Indigenous Top Ten
August 8, 2018
KTEI receives $5M for Anishinabek education
The Kenjgewin Teg Education Institute has received nearly $5M from the Government of Canada to support an innovative new project titled Mshiigaade Miikan - The Path is Clearing. The project will see KTEI partner with the Union of Ontario Indians and Sault College to strengthen First Nation peoples’ employability opportunities in key apprenticeship sectors such as skilled trades, hospitality, tourism, and teacher education. “Kenjgewin Teg is embarking and preparing for a chartered path in Anishinabek education and training that will help to increase the employability and labour market readiness for 270 Anishinaabek youth and adults,” said KTEI Executive Director Stephanie Roy. “The Mshiigaade Miikan project will test an innovative and collaborative approach that reconceptualises a new way of honouring, creating, sharing and teaching from a worldview that is truly Indigenous education or more specifically, Anishinaabek education.” Canada | Manitoulin Expositor
CVSD to use ancient BC settlement as outdoor history classroom
The Ye’yumnuts village near Duncan, British Columbia will become a living Indigenous history lesson as local school districts plan to use the meadow as a place-based classroom. The Cowichan Valley School District reportedly plans to develop field trips and projects with the elders of the Cowichan Tribes to bring a sense of time, place, and reality to Indigenous relations classes. “It’s a much more enabling, open-ended curriculum now which allows for place-based learning like this, which is just unbelievably authentic,” said CVSD Superintendent Rod Allen. “Kids buy into that. It’s not library work. It’s out in the community and it’s work that matters.” University of Victoria Indigenous culture anthropology Professor Brian Thom stated that the site is over 2,000 years old and that the Cowichan are estimated to have lived there for 600 years before using the area as a burial ground.
NIC launches Aboriginal College Pathway, Nuu-chah-nulth language courses
North Island College has announced the launch of the Aboriginal College Pathway this fall. The program will include skills development, skills upgrading, and Nuu-chah-nulth language courses. The pathway will be tuition-free, and Alberni Valley News reports that the language courses are open to anyone interested in improving their understanding of the language and culture. “There is a lot of interest in learning the language,” said NIC Elder-in-Residence Jane Jones. “Our hope is that this course will allow more students to explore the language and the connection to culture.” Many of the courses reportedly meet entry requirements for business, health, trades, university transfer programs, and other programs. The pathway will also offer individualized support to help students transition to college and succeed in university transfer and career programs.
KDSB, Windigo First Nations Council enter MOU to support youth
The Kenora District Services Board and Windigo First Nations Council have announced a Memorandum of Understanding to better support youth education. The two organizations will collaborate on strengthening education opportunities and supports for remote First Nation youth and families while students pursue education away from home. They will also work together to develop new housing units in order to provide student safety, coordinated supportive services for students, and housing and supports for families. “The relationship between Windigo First Nations Council and Kenora District Services Board addresses the many challenges that First Nation youth face; of the highest importance, it ensures student safety, academic excellence and student well-being,” says Frank McKay, Council Chair and Chief Executive Officer of Windigo First Nations Council. Kenora Online
U of T MD Indigenous elective helps medical students better serve patients
The University of Toronto’s MD program offers Indigenous medical education in the MD program, which enables its students to immerse themselves in Indigenous culture to better serve their future patients. TVO highlights the benefits of the Urban Indigenous Health elective, launched in 2014 as the first of its kind in Canada, which allows students to learn about Indigenous health, cultural safety, and countering racism and oppression through community interactions and events. “My main fear ... was that I would seem like an intruder — someone who was there to learn from the Indigenous community without having anything to offer in return,” says former U of T medical student Lindsay Herzog. “I joined in on a beading group and, over time, felt less like I was studying the Indigenous community and more like I was trying to become a part of it in some ways.” Herzog said that her experiences in the course have changed the way she approaches Indigenous patients. TVO
Youth camps introduce Indigenous youth to life at Canadian postsecondary institutions
Postsecondary institutions across Canada have offered summer camps intended to introduce Indigenous youth to life in postsecondary education. The Mini-University program offered by Western University’s Indigenous Services gave youth a taste of university as they engaged in interactive learning on-campus with professors, university students, and community members; learn about culture by talking with elders; and spend time in research laboratories and sleeping over in dorm rooms. At McGill University, the Eagle Spirit Science Futures Camp allowed Indigenous Youth to develop their leadership capacity, learn about each other's cultures and traditions, and learn more about science. Southern Alberta Institute of Technology was visited by youth from the Meskanahk Ka Nipa Wit School, Montana First Nations who were participating in their school's Youth Education and Career Pathways (YECP) program. CBC (Western) | SAIT | McGill | Kamloops This Week (TRU)
OCADU, ROM launch results of Uncover/Recover collaboration
The ROM and OCAD University have launched Uncover/Recover,a collaborative web-based project. The collaboration began a year ago and allowed OCADU students in the Indigenous Visual Culture program to interact with and respond to Indigenous artifacts from the ROM’s archives. The eight students each chose an artifact and interpreted it through media such as video, animation, beading, material arts, and music and sound. The results of the collaboration are interactive and will be accessible to anyone through a website. OCADU
NWT students set sail on Arctic, Antarctic expeditions
Eight students from the Northwest Territories took part in this year's Students on Ice program, which takes youth on educational Arctic and Antarctic expeditions. CBC states that 40% of the participants are Indigenous students from Canada, Greenland, or Alaska. Students spend their days hiking across the tundra, learning from Inuit leaders in remote communities, and taking part in educational workshops on-board that focus on everything from the Inuktitut language to climate change. “This expedition will be the beginning of a lifelong journey, and a very important step for youth to gain the inspiration, education and motivation needed to become leaders in their communities and around the world,” said expedition leader Geoff Green. CBC
AlgomaU unveils Reclamation of Shingwauk Hall
Algoma University has opened what it calls the first major, permanent residential school survivor-driven exhibition in a former residential school building. The “Reclaiming Shingwauk Hall” exhibition explores over 110 years of history of the Shingqauk and Wawanosh Indian Residential schools. It also marks the beginning of a multi-phase, comprehensive exhibition plan that will see the former residential school transformed into a world-class commemoration and public education site. “We have been discussing the creation of this space for a long time,” said AlgomaU Chancellor Shirley Horn, who also is a founding member of the Children of Shingqauk Alumni Association. “This new exhibition helps reflect the whole story of those who lived through the residential school era and helps fellow Survivors move toward healing and reconciliation. It is our story acknowledged and preserved for future generations – our contribution to Canada’s history.” AlgomaU
YTC moves to former MacEwan West Campus
Yellowhead Tribal College has announced that it will be an anchor tenant at the Orange Hub, the former MacEwan West Campus. A YTC release states that the move will allow the college to accommodate its increased enrolments, expand its programming, and provide easier access for transit users and people with disabilities. The college added that it will benefit from being housed in a building that is purpose-built for education. All programming from Fall 2018 onwards will be offered at the new facility. YTC
