Earl Marriott Secondary has a long and proud history of Indigenous learning and community pow wow celebrations.  For more than 25 years, Earl Marriott Secondary (EMS) has been home to a First Nations Program.  In 1996, then-principal, Ms. Margaux Molson, and Earl Marriott teacher, Mr. Andrew Holland, built a fledgling First Nations Program to support our First Nations students.  The program was one of the first in the Surrey School District and it was the vision of the former Semiahmoo First Nation (SFN) Grand Chief Bernard Charles.  Chief Charles believed in education as a way forward for Earl Marriott’s First Nations students.  Principal Molson and the staff were united in Chief Charles’ vision to build and maintain a strong First Nations program.  

One of the early notable events for the Earl Marriott First Nations Program was attending two field trips to the Gathering of the Nations Pow Wow in Albuquerque, New Mexico with Mr. Holland and teacher chaperones.  Here students experienced the power and strength of pow wow as a collective group.  Following the New Mexico trip, Earl Marriott staff and students embarked on their own plans to bring the energy and power they experienced to our community by hosting pow wows at Earl Marriott starting in 1997.  

Subsequently, under the supervision of First Nations teacher Ms. Sonia Blair, students attended a major Pow Wow in Maui, Hawaii.  Although not a Coast Salish tradition, the opportunity to engage our students in pow wow was invigorating for students and staff.  The students and staff never wavered and the pow wow was here to stay. Throughout the next two decades, the pow wow took on a life and spirit of its own, with the Semiahmoo First Nation and their elders playing an important role in the celebrations at the school. 

During non-pow wow times, the First Nations Program continued its learning and work by holding drum making workshops and attending leadership conferences.  The medicine wheel teachings and the sense of belonging that these events provided became pillars of the First Nations Program and learning at EMS.  

From 2005 onward, and under the leadership of teacher Mr. Michael Mackay-Dunn, the Pow Wow experienced tremendous success.  The pow wow became both a family and community event that was not to be missed.  With the guidance of Mr. Mackay-Dunn, Surrey School District officials and the Semiahmoo First Nation, Indigenous learning became part of the school cultural fabric at Earl Marriott and eventually became the impetus for the design, carving and installation of the Cen’Alien welcome posts in the school’s entrance. 

These spectacular welcome posts were the work of master-carver Leonard Wells, who carved the posts at his workshop at Earl Marriott.  The project was completed in 2014 under the principalship of Mr. Peter Johnston. 

Today, the Earl Marriott Semiahmoo First Nation Community Pow Wow continues at EMS, under the leadership of teachers Mr. Mark Figueira and Ms. Keely Speechley, the principalship of Mr. Graham Magnusson, and with the help of countless staff and student volunteers from the school, the Semiahmoo First Nation, and the South Surrey/ White Rock community. It is an annual event that is not to be missed.