CBC Indigenous – September 27, 2017
The rate remains significantly lower than those for non-Indigenous students at Regina’s public schools. Their graduation rate jumped by four percentage points, from 81 per cent in 2015-2016 to 85 percentin 2016-2017. The overall provincial graduation rate was 76.5 per cent in 2016-2017. All of the aforementioned rates are for students who graduated within the standard three-year period from Grade 10 to 12.
Nbwaach’ding (Visiting) and Anishinaabe Knowledge on Manitoulin Island
Anishinabek New – September 27, 2017
The young people wanted to know more. This, explained respected Elder Lewis Debassige of M’Chigeeng First Nation, initiated the cultural reawakening of the 1970s on Manitoulin Island. Cultural arts, language, andAnishinaabewin education grew, as did a number of specialized organizations, including what has become the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation (OCF). Today, Curator Anong Beam shared, the OCF acts as a gathering place, a source of information, and resource centre for practitioners of, and those desiring to know more about, Anishinaabe art, history, archaeology, language, storytelling, and spirituality. An Indigenous space, it is also a community-building space.
Preserve Indigenous Residential Schools as Sites of Conscience, Mps Urged
CBC Indigenous – September 26, 2017
“That’s why we hang onto concentration camps. That’s why when you visit Cambodia, the Killing Fields are preserved,” Moran told CBC News. “It’s essential for us, as humanity, not only that we celebrate who we are when we’re at our best but also we never forget who we have been when we’ve been at our worst.”
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/indigenous-residential-schools-sites-ry-moran-1.4306944
Why Culture is Key to Indigenous Mental Health
TVO – September 26, 2017
If you live in the northern part of the province in a remote or isolated community, or in a rural community where you might be living in poverty and don’t have access to transportation, getting to a provincially funded service for mental health can be challenging. When we’re working with populations where the first language is an Indigenous language, it’s always best if people have the opportunity to fully express themselves in their own language. But if the service provider doesn’t have that capacity, then it creates a significant barrier.
‘There is Equitable Funding’: Bennett Says More Teachers, New Model Needed for First Nations Education
CBC Indigenous – September 23, 2017
“I think that the way it is funded now, it’s difficult to make those comparisons because of the way that it is has been book-kept. But there is equitable funding, it’s just that the needs may be even greater,” Bennett said. “We believe it is [equitable funding], but we still need the analysis as to how we do better,” she added. Indigenous programming has been hampered by a two per cent cap on annual spending increases since the 1990s, while the school-age First Nations population has risen 29 per cent since 1997. Last year, those inequities were criticized by Canada’s parliamentary budget officer, who said federal funding for First Nations education was $665 million less than provincial education systems.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/bennett-teachers-northern-first-nations-1.4304169
Denise Baxter New Lakehead U Vice Provost Aboriginal Initiatives
Net News Ledger – September 23, 2017
Baxter was the Principal of Adult and Continuing Education at the Lakehead District School Board. She has worked in multiple contexts, including public school boards, the Ministry of Education, Lakehead University, and First Nations private schools. She is completing her PhD in Equity and Indigenous Education at York University. “Denise Baxter is joining Lakehead at a very important time,” said Dr. Brian Stevenson, Lakehead’s President and Vice-Chancellor. “Her experience with Indigenous youth and education will play an integral role in Lakehead’s future as we continue to grow and attract more Indigenous students.”
Turtle Island Walk at University of Windsor Recognizes First Nations
CBC Indigenous – September 22, 2017
Univeristy of Windsor President Alan Wildeman said he wants Turtle Island Walk to be a significant landmark for First Nations people. “As a public institution we had an opportunity to do something really significant and make a big statement about it,” he said. “We worked with our First Nation colleagues and friends to make sure we had it done right in a way that worked for them.” http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/turtle-island-walk-at-university-of-windsor-recognizes-first-nations-1.4301502
Parents Seeking Expanded Indigenous Language Education at TDSB
The Toronto Star – September 22, 2017
Goulet, a Cree mother of two, is advocating the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) with other parents to expand Indigenous language programming beyond the current offerings. Goulet’s father spoke Cree as a first language “and within the span of one generation, between him and me,” it was lost. “And to me, this is hugely important and a gap I’ve been grappling with my whole life,” Goulet said. “To me, the offering of an Indigenous language would be incredible. It would mean a lot to me and my family to be able to have our children learn Cree.”
How I Am Learning to Include Indigenous Knowledge in the Classroom
National Post – September 22, 2017
As summertime began to wane a few weeks back, I began my usual reflections about prepping for my university teaching responsibilities. Getting back into the classroom with my graduate students always carries a sense of excitement. Teaching is a deeply personal act for most of us. We bring who we are and what we care about, encountering students who have weighty hopes and dreams. It’s an awesome responsibility. But this year is different from others. There is a new duty felt by teachers at all levels of our education system to make good on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) calls to action, creating both a critically important opportunity and an unease about our preparedness.
With Help From We, Students Embark on Road to Reconciliation
The Globe and Mail – September 26, 2017
“Some people of Anishinaabe background stuck together. I had to choose who I would be with,” the Trent University education faculty graduate says of her school years, in which she spent trying to fit in two worlds. But entering Parry Sound High School (PSHS) once again in 2008 to be the Indigenous program teacher, Ms. Hupfield was overwhelmed with emotion. “I wanted to do and say the right things. I wanted to be a bridge to walk in both worlds,” the mother of five children says. Before her high-school job, Ms. Hupfield taught in the same elementary school she had attended as a child. On her first day at the school, a young girl, with big brown eyes and long dark hair, looked up at her and said, “Are you an Indian? And you’re a teacher. Wow!”
Memorial University Embracing ‘Decolonization’ By Acknowledging Indigenous Territory at Start of Events
CBC Indigenous – September 25, 2017
Every town in the province has some Aboriginal history, Andersen said, and acknowledging it is a start to improving relationships. “I think it’s important that we put that into our consciousness and remember that,” she said. “It’s one step and a first step we can all take.” It is a step Ian Sutherland, dean of the music school, was happy to take. Sutherland read the statement — known as the land acknowledgement — at an event on campus last week. “It’s an extremely important part we play in recognizing that relationship and the nature that relationship has had in the past as we strive to forge reconciliation and truth,” he told Weekend AM‘s Heather Barrett.
Dancing and Educating at the Same Time
Anishinabek News – September 23, 2017
Celebrations continued on Sept. 16 at Nipissing University for the 25thanniversary of the institution. Guided hikes were offered on the 20km of trails; the documentary The Nipissing Warriors was shown; and the Fine Arts campus opened the doors for an exhibit of work by students and professors. Nipissing University Elder Carol Guppy had many welcoming smiles to give visitors as she helped them make Tobacco Ties in the Enji giigdoyang Centre. In the Nipissing dialect of Anishnaabemwin, Enji giigdoyang means where we come to meet, discuss and talk about things.
http://anishinabeknews.ca/2017/09/23/dancing-and-educating-at-the-same-time/
