WIEC report calls for changes in the Winnipeg education system to improve Indigenous representation

A new report from the Winnipeg Indigenous Executive Circle calls for the development of new programs, strategies, and supports to improve equity in the Winnipeg school system. “We know that currently what we’re doing isn’t working,” said report author Heather McCormick, “and that we really need to have different pathways for our community to move into the faculties of education to become teachers.” The State of Equity in Education Report for 2021 indicates that, in order to have a proportionate number of Indigenous teachers to the number of Indigenous students, school divisions must hire at least 600 more teachers in Winnipeg. Based on those numbers and the current educational pipeline, McCormick noted that it would take 20 years for Winnipeg to reach that goal. The report highlights the progress that school divisions, university faculties of education, and the province have made over the past year on a variety of equity initiatives and identifies opportunities for them to improve. These opportunities for improvement are summarized in eight calls to action directed at policy makers, the postsecondary systems, and the K-12 sector to address the underrepresentation of Indigenous teachers and leaders in the education sector.