Tour delves into city’s Black history

The Exchange District’s sole public school has received national recognition for mapping out a walking tour of often-overlooked landmarks that represent Black Canadians’ struggles and resilience.

Kathryn Laframboise and Jon McPhail are the latest Winnipeg-based recipients of the Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Teaching.

The duo work out of the Exchange Met School, a Grade 9-12 campus built around “big picture learning” – a pedagogical approach that prioritizes independent study, mentorship (teachers are called by their first names and known as “advisers”) and community engagement.

The teacher-advisers tasked their students with looking into little-known histories in the neighbourhood surrounding their school (321 McDermot Ave.) ahead of Black History Month 2025.

“It’s important — and the kids realize how important it is, too — to reflect on the way things are right now and how it hasn’t always been that way. Sometimes, for better. But oftentimes, for worse,” Laframboise said.

The award-winner said the project was successful because she and McPhail were passionate about it and encouraged students to “lead with their hearts,” too.

Grade 11 student Laylah Laquette-Koch knew little about Burton Cummings Theatre, aside from it being a popular concert venue, at the start of the calendar year.

Now, when the teenager passes the 119-year-old building located steps from her homeroom, she is reminded of the actors who once performed there in blackface, Laylah said.

“We should all know our history, no matter what it is, even if it’s hard to talk about,” the 16-year-old said.

She was among the roughly 110 students who put on In Flight: Our Black History Walk in February. There was an option for learners — all grades got involved — to participate either in-person or through a virtual expedition.

Melony Ward, president of the national history society, called the project “a lasting model” of authentic, inclusive and placed-based education.

“You inspired meaningful reflection on historical erasure and the importance of diverse narratives,” Ward said in a recent letter congratulating Laframboise and McPhail.

Abigail Stuart, 16, took a special interest in the overturned-street car sculpture across from Centennial Concert Hall.

It was originally constructed to honour the centennial of the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919. But the 1919 Marquee is also a symbol of Black porters’ standalone fight for equality in their workplace, Abigail said.

The late Lee Williams, a Black porter from Winnipeg, is often credited as a key leader in the decades-long fight for equality on Canada’s railways. Syd Korsunsky, one of the Met teachers’ career-educator colleagues in the Seven Oaks School Division, has long tried to raise the profile of Williams in schools both during February and year-round.

Other stops on the student-led tour included city hall — where deputy mayor and Coun. Markus Chambers (St. Norbert-Seine River) became the first Black city councillor in 2018 – and Sport for Life.

The latter houses a sports museum, as well as a gymnasium Met students use on a regular basis for phys-ed.

McPhail noted the young archivists researched the first all-Black baseball team in Winnipeg. Their findings would take museum staff members by surprise, the teacher-adviser recalled.

“They had no idea about that story, so it was really interesting to go there and be bringing a piece of Manitoba sport history to a sports museum,” he said.

McPhail and Laframboise began brainstorming a cross-curricular initiative at the start of the 2024-25 school year. Students were ultimately tasked with making the assignment their own, as they often are at Met schools.

After the tour, which happened on a particularly frigid day in February, students returned to the warmth of their school to write reflections on paper feathers and assemble them into a piece of art.

Principal Jane Suchy said she is proud of her colleagues for earning national recognition, as well as their daily commitment to helping students’ “uncover their passions and share their gifts.”

“(History lessons can) gloss over or repeat the story that’s been told and flatten it out, especially in the context of history being ‘the story told by the victor,’” McPhail said.

The now-Grade 11 teacher adviser said he does not want teens to only focus on being able to “regurgitate facts” about historical events and timelines. He said he wants to encourage them to reflect on making space for stories that are not always included in mainstream textbooks.

Suchy urged anyone who’s interested in learning more about the tour to reach out to her office. They have been brainstorming how to replicate the project, albeit during a warmer day, she said.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca