The Rainy River District School Board finalized its latest action plan on December 2nd. The plan focuses on diving deeper into the implementation of First Nations, Metis, and Inuit perspectives across subjects and learning strands. Moreover, Heather Campbell, Director of Education for the Rainy River District School Board, said this wouldn’t be possible without the ongoing involvement of their community partners.
“We’ve had an action plan for many, many years. It stems from the requirement of the Ministry of Education framework for First Nation Metis and Inuit education that in providing different programs, different supports and different instructional approaches, we always consult and work to co-create a board Action Plan with our First Nations, Metis and Inuit Education Advisory Committee,” said Campbell. “we look every year at what’s working well. We try to align with priorities, not only from the Ministry of Education but especially our strategic plan. So, we try to look at the data. We look at lots of different things. We also look at what’s possible too.”
Not only does the plan look at what is attainable, but what the RRDSB can do well.
“I always say we go deep rather than go wide. We tend, in education sometimes, to go wide, to try to do lots of things,” said Campbell. “But, let’s do something really, really well. If you look over the years, people who have been involved will see a lot of repeating. But, you’ll see programs keep coming up, and that’s because we are going further into that program.”
This is why the RRDSB is putting greater emphasis on First Nations, Metis, and Inuit perspectives across learning strands.
“Whether it’s the Anishinaabemodaa strategy in partnership with the Seven Generations Education Institute and the First Nation communities in our area, we try to work across departments and programs,” said Campbell. “One of the focuses within OYA, Ontario Youth Apprenticeship Program, is to have more female students or female-identified students, and more First Nations, Metis and Inuit students entering or experiencing the trade in high school.
“We’re working to support that program and merge the two as a focus, rather than work in isolation or silos, and there are four big areas that the framework speaks to.
“These four areas are supporting students, supporting educators, engagement, and awareness. The partnerships are really big keys,” said Campbell. “We tried to break out, based on the feedback from the committee, the focus on Metis history, culture and perspective, knowing that we have a very strong and vibrant Metis community, both in Fort Frances and West and also in Atikokan.”
One way the Rainy River District School Board is diving deeper into First Nations, Metis and Inuit knowledge is the continuation of the Anishinaabemodaa app.
“Anishinaabemodaa is now it’s our eighth year, and every year we’re trying to go a bit further. Seven Generations Education Institute is the recipient of a Rideau Hall Foundation grant to develop teacher pathways, which was always the ultimate intention of Anishinaabemodaa was to build speakers, build teachers, build pathways to, you know, for using the Ojibwe language or Anishinaabemowin, both in education and the cross-sector.”
Another way Campbell thinks the School Board is building pathways is by understanding metis governance locally and provincially.
“Every community that we work with is unique,” said Campbell. “There is a guide from the Metis Nation of Ontario, a guide for Metis governance. What was really clear from Senator Brian Gouliquer at that meeting on Monday is that it doesn’t cover or represent Metis governance from Northwestern Ontario within this jurisdiction. So, it’s important that we share that guide, but we also have a senator or a knowledge keeper, visiting classrooms when that’s being taught, or following up with the class after it’s been taught or shared so that they get a perspective locally as well as across the province.”
Campbell said this is to recognize each Indigenous community as unique.
“[It’s] to recognize the uniqueness of every Indigenous community that we have, not only here, but across Canada.”
In previous years the Rainy River District School Board has had students attend a PowWow, but they aim to dive deeper this year by implementing it in science, math, English and history.
“Those [PowWows] are really important celebrations,” said Campbell, “but let’s go further.”
In this case, going further is finding a way not just to represent colonial governance’s perspectives, but Indigenous governance.
“We’re not just looking at our colonial governments, but we’re looking at Indigenous governance,” said Campbell. “In Grade eight, we have the residential school unit that we develop locally with elders and various knowledge keepers.
“It reflects the history of residential schooling, but it also reflects the fact we had a residential school right here in Fort Frances and one to our north in Kenora. So, understanding those perspectives and localizing that. Then we go to grade 11, and now we replace grade 11 English courses with understanding contemporary Indigenous voices, which is a substitute within the curriculum. So you can use that First Nations Metis and Inuit course to replace another English course. We’ve done that with grade 11 English. That means every student is exposed to First Nations Metis and Inuit, writers and poets.”
For Campbell, this is helps students to see themselves in what they are learning, something she recalls as a rarity when she was in school.
“We’re trying to celebrate the strength and the resources that are out there and that voice. Because from when I was going to school, I look back and all the authors I learned were white and older men, very few female writers, and very few racialized writers, and it’s really important that students see themselves in what they’re learning.”
