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Northern Manitoba Mining Association: Freda Lapine

The Northern Manitoba Mining Academy provides access to its world-class facilities for field-based undergraduate courses, as well as graduate students and researchers doing field work. Full sample preparation and comfortable on-site accommodations are provided for a minimal cost to students and scientists in all natural and environmental sciences. The program integrates life and essential skills […]

The Northern Manitoba Mining Academy provides access to its world-class facilities for field-based undergraduate courses, as well as graduate students and researchers doing field work. Full sample preparation and comfortable on-site accommodations are provided for a minimal cost to students and scientists in all natural and environmental sciences. The program integrates life and essential skills components into conventional wilderness safety training to develop the foundational skills that are critical to successful employment. Graduates are expected to secure entry-level employment in mining and environmental industries including assisting in early mining exploration activities. Other graduates will advance to formal prospector training. “Our organization has a vision of building community capacity through the wilderness safety and intensive prospector training programs,” said Chief Jim Tobacco, Mosakahiken Cree Nation, and president, First Nation Mining Economic Development Inc. “It will help to boost creativity to find the next big mine within our ancestral lands.” The province is partnering with First Nations Mining Economic Development Inc., University College of the North, Northern Manitoba Mining Academy and Workplace Education Manitoba to deliver wilderness safety training for up to 40 individuals from four participating communities: God’s Lake Narrows First Nation, Opaskwayak Cree Nation, Marcel Colomb Cree Nation and Mosakahiken Cree Nation.  http://www.miningacademy.ca/#welcome

Dene Kede

Dene Kede encompasses the language, culture and the way in which five Dene nations view the world. In K to 6, themes are used to reinforce and teach the four concepts central to Dene perspective: the Spiritual World, the Land, the Self and the People, while grades 7 to 9 employ a modular approach. The […]

Dene Kede encompasses the language, culture and the way in which five Dene nations view the world. In K to 6, themes are used to reinforce and teach the four concepts central to Dene perspective: the Spiritual World, the Land, the Self and the People, while grades 7 to 9 employ a modular approach. The purpose of this curriculum is to present children with the experiences, knowledge, skills and attitudes which will guide them toward becoming capable citizens.  https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/en/services/education-et-programmes-detude-de-la-maternelle-la-12e-annee/aboriginal-languages

Spirit Lines Educational Tool Kit

Spirit Lines is an educational tool kit developed jointly between the Manitoba Museum and First Nations communities in Northern Manitoba. It consists of three photo books, two text books, and a recording of 20 oral histories. The toolkit has been used in all classes from Kindergarten to Grade XII. Also, it has been used at […]

Spirit Lines is an educational tool kit developed jointly between the Manitoba Museum and First Nations communities in Northern Manitoba. It consists of three photo books, two text books, and a recording of 20 oral histories. The toolkit has been used in all classes from Kindergarten to Grade XII. Also, it has been used at community events. David describes the amazement of people hearing stories told by their parents and grandparents.  https://manitobamuseum.ca/main/manitoba-museum-reaches-out-to-northern-communities/

Know Who You Are – Traditional Knowledge Holder Darlene Cardinal

Traditional Knowledge Holder uses her experience in the classrooms of the Grande Prairie Public School system with an aim to help students know who they are and where they belong. This Traditional Knowledge Holder teaches directly in the public school system classrooms of Grande Prairie. She works to share cultural teachings to students and to […]

Traditional Knowledge Holder uses her experience in the classrooms of the Grande Prairie Public School system with an aim to help students know who they are and where they belong. This Traditional Knowledge Holder teaches directly in the public school system classrooms of Grande Prairie. She works to share cultural teachings to students and to bring a cultural perspective to support the helpers in assigning meaning to what is happening in a child’s world both in and out of the classroom. Advocacy of children and the culture and the role culture must play in their lives both in and out of the classroom is an urgent piece of her work at all times.

Social Media as a Language Teaching Tool

Solomon Ratt uses Facebook to engage students and community members in learning Cree.

Solomon Ratt, Cree Language Professor at First Nations University of Canada, discusses how his Cree Language Facebook group has helped students and community members learn Cree. A few years ago, Solomon began engaging his Cree language student’s, outside of regular class time, by creating Cree language videos for them to learn and practice. He uploads Cree language videos to the Facebook group, and now the group has grown from students to community members, and eventually to global learners. A community formed within the Facebook group and now more people than ever are logging on and engaging in learning Cree. Solomon hopes that alongside technological developments the Cree language will be revitalized and reclaimed.

