Educational Resources

Source: Ontario Ministry of Education

Summary: In January 2007, the government launched Ontario’s new Aboriginal Education Strategy to support learning and achievement for Aboriginal students and to raise awareness about First Nation, Métis, and Inuit peoples’ cultures, histories, and perspectives in the schools.

The Aboriginal Education Strategy was launched with the release of Ontario First Nation, Métis, and Inuit Education Policy Framework, 2007. The framework is the foundation for delivering quality education to all First Nation, Métis, and Inuit students who attend provincially funded elementary and secondary schools in Ontario.

This report provides an overview of the steps the ministry, school boards, schools, and community partners have taken to implement the strategies outlined in the framework and to support First Nation, Métis, and Inuit student success.

This report is not intended to be an evaluation or an assessment of individual boards. Rather, it offers an update on the progress made to date, and shares recommendations on ways in which all partners can work together effectively to reach every student, build capacity, and raise awareness.

Source: Alaska Native Science Commission

Summary: This site provides background information on the role and activities of the Alaska Native Science Commission as it relates to science research policies and practices impacting Alaska Native people.

The site is designed to serve as a resource for compiling and exchanging information related to Alaska Native knowledge systems and ways of knowing. It has been established to assist Native people, government agencies, educators and the general public in gaining access to the knowledge base that Alaska Natives have acquired through cumulative experience over millennia.

Source: Library and Archives Canada
Focus: Resources designed primarily to provide information resources to the Native American community and secondarily to the general community.

Summary: The information on this site is organized, insofar as possible, to make it useful to the Native American community and the education community. It is an online index of information sources that is made available to allow people to research their areas of interest. It contains a vast collection of current and archival information and resources from Canada and the USA and Mexico. The information presented here is the product of much cooperative work. The site is updated on a regular basis as more individuals make submissions to the site.

Focus: Teachers, Educators and Education Policymakers

Summary: In 2004, CMEC declared Aboriginal education to be a priority issue deserving targeted activity. This commitment was reaffirmed in Learn Canada 2020, the framework that the ministers are using to enhance Canada’s educational systems, in which Aboriginal education was identified as one of the specific activity areas.

In establishing Aboriginal education as a priority, ministers have acknowledged the need to find new and varied ways of working together and in partnership with Aboriginal leaders and communities and with the federal government to improve outcomes for Aboriginal students at all levels of education. The objective in Learn Canada 2020 presents the primary objective: eliminate the gap in academic achievement and graduation rates between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal students by bringing together key stakeholders including ministers of education and Aboriginal affairs, national and regional organizations, and federal government representatives to discuss issues related to Aboriginal education. CMEC has two activities linked to Aboriginal education:

• Aboriginal Education Action Plan and
• Summit on Aboriginal Education

Source: British Columbia Ministry of Education Skills and Training, Field Services and Aboriginal Education Team
Focus: All Elementary and Secondary grade levels

Summary: The Planning Guide and Framework includes best-practice examples from recent Aboriginal learning resources.

The Guide provides a brief overview of the process of creating a learning resource. It contains advice based on the findings and practice of other, experienced resource developers, and it provides tips on effective organization, research, writing, and production.

The Framework also provides some working materials that community researchers and writers can use to create their resource, including an open ended planning grid that will be helpful to any committee deciding what to include in the material from both historic and cultural perspectives.