Ministers and leaders discuss indigenous education at symposium | Globalnews.ca

Education ministers and indigenous leaders from across Canada met this week at the Canadian First Nations University (FNUniv) in Regina to discuss indigenous education. The Canadian Ministers of Education Council (CMEC) symposium focused on strategic priorities for improving the indigenous curriculum in schools over the next four years.

Ministers and education leaders heard from indigenous experts, elders, academics and students at the two-day meeting. The ministers adopted a framework for the CMEC 2023-27 Indigenous Education Plan to promote reconciliation in schools.

“This is an ongoing process. CMEC has been working on this particular project in terms of working to advance First Nations education for many years,” said Gordon Wyant, CMEC President and Minister for Higher Education. “This is just a continued advancement of that interest from TRC Call To Action #63, (a call) for us to have an annual review of what we’re doing to bring people from all over the country together.”

The symposium provided educators and ministers with an opportunity to learn first-hand from leaders of indigenous post-secondary institutions about the decolonization of education and why it is important to have these discussions at the national level.

“Indigenizing education means that we are elevating indigenous peoples, our languages, our traditions, our cultures,” said Jacqueline Ottmann, president of FNUniv. “So with that, the indigenous peoples have to be involved in the decision-making tables and in many cases we have to lead those processes… decolonizing education is everyone’s responsibility.”

Wyant said that Indigenizing Education means ensuring that people understand why education systems need to be decolonized.

“We all have a collective responsibility to understand the past, to understand what the Treaties mean, to understand what the consequences of residential schools are and the historical damage that has been done to First Nations people in this province and across the country. “, said. he said she. “At the end of the day, if we all … have that common understanding, that gives us that platform to move forward.”

Hundreds of people attended the symposium in person and virtually on July 5 and 6, 2022.

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Reconciliation Curriculum