February 21, 2024

The University of Ottawa will be launching the Nidjìnawendàganag Living and Learning Community this fall. One floor of an existing UOttawa residence will be transformed into a space where Indigenous students can live, attend community events, and access knowledge keepers and Elders. The UOttawa alumni association has provided $500K over five years to cover the residence and meal plan costs for Indigenous students; an additional $10K each year will support cultural activities within the community. “By eliminating some of the stressors, we hope that it supports students and improves their learning outcomes and they feel safe and happy to be around other Indigenous learners,” said UOttawa Indigenous community engagement officer Darren Sutherland.

The Government of Manitoba has provided the Indigenous Youth Mentorship Program (IYMP) with $545K to support its expansion into 24 new sites—15 northern and rural areas and nine urban sites—over the next three years. IYMP fosters leadership and training skills in university and high school students who manage after-school programs and mentor younger students. “This is an incredible program that has real impact in young Indigenous people’s lives,” said University of Manitoba Acting Director of Indigenous Engagement and Communications Heather McRae. “In the last year alone, a thousand students have connected programs across the province. The Manitoba government contribution is making it possible to expand into new communities and schools which will have a lasting impact.”

School boards in Nova Scotia, Ontario, Manitoba, and British Columbia are looking at strategies they can use to increase staff diversity. In NS, regional education centres are seeking to diversify their staff by recruiting teachers from Indigenous and other racialized communities and encouraging students to see education as a career option. The Ottawa-Carleton District School Board is working toward hiring Algonquin and Inuktitut language specialists to give students the opportunity to learn their own languages. Global News reports that the Winnipeg Indigenous Executive Circle is calling for improved Indigenous teacher representation after a report showed that Winnipeg schools need 1,500 more Indigenous teachers to adequately reflect the Indigenous student population. In response to a report showing that the graduation rate for Indigenous students had dropped from 57% to 50%, Surrey Schools is identifying ways to increase the number of Indigenous students who graduate by 15-20% by 2028.

In a recent journal article published in Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, Sarah Elaine Eaton (University of Calgary) discusses the theoretical and practical considerations for decolonizing academic integrity. Eaton considers how Indigenous knowledge has been used in ways that have led to injustice and calls for traditional Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing to be preserved and protected. The author then outlines broad strategies for decolonizing academic integrity that focus on four key principles: Centering marginalized voices and perspectives in knowledge production; recognizing interconnectedness and contextualization; addressing historic oppression in academic integrity; and knowledge caretaking. She concludes with a call for institutions and educators to prioritize the decolonization of academic integrity to build a more just and equitable future.

McGill University, McMaster University, and First Nations University have announced new programs that will touch on Indigenous knowledge and culture. McGill and Mamu Tshishkutamashutau Innu Education have partnered to launch a two-year teaching certificate for Sheshatshiu and Mushua Innu. The program—which will not require a high school diploma—will cover the fundamentals of instruction and assessment and provide lessons on Innu-aimun and Innu culture. McMaster announced the launch of a master’s program in Indigenous Studies to give undergraduate students the opportunity to continue their studies at a higher level. The MA will prepare students to be leaders in Indigenous-led, community-based research, knowledge creation, and policy. In Saskatchewan, University of Regina Dean of Arts Dr Shannon Dea mentioned to CTV News that First Nations University of Canada is launching a new Indigenous journalism and communication arts program.

Students from Barrhead Composite High School recently took part in a teepee raising ceremony led by Robin Berard, who is originally from Bigstone Cree Nation. At the event, students worked together to put up a teepee and learned about the sacred teachings that are represented by components of the teepee. “They really did a good job, for their first time putting up a teepee,” said Berard. Among the lessons she shared, Berard explained how the teepee gets its strength from the three poles that form the structure’s frame—which represent the grandfathers, the grandmothers, and the child—and compared the strength of women need in the family unit to the teepee’s ability to continue standing in inclement weather. “You stand strong,” Berard said to the women who helped raise the teepee. “Don’t let anyone take that power away from you.”

Two postsecondary institutions—the University of Lethbridge and Lambton College—have announced new collaborations and projects with their Indigenous community partners. The ULethbridge and the Kainai Nation’s Blood Tribe Department of Health have embarked on an initiative named Sokkinakia’pi—“all that has to do with healing or health”—to build on existing Kainai health services by identifying the resources and opportunities they will need over the next decade. Lambton and Aamjiwnaang First Nation have initiated a project focused on biodiversity and the preservation of traditional knowledge. Through this project, Aamjiwnaang will be able to revitalize their land and create pollinator or food and medicine gardens or potentially establish an Indigenous Plant Nursery. It could also serve as a blueprint for addressing biodiversity challenges in other First Nations communities in Ontario. “This project represents a vital step towards reclaiming and revitalizing our land,” said Aamjiwnaang First Nation Chief Chris Plain. “It’s an opportunity to ensure our cultural practices endure and benefit future generations.”

At Hammarskjold High School in Thunder Bay, an Indigenous skilled trades training program is producing modular homes for a Matawa First Nations community. Students learn how to read blueprints, operate power tools, and identify building materials while they put together the modular homes. The first home completed by the school will be shipped to the community this summer; the second home is currently under construction. “If the trades are a career that they want to pursue, we’ll be there for them,” said Matawa First Nations CEO David Paul Achneepineskum. “What we find is when the students learn from these kinds of experience, they go back to their communities and they become leaders in terms of getting involved and getting things done, which is what the communities need.”

Karima Manji has pleaded guilty in an Inuit identity fraud case that was first reported on in March 2023. An agreed statement of facts entered into court says that Manji completed enrolment forms in 2016 that stated that her daughters, Nadya and Amira, were Inuit children adopted from an Iqaluit woman. Both applications were approved and enrolment cards were issued for Manji’s daughters, who reportedly were unaware that they were fraudulent. At a court hearing in Iqaluit, Manji pleaded guilty to one count of fraud over $5K; the charges against Nadya and Amira have been dropped. Nunavut Tunngavik stated that it will seek to recoup the over-$158K that was provided by the Kakivak Association to the sisters for their education-related expenses.

The General Education Diploma (GED) program will be replaced by the Canadian Adult Education Credential (CAEC) in the spring of 2024. The GED was developed by Pearson in 2002 and has been used in Canada as a high school equivalency test. However, Pearson recently notified Canadian jurisdictions that they can “no longer support the test due to outdated technology.” The CAEC is being collaboratively developed by the provinces and territories that have opted in to this credential. It will cover the same subject areas as the GED, but will include new Canadian content, including Indigenous perspectives. “Adult education allows Manitobans from all walks of life to access equal opportunities in our growing economy,” said MB Advanced Education and Training Minister Renée Cable. “This is why our government acted swiftly to introduce this new credential as a modern replacement to the GED, so adult education students are able to learn without interruption.”