Pi Day event celebrates math in qathet region

The Salish Centre in Tla’amin was buzzing Thursday, March 13, with young minds excited about math, and to celebrate International Pi Day, a day symbolically linked to the mathematical constant known as Pi (π), often approximated by 3.14. 

Professor of mathematics at Simon Fraser University (SFU) Veslin Jungić has collaborated with qathet School District (qSD) and Tla'amin Nation for more than a decade, introducing fun and innovative ways of teaching math within schools and communities, while also integrating math with Indigenous knowledge with the Math Catcher Outreach Program.

The program aims to promote mathematics by encouraging elementary and high school students to recognize how math is used in everyday life and how it forms the basis for many of our daily decisions and lifelong choices, with a strong emphasis on Indigenous education.

The Pi Day event, organized by Tla'amin elder and ayajuthem native speaker Betty Wilson, Tla’amin Department of Education director Sophie Call and Jungić, gathered community members to take part in programming that blended Tla'amin culture and math.

Jungić is retiring this year, marking this final visit to the community. 

Wilson said there should be more recognition that Indigenous cultures around the world used math and geometry in a wide variety of ways, including basket weaving, building fish weirs and traps, and canoe building, and those are just a few examples.

Jungić said he has been working on many projects in collaboration with Tla'amin, including one that involves the mathematical and computer modelling of traditional stone-fish traps, a way of harvesting fish that Indigenous people use across the Pacific Northwest region, including Tla'amin.

"I created these stories called Small Number stories, a series of animated films, available in English, French and some Indigenous languages," said Jungić. "Thanks to Betty, we have seven or eight stories in ayajuthem."

According to Jungić, the learning resources are free and available to students, with a purpose to communicate cultural, engineering, environmental and mathematical ideas.

"The hope is that connecting Indigenous culture with mathematics in their own language, to recognize themselves, will give us a chance to build and connect young people with math," said Jungić, adding that many people are scared of math or think they can't do math, because of negative experiences they had when they were young.

"We cannot escape it, we need mathematics," said Jungić. "Math is everywhere. In shapes for example, mathematics gives us a necessary set of skills for life."

Wilson wants more young people and families to see the value of learning math.

"I went to this workshop based in Australia [via Zoom] that had Indigenous people from different countries participate," said Wilson. "I kept hearing from [participants] that there was no recognition [from dominant European cultures] of Indigenous cultures' use of mathematics."

Wilson said after the conference she realized she wasn't alone in feeling left out and unrecognized in the world of mathematics, but believes programs such as math catchers can enlighten people about Indigenous use of geometry and math.

"This [Pi Day] event highlights the integration of Indigenous ways of knowing into the core math curriculum," added Wilson.  

To access Math Catcher resources go to, sfu.ca/mathcatcher.html, or, to watch Adventures of Small Number videos, go to sfu.ca/~vjungic/Small-Number/book-1.html.

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