Banuts’ukuih: Indigenous-led Experiential Learning at the University of Northern British Columbia

The Banuts’ukuih (meaning, canoe coming to shore in Lheidli) project is an example of the experiential learning opportunities led by Indigenous instructors in partnership with the University of Northern British Columbia. Other experiential courses have involved creating a pit house, decolonization through land stewardship, and moose-hide tanning. These courses offer Indigenous and non-Indigenous post secondary […]

The Banuts’ukuih (meaning, canoe coming to shore in Lheidli) project is an example of the experiential learning opportunities led by Indigenous instructors in partnership with the University of Northern British Columbia. Other experiential courses have involved creating a pit house, decolonization through land stewardship, and moose-hide tanning. These courses offer Indigenous and non-Indigenous post secondary students the opportunity to learn about Indigenous cultures through participation in cultural activities – such as carving a cottonwood canoe. In addition, these courses allow for the transmission of oral traditions – such as the Lheidli T’enneh story of ‘Astas and the Salmon. https://www.unbc.ca/experiential-learning

Chief Whitecap School – An Alliance with Saskatoon Public Schools

The Principal and Counsellor from Chief Whitecap School and the Superintendent from Saskatoon Public Schools discuss the importance of the alliance that brought about the school.

In partnership between Whitecap Dakota First Nation and Saskatoon Public Schools, Chief Whitecap School embodies the vision of provincially mandated curriculum taught in a good way and in alignment with Dakota First Nations culture, language, and traditions. With funding from Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, Chief Whitecap School is the designated school for Whitecap Dakota First Nation students in Grade 5-8. The funding helps to reduce the education and graduation gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students which has given opportunities for continued Dakota cultural learning and language acquisition. This partnership is committed to reconciliation as it works towards the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action. The success of the school is determined within the relationships of the partners, teachers, students, and community.

Neeched Up Games

Neeched Up Games plays a unique role in educating students and teachers about Indigenous history and culture in Saskatchewan.

Owner of the social enterprise, Neeched Up Games, Janelle Pewapsconias, leads youth leadership and empowerment workshops, creates apps, and promotes role playing games that teach students and adults the history of Indigenous people in Canada. Pewapsconias hopes to bridge knowledge gaps between Canadians and Indigenous people in order to better understand Indigenous history, decolonization, identity, culture, empowerment, and sense of belonging. The Neeched Up subscription pack is available to teachers to both support their learning and to help them teach about treaties and reconciliation. To learn more about Neeched Up Games and the 2-4 hour workshops visit: https://neechedupgames.wordpress.com.

Contemporary Indigenous Art at the Wanuskewin Heritage Park Gallery

Felicia Gay is the Gallery Curator at Wanuskewin Heritage Park and she discusses contemporary Indigenous art, arts programming, and curatorship within the interpretive center.

The Wanuskewin Gallery focuses on contemporary Indigenous art with content accessible to people five years old and older. As an interpretive center, Wanuskewin interprets the culture of the people on the northern plains through archeology, ethnography, traditional ceremony, and food. Felicia Gay believes that Indigenous education involves Indigenous history and contemporary worldviews. The stories and narratives of Indigenous people need to be disseminated to the wider public in order for Indigenous people to be better understood. The objective of the gallery is to relay the Indigenous worldview through contemporary narratives inclusive of history, post-colonialism, and Indigenous superheroes – trickster, etc. Though Indigenous visual culture has focused on traditional art, the gallery introduces people to contemporary Indigenous art created by people in Saskatchewan, with a large number of artists coming from Saskatoon.

The Summer Program in Property and Customary Law at the Indigenous Law Centre at the University of Saskatchewan

Program Coordinator, Kathleen Makela and Director, Larry Chartrand discuss the Indigenous Law Centre’s Summer Program.

The Indigenous Law Centre at the University of Saskatchewan offers The Summer Program in Property and Customary Law, which is an eight-week graduate program offered to Indigenous law students from across Canada. The program covers Property Law and Customary Law which count towards their first year credits and makes their workload during the first semester of law school a bit more manageable. Specifically, students learn about property law and skills to be successful in law school, such as: legal writing, legal analysis, how to brief on cases, and legal memos. Since 1973, The Summer Program has been successful in increasing the number of Indigenous people studying and practising law in Canada.

Since this story was created much has changed at the Indigenous Law Centre at the University of Saskatchewan. The Summer Program in Property and Customary Law no longer exists and has evolved into a new certificate program. For more information and for lists of publications please visit the Indigenous Law Centre.