Indigenous Top Ten
January 23, 2019
Canada shifts policy in effort to narrow Indigenous education funding gap
The Canadian government is changing how it allocates nearly $2B in annual funding for First Nations education in an effort to close the gap between on-reserve students and those enrolled in provincial school systems, reports CBC. While provincial governments manage education off-reserve, the federal government funds on-reserve education. Indigenous Services Minister Seamus O'Regan said this week that the new model was developed after an extensive engagement process involving several organizations, including the Assembly of First Nations, and that one of its core goals is to provide predictable year-over-year funding in line with provincial per-student amounts. Under the new approach, First Nations schools will also receive $1.5K per student every year towards language and cultural programs, while schools will offer full kindergarten for on-reserve kids aged four and five. The funding will be within the jurisdiction and control of chiefs and band councils. CBC | APTN News | Canada (National)
YTA, YK ratify three-year collective agreement
The Yukon Teachers’ Association and the Government of Yukon have ratified a new three-year collective agreement. The revised agreement—covering approximately 900 principals, vice-principals, teachers, Aboriginal language teachers, educational assistants, and remedial tutors—has been in negotiations since May 2018. It calls for yearly salary increases of 6.7% over three years with an additional increase for qualified EAs and Tutors, a biweekly pay system that will last the full calendar year, increased priority for the hiring process for Yukon First Nations teachers, and increasing community allowances for school staff working in the community. “The new agreement is good news for Yukon families, students and educators,” said YTA President Sue Harding. “It represents significant progress in the modernization of Yukon education labour standards, which will be key to attracting qualified educators to our territory.” NationTalk (YK)
JHR releases report on access to ON post-secondary for Indigenous youth
Journalists for Human Rights has released Emerging Voices, a report that investigates access to postsecondary access for Indigenous youth in Ontario as well as the role of journalism schools in implementing TRC Call to Action 86. “The Emerging Voices report by Journalists for Human Rights prompts a lot of important questions which I hope leads to discussions and action when it comes to improving access to post-secondary education in journalism for Indigenous youth in this province,” said report contributor Willow Fiddler. The study seeks to better understand the pathways of opportunity and/or barriers facing Indigenous students interested in studying journalism or media at the post-secondary level in ON. It also examines what journalism and media programs in the province are doing to develop and implement curriculum on coverage of Indigenous stories. NationTalk| Emerging Voices (report) (ON)
All AB secondary schools to receive new Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada
Every secondary school in Alberta will receive a copy of a new Canadian Geographic Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada. CBC reports that the resource is being touted as a comprehensive education tool written from the perspective of Indigenous Canadians. Published last year, the atlas is separated into four books, each covering a single broad topic: Truth and Reconciliation, First Nations, Inuit and Métis. “I grew up in Fort Chipewyan … and I didn't learn much about [my history],” said Marlene Poitras, Alberta regional chief for the Assembly of First Nations. “It was only when I went to post-secondary and into nursing that I started learning [more]. That was very important for me to understand. In school, I didn't get that information.” The province is distributing 1,600 of the atlas sets, with a free online version available for home-school students and the general public. Charlene Bearhead, who served as the education adviser on the project, says that the Royal Canadian Geographical Society heard from more than 200 Indigenous sources to create the books. CBC | NationTalk | Star Edmonton (AB)
SFU, Indigenous committee sign partnership agreement
Simon Fraser University and the Surrey Urban Indigenous Leadership Committee have signed a partnership agreement to promote and support the academic, research, and community engagement needs and interests of the region’s Indigenous peoples. “The signing of the Collaborative Relationship Agreement is a testament to our collective desire to make Surrey a better place for our Indigenous community,” said SUILC Co-chair Keenan McCarthy, who is also a student at SFU. SFU states that its Surrey campus administrators have spent the last year meeting with SUILC to determine how the university can better serve this population. “SFU is honoured to be entering into this collaboration agreement with SUILC,” said SFU President Andrew Petter. “By working together, we can make an important contribution to advancing the process of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Surrey.” The agreement signing followed a traditional welcome by Kevin Kelly and Michael Kelly Gabriel from the Kwantlen First Nation, and guests were able to participate in a drumming café and Skookum Lab. SFU (BC)
Humber supports reconciliation with cultural land markers
