TB News Watch – December 13, 2017
“It is unconscionable that unscrupulous legal tactics are forcing these victims to be retraumatized. If the government’s actions matched their words, they would support survivors of the residential school experience instead of bullying them into silence.”
Senate Examines Anishinabek Education Act
APTN National News – December 12, 2017
A historic piece of federal legislation known as Bill C-61, the Anishinabek Education Act is making its way through the Senate before becoming law.
http://aptnnews.ca/2017/12/12/senate-examines-anishinabek-education-act/
Workshop Helps Windsor-Essex Teachers Learn from Indigenous People
CBC News – December 12, 2017
Helping Indigenous people in Canada move from “silenced” to “safe” in the education system was one focus of the two-day Allies In Reconciliation workshop attended by 100 people representing schools from across the Greater Essex County District School Board.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/indigenous-workshop-windsor-1.4445053
Canadian Art and Design University Giving Hiring Priority to ‘Racialized and Indigenous Persons’
The Washington Free Beacon – December 12, 2017
Applicants must have a “demonstrated understanding of the ways in which equity, Indigenous knowledge, and sustainability are fundamental to the quality of student experience, to innovative scholarship, and to art and design production,” according to the listing. The university adds that it “will work in tandem with our Aboriginal Education Council, our Indigenous Student Association and with all faculty and staff across the university to support the process to decolonize the institution.”
‘Right in Their own Backyard’: New Google Earth Project Maps Canada’s Residential Schools
CBC News – December 12, 2017
Voyager is a collection of map-based stories written by Google Earth partners that’s updated weekly. The residentialschools story project, which launched Monday, is a partnership between the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation, based at the University of Manitoba, and Canadian Geographic Education. “In this project, you can actually see residential schools, you can see where they were, and that helps make it that much more concrete.… This is not the distant past,” said Ry Moran, director at NCTR.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/google-earth-residental-schools-1.4445403
How a Teddy Bear Received an Honorary Degree and why his Work for Indigenous Children Still Isn’t Done
CBC News – December 12, 2017
For more than 10 years now, a teddy bear from Prince George, B.C., has been a symbol of the need to focus on children rather than politics, when it comes to looking after Indigenous youth in Canada. And according to child welfare advocates, Spirit Bear’s work is far from done.
Survivor Wants the World to Know Her Residential School Story – but First, She Must Get Permission
The Globe and Mail – December 12, 2017
“Everybody has to know what took place in that school,” Ms. Shisheesh said on Tuesday. “This is why I am not afraid, even though it is hurting me as much as it was when I was there. It feels that I am just reliving everything. But I want to do this. I want to be strong for my brothers and sisters who were there.” n the early 2000s, Ms. Shisheesh was the lead plaintiff in a suit involving 156 students who were physically or sexually abused at the institution. That ended in a financial settlement in 2004 – two years before the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) was signed by lawyers for former students, the Assembly of First Nations, the federal government and the churches that ran the schools.
Northern Schools Lagging Behind
The Sudbury Star – December 12, 2017
A First Nations school outside Orillia has shown remarkable results, repeatedly beating the average for all schools in Ontario, Cowley said. A school in a tiny town near North Bay — “if you yawn as you’re driving through, you’ll miss it” — manages to rank highly despite a larger than average proportion of students with special needs, Cowley said. But numbers don’t lie, and the regional gaps persist.
http://www.thesudburystar.com/2017/12/12/northern-schools-lagging-behind-study
City Hall Teams up with Indigenous Education Sector
Saskatoon StarPhoenix – December 12, 2017
City council unanimously endorsed negotiating a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies (SIIT) and the Gabriel Dumont Institute of Native Studies and Applied Research at Monday’s governance and priorities committee meeting. The city is trying to improve the Indigenous proportion of its workforce; closer ties with the people educating potential future job applicants is expected to help.
http://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/city-hall-teams-up-with-indigenous-education-sector
Public Art Board Chair Wants Indigenous Members
Saskatoon StarPhoenix – December 11, 2017
The committee’s chair, Jeremy Morgan, wrote to city council to point out that the seven-member volunteer committee includes no Indigenous people. Morgan said that situation could undermine the city’s efforts to implement the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action. “The inclusion of two or more Indigenous members on the committee will be a clear affirmation of council’s commitment to (the Truth and Reconciliation Commission) and will give added legitimacy to the public art program,” Morgan wrote.
http://thestarphoenix.com/news/local-news/public-art-board-chair-wants-indigenous-members
Edmonton Schools Battle to Reverse Decline in Indigenous Language Knowledge
Edmonton Journal – December 11, 2017
Recently released census data shows that 4,820 First Nations, Métis and Inuit people in Edmonton have some knowledge of an Indigenous language — the majority of whom speak Cree. Sixty-three per cent of those spoke an Indigenous language as their mother tongue. Another 165 non-Aboriginal Edmonton residents told census takers they know an Indigenous language.
Mosaic Project at Edmonton School a Reminder of Canada’s Indigenous Past
CBC News – December 11, 2017
Students and parents at St. Rose Catholic Junior High School helped visual arts educator Theodora Harasymiw complete the project in three and a half weeks. The mosaic means a lot to the Indigenous students in the west Edmonton school, said Principal Barton Leibel. “We have very few indigenous students in the school … but to those five students, this project has meant the world to them,” he said.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-st-rose-catholic-mosaic-1.4443667
Video by Morell High School Students Explores History of Residential Schools
Yahoo News – December 11, 2017
In their Global Issues class, the students created a video that will be presented at the P.E.I. Human Rights Commission’s Human Rights Day event on Monday. The video focuses on the history of residential schools — a topic the students have been learning about in class. “I didn’t know much about it, so actually getting to hear the stories was really eye opening,” said student Rachell Bradley.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/video-morell-high-school-students-110000196.html
University of Regina Honoured with Eagle Staff for Efforts Toward Reconciliation
CBC Indigenous – December 11, 2017
The eagle staff was created by Elder Roy Bison and his son Teddy, who is a student in the Faculty of Media, Art and Performance at the school. “This staff, we made it because all my children have come to the university here,” said Roy Bison, who lives on Ocean Man First Nation. “My wife got her three degrees, her master’s here, and I also was in a program here,” he said.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/university-of-regina-eagle-staff-1.4443721
Regina Activists Push for Davin School Name Change as Survey Closes
CBC News – December 11, 2017
Davin was a journalist and politician and is known for writing an influential report in 1879 that led to the creation of Canada’s residential school system. The report has come to be known as the Davin Report. In November, Regina Public Schools passed a motion to begin online consultations to gather feedback to see if the school’s name should be changed.
Anishinabek Education Law Endorsed in Ottawa
The Peterborough Examiner – December 8, 2017
The goal of Bill C-61 is to give effect to the largest education self-government agreement in Canada. It marks a major step out from under the Indian Act for 23 Anishinabek First Nations toward greater self-determination and improved education outcomes for students.
http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/2017/12/08/anishinabek-education-law-endorsed-in-ottawa
Anishinabek Education System Closer to Reality
Bay Today – December 7, 2017
The House of Commons has endorsed legislation that clears the way for nearly two dozen Anishinabek Nation communities, including Nipissing First Nation west of North Bay, to operate their own education system. Bill C-61 marks a major step out from under the Indian Act for 23 Anishinabek First Nations toward greater self-determination and improved education outcomes for students says a news release from MP Anthony Rota.
https://www.baytoday.ca/local-news/anishinabek-education-system-closer-to-reality-785257
