Indigenous Education

 Manitoba Education and Early Childhood Learning is pleased to announce that the Indigenous Inclusion Directorate has been renamed Indigenous Excellence.

The newly named Indigenous Excellence division will continue to provide leadership and coordination for departmental initiatives including Indigenous ELCC, education, and training.

The First Nations University, Indigenous Continuing Education Centre (ICEC), is proud to offer an exclusive tutorial introducing the National Centre for Collaboration in Indigenous Education (NCCIE) website and its on-line Teaching Resource Centre for Indigenous and non-Indigenous educators.

To register for this free tutorial, visit the Indigenous Continued Education Centre website.

Bungi (also called Bungee, Bungie, Bungay, Bangay, or the Red River Dialect) is a dialect of English with substratal influence from Scottish English, the Orcadian dialect of Scots, Norn, Scottish Gaelic, French, Cree, and Ojibwe (Saulteaux). It is spoken by the Scottish Red River Métis in present-day Manitoba.

UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages classifies Bungi as a critically endangered language. Audio recordings can have unique historical value and MSBA is honoured to have this collection of recordings available on its YouTube channel.

The Red River Saga was written and narrated by Frank J. Walters, Petersfield, Manitoba, April 1967.

The Manitoba government launched new educational resources and guidelines to support Indigenous education and truth and reconciliation across Manitoba schools. The new resources, entitled Mamàhtawisiwin: The Wonder We Are Born - Tools for Reflection, Planning and Reporting, provide school divisions with a framework to identify priority areas for funding and policy development, as well as professional learning for educators and school staff. It also provides a structure for planning and reporting on progress towards the building of Indigenous-inclusive school communities.

The Manitoba Métis Federation and Manitoba Education have announced they have signed a memorandum of understanding that commits both governments to developing a shared, long-term, distinctions-based education strategy to improve the educational outcomes of Red River Métis students in Manitoba.

The Red River Métis Education Working Group will invite participation of key education stakeholders including the Indigenous Inclusion Directorate and its advisory council, the Manitoba School Boards Association, the Manitoba Association of School Superintendents and The Manitoba Teachers’ Society.

As the first of its kind in Canada, the Collaborative Blueprint on Indigenous Education was first ratified in late 2015 by each public university and college in Manitoba alongside of MSBA, serving as representative of the public K-12 Education system. This Blueprint provided 11 broad commitments for each partner to sign on, by way of advancing and improving Indigenous education across the educational spectrum.

On April 14, the partners re-affirmed their commitment to the Blueprint given the five year term of each cycle. Over the years, partners have been joined by many ex-officio and observer entities including government, independent schools and Indigenous organizations. This latest iteration of the Blueprint includes formalization of both the Manitoba Government and Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre (which provides curricular and programming support to several First Nations schools) included as partners under the framework.

The Indigenous Education Policy Framework is intended to support educators by helping them incorporate Indigenous pedagogy, languages, and culture into their teaching and practices, and deepen their understanding and progress along a path of truth and reconciliation in their schools and communities. To view the full document, visit Mamàhtawisiwin: The Wonder We Are Born With.

This amendment (memo only; actual acknowledgements not included) would serve to implement formal, universal, and consistent acknowledgement and recognition for Treaty Lands and Indigenous Territories as part of the opening exercises that all schools perform at the commencement of each school day. The benefits from such an amendment would be numerous and would respond to several calls to action under the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.