Indigenous students speak out on the loss of their flying school following fire

TYENDINAGA MOHAWK TERRITORY -

Indigenous students are speaking out on the loss of their flight-training program to a fire that destroyed their training school and airport last week.

It happened at the Tyendinaga Airport late Thursday night in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory near Belleville, Ont.

It's the only flying school in Canada specifically for Indigenous students.

For those like Tessie Chinna, there are now questions about what comes next.

“I just feel very lost at the moment,” Chinna says.

Looking out at what remains of her flight school, Chinna is thinking about what it would mean to her to bring her piloting licence to her home community in the remote northern regions of the Northwest Territories.

“It would be amazing to fly in and out of home communities,” she says. “And just inspire other people that you can go get your licences, you can dream big and work towards it.”

The 25-year-old is a member of the Fort Good Hope First Nation.

She has spent the last three years at the First Nations Technical Institute in Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, taking classes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

But on Thursday, that effort was put in jeopardy after a fire consumed the school and all of its planes.

“I don’t want to give up flying because I’m close. I just don’t know what it means right now,” she says.

The school has had thousands of graduates since it opened in 1990. The only one like it in Canada, it's specifically for Indigenous students. Graduates fly for remote communities and commercial airlines.

“A lot of people who come to this program can’t afford to go to a normal flight school; can’t afford to take out $60,000 in loans. This program helps a lot of indigenous students.”

The not-for-profit school says the value of the equipment lost is in the tens of millions of dollars. They are taking donations to rebuild, but how long that will take remains a question.

Maintenance Director Doug Leadbeater says there are many things to consider.

“We’re going to start with aircraft. A new hanger, a maintenance shop and just start from the ground up. This program wasn’t built overnight when it started in 1990, it took time then and it’s going to take time again.”

The school says it will be working with students to complete their degrees.

Willow Strom is from Garden River First Nation near Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. She says she dreams of flying for large commercial airlines like Air Canada.

But for her, the program goes beyond training.

“Knowing that we all come from an Indigenous background is very special. We all connect on that level. We get to do our ceremonies here. We learn about Indigenous culture. We have like history of indigenous relationships.”

The students are hoping the program can move forward for future generations.

“Fortunately the heart of aviation is here. Just the planes are not,” says Strom.

The First Nations Technical Institute is taking donations to their program through their website.