to learn more about it. Check out the rest of the series to learn more about great buildings across the province!