At Delta School District building intercultural understanding, empathy and mutual respect is considered vital to education. The School District starts its school assemblies, presentations, district and Board meetings, and public events with a Land Acknowledgment: "We recognize that the Delta School District is situated on the ancestral and unceded lands of the Tsawwassen and Musqueam First Nations and all Hun’qumi’num speaking people who have been stewards of this land since time immemorial." More recently a Monday Morning Welcome and Acknowledgement of the Territory comes to 30 classes of more than 700 students and teachers in the schools over Zoom to start the week in a good way. Nathan Wilson is the Indigenous Cultural Enhancement Facilitator for the Delta School District
Nathan Wilson spoke to Ladner Rotary on October 24th. He encourages everyone to learn more about the history of Indigenous Peoples in Canada and to reflect on what reconciliation means to each individual.In March, Nathan Wilson received a City of Delta Mayor's Achievement Award in the category of 'Difference Maker', in recognition for the difference he makes with students in his role.
On May 20th, 2022, Nathan led traditional ceremonies and inaugural trips out on the Fraser River and Deas Slough in the School District's new "Wave Warrior", an ocean-going 39-foot fibreglass Journey Canoe sponsored in part by Tsawwassen Rotary. It was acquired to help students learn more about the canoe culture and connect them with Indigenous ways of knowing and being. Nathan requested artists Diamond Point (Musqueam Indian Band) and Victoria Skosswunson Williams (Tsawwassen First Nation) to assist with the Coast Salish design.
At the time Nathan told the Delta Optimist: "I have been working with kids my entire life and got to use the Tsawwassen First Nation Canoe. When I started working with the Delta School District, one of the things I kind of brought back from my memory was the canoe and what it has done for me.
"This day and moment in time is about seven years in the making. I'm so happy we have got it and get to use it.
"Growing up in the way I grew up, being away from the culture, it was different. It was during the time when not everybody was happy or proud to be Indigenous. So this is why I wanted the canoe. Doing this and being able to have the pride is what's important."