Communities celebrate new schools, gymnasiums, dedicated spaces

Several school boards and Indigenous communities across Canada have put out celebratory notices about new schools and facilities. Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick celebrated the grand opening of the Elsipogtog First Nation Community School. The school has a range of services on hand, including speech and language services and educational psychology, and will offer full Mi’kmaw language immersion to younger students. In Ontario, Biigtigong Nishnaabeg First Nation and the Kingfisher Lake First Nation each celebrated the ground-breaking of new elementary schools in their communities. The new schools will resolve crowding and maintenance issues in the communities’ old schools. The Nisga’a Board of Education in British Columbia shared that construction is underway on a new gymnasium at Gitwinksihlkw Elementary. The gym will be used by sports teams, dance groups, educational conferences, the Wilp Wilxo’oskwhl Nisga’a Institute, and other local organizations. Postsecondary institutions such as Lambton College, Dalhousie University, and St Francis Xavier University also recently announced new spaces on campus for Indigenous students, such as a dedicated community room and a new medicine garden.