May 18, 2018—On a sunny and beautiful May morning last week, hundreds gathered at Bear Park to witness the signing of the Maskwacîs Education Schools Commission agreement. The event started with a pipe ceremony, and all four nation Chiefs were on hand to sign the document, as well as Minister of Indigenous Services Jane Philpott, MESC Acting Superintendent Brian Wildcat, and MESC Board Chairperson Nina Makinaw. The agreement is another step toward “uphold(ing) the spirit and intent of the Treaty Right to Education.” The agreement will focus on the students from Maskwacis and will ensure that they have an education of the “highest… standard, based on community priorities and Maskwacîs Cree beliefs.”
The agreement offers “greater access to resources and services” for all 11 schools, which include: Ehpewapahk Alternate School, Ermineskin Kindergarten, Ermineskin Jr./Sr. High School, Ermineskin Elementary, Grace Marie Swampy Memorial Primary School, Kisipatnahk School, Maskwacis Outreach, Meskanahk Ka Nipa Wit School, Mimiw Sakahikan School, Nip-isihkopahk Elementary School, and Nipisihkopahk Secondary School.
Each of the Chiefs present was able to make a short speech to commemorate the occasion, with additional speeches from Minister Jane Philpott, and MESC representatives Nina Mackinaw and Brian Wildcat.
As the event occurred at Bear Park in Neyaskweyahk, Chief Craig Makinaw was asked to speak first. “Today is a new day for awasisak as we always look (to) the future and this is for them,” stated Chief Makinaw.
Next to speak was Chief Bull of Louis Bull, who commended the work of all involved and said “I thank Brian, and all our experts, our board members… we directed them to do all the research to
our experts, our board members… we directed them to do all the research to make sure that we have everything covered. And it’s our own people, our own lawyers, our own technicians. Yes, we did use some from the outside, but majority are our own people. So that gives me the confidence that we can do things ourselves.”
Chief Standing-on-the-Road of Montana spoke next, stating, “our past ancestors, they had foreseen this: change happening for us.” He also went on to quote Murray Sinclair: “Education is what got us here and education is what will get us out,” and started to discuss the community’s next step; “there’s still a lot of work that has to be done when we’re thinking about our culture, our languages, and all the teachers that we have to create, to learn our language and our ways and customs… for the curriculum.”
Chief Saddleback of Samson said “I’ve always believed we only had one job as parents… and that’s to make our kids better than us”, and that his “dream is that our people will leave the community and be strong in both worlds: the moniyawak world, with respect to education, and in our own: our own knowledge, our own culture, our own beliefs, our own language, our own identities. It means something in the bigger society of Canada. And that’s my vision.”
AFN Chief Perry Bellegarde spoke about the spirit and intent of the treaties in regards to education, which he noted includes not just K-12, but also Post-secondary and technical vocational skills training. “We have a long way to go. We didn’t ask for residential school, we didn’t ask for that genocide… walk in both worlds… You balance them… We need our children to be proud of being Nehiyawak People, Dene People, Mohawk People… We’re still here.”
Treaty 6 Chief Wilton Littlechild, Minister of Indigenous Services Jane Philpott and MESC acting superintendant Brian Wildcat also spoke. The event concluded with a lunch for all attendees.
For more information regarding MESC, please visit their website at: http://www.maskwacised.ca
Ermineskin Newsletter 