Indigenous gathering places and cultural markers are part of a new genre of architecture in Canada, writes Alex Bozikovic, highlighting a trio of projects at Humber College. “We are in a state of cultural reclamation, rediscovering culture, rediscovering language and art,” said Winnipeg-based Anishinaabe architect Ryan Gorrie, who has worked on the Humber project. Bozikovic notes that the Humber projects reflect an effort by the institution to pursue recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which include sustained awareness of Indigenous land claims. “As Indigenous people, we’ve been taught that our language is written on the land,” said Shelley Charles, Humber’s dean of Indigenous Education and Engagement, adding that the college’s set of Indigenous Cultural Markers “is a contemporary response to that, really creating a land acknowledgment in physical form.” Globe and Mail(Subscription required) | Humber (ON)
SFU, Indigenous committee sign partnership agreement
Simon Fraser University and the Surrey Urban Indigenous Leadership Committee have signed a partnership agreement to promote and support the academic, research, and community engagement needs and interests of the region’s Indigenous peoples. “The signing of the Collaborative Relationship Agreement is a testament to our collective desire to make Surrey a better place for our Indigenous community,” said SUILC Co-chair Keenan McCarthy, who is also a student at SFU. SFU states that its Surrey campus administrators have spent the last year meeting with SUILC to determine how the university can better serve this population. “SFU is honoured to be entering into this collaboration agreement with SUILC,” said SFU President Andrew Petter. “By working together, we can make an important contribution to advancing the process of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Surrey.” The agreement signing followed a traditional welcome by Kevin Kelly and Michael Kelly Gabriel from the Kwantlen First Nation, and guests were able to participate in a drumming café and Skookum Lab. SFU (BC)
Inuit alumni call for new names for schools in Nunatsiavut
Caitlyn Baikie and Jessica Winters are pressing to see new names given to Nunatsiavut schools, which are currently named after missionaries, in order to better reflect their Inuit students. “It will change how young Inuit today feel about themselves and in their communities,” said Baikie. “To have a name on that school that's reflective of who you are, it's something that you can be very proud of.” CBC reports that schools act as community hubs in Nunatsiavut that host community feasts, concerns, and sporting events. The schools, including JC Erhardt Memorial School and BL Morrison School, are overseen by the Newfoundland and Labrador English School District, and Baikie stated that she hopes Nunatsiavut leaders will bring their case forward to the NL Government. CBC reports that some members of the community have pushed back on the suggestion. CBC|CBC (NL)
McMaster researchers collaborate with Six Nations knowledge holders
Global Water Futures, a seven-year research program out of the University of Saskatchewan, is funding a collaboration between McMaster University researchers and traditional knowledge holders on Six Nations of the Grand River. A release states that the collaboration will focus on water-related issues of training, wellness and resilience, and governance. “We want to develop an enduring legacy of Indigenous knowledge harmonization with western science through the co-creation of sustainable water management pathways for the community,” said Dawn Martin-Hill, the Project Lead and Paul R MacPherson Chair in Indigenous Studies at McMaster. NationTalk (ON)
UBCO instructor, husband encourage community to ask “everything you wanted to know about Indians”
An Indigenous professor working in the nursing department at the University of British Columbia's Okanagan campus has teamed up with her husband to encourage people across BC’s Okanagan region to learn “everything you wanted to know about Indians but were afraid to ask.” UBCO adjunct professors Pamela Barnes and her husband, Wilfred 'Grouse' Barnes, will conduct a series of workshops this March that discuss Sylix culture and tackle misconceptions about Indigenous issues. “The misconceptions are endless. There's 500 years of misunderstanding and misinformation,” said Barnes, a member of the Westbank First Nation. Those who attend the workshops will be able to submit questions anonymously and have them answered during the workshop. Barnes says the workshop will attempt to give some understanding of the Indigenous worldview prior to settler contact, the current state of affairs for Indigenous peoples, and a way forward. CBC (BC)
Level launches education, mentorship program in Thunder Bay to change lives through law
A new education and mentorship program launched by Canadian charity Level in Thunder Bay will enable elementary school students between the ages of 11 and 14 to learn more about law and the justice system. The program will see grade six and seven students from Kingsway Park Public School take part in the Indigenous Youth Outreach Program. A volunteer--a student from Lakehead University Faculty of Law--will run a variety of workshops on the Canadian criminal justice system. Since the Canadian criminal justice system is a colonial system, explained Level's Director of Programs Lisa Del Col, the students will also take part in Indigenous legal traditions and teachings. "We do a mock sentencing circle, we do smudging and we incorporate the eagle feather into the curriculum as well," said Del Col. Volunteers will need to approach the program with the mindset of being an ally, she explained, "because they're going to learn just as much from the youth, as the youth are going to learn from them." CBC (ON)
