On September 20, Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre’s (Resource Centre) Digital Learning Environment (DLE) team visited Kinonjeoshtegon First Nation. They attended Lawrence Sinclair Memorial School, where teachers and students were eager for a day of hands-on learning with technology. This visit helped ensure that students and staff learned to use technology tools that can change the classroom experience.

The atmosphere at Lawrence Sinclair Memorial School was lively as teachers and students explored the digital tools. The DLE team introduced them to CONNECT, a platform that brings together many educational apps, and QuickCard, a helpful resource that makes accessing these apps easy. QuickCard benefits students, especially younger ones, who can log in without having to remember usernames and passwords. This makes logging in much more straightforward and hassle-free.

For full story, https://mfnerc.org/communications-hub/magazine-2-2/

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Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre’s (Resource Centre) five First Nations language teams have officially launched an exciting new chapter with the Canadian Heritage Foundational Language Acquisition Video Series. This initiative, supported by Canadian Heritage’s Indigenous Languages Program, brings together skilled instructional resource developers and dedicated First Nations language translators from the Languages and Cultures Department. Their shared mission is to revitalize Manitoba’s traditional languages.

The project focuses on creating foundational language videos for all five of Manitoba’s First Nations languages: Ininīmowin (Cree), Dakota Iapi, Denesuline Yatiye, Anishinaabemowin (Ojibwe), and Anisininimowin (Ojibwe-Cree). Each language holds unique stories, customs, and perspectives, embodying the rich cultural heritage of its First Nations. By producing these educational videos, staff seek to revive the languages of First Nations in Manitoba with accessible resources that reach a broad audience.

For the full story, The Centre Digital Edition – Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre Inc.

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From November 4 to 6, 2024, students from Pinaymootang had the exciting opportunity to participate in drone flight training and licencing tests. Rockford (Rocky) McKay, a dedicated science facilitator with Manitoba First Nations School System (MFNSS), visited several schools within the system to deliver this hands-on training. Despite the chilly weather, students were enthusiastic as they unpacked the drones, conducted safety checks, and took to the skies shortly after.

This innovative program is significantly enhancing educational opportunities for students. Over the past few months, Rocky has travelled to MFNSS schools, providing drone flight training and certification for students and staff. In total, 25 participants from Lawrence Sinclair Memorial School (Kinonjeoshtegon First Nation), Lake St. Martin School (Lake St. Martin First Nation), Sergeant Tommy Prince School (Brokenhead Ojibway First Nation), and Pinaymootang School (Pinaymootang First Nation) have successfully achieved their certification.

For full story, The Centre Digital Edition – Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre Inc.

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I love to Read Calendars

February is I Love to Read Month, and what better way to celebrate than with our special I Love to Read calendars available in 6 First Nations languages!

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Manitoba Residential Schools: Resource Bundles for Nursery to Grade  12 supports educators, parents, Elders, Knowledge Keepers, and First Nations members in telling students the truth about residential schools in Manitoba in a good way. Educators can introduce students to the history of residential schools, stories of survivors, recent actions toward reconciliation, and ways of healing from residential school experiences and historical intergenerational trauma, supported by Elders and Knowledge Keepers.

The bundles contain classroom resources such as background information, lesson plans, blackline masters, videos, maps, timelines, and planning templates to help learners understand why assimilation was imposed and how residential schools impacted First Nations identity, languages, and cultures in Manitoba. The stories, songs, and activities are grouped into age- and grade-appropriate sections, all inspired by the experiences and traditions of the five First Nations Peoples in Manitoba: Anishinaabe, Anisininewak, Dakota, Denesuline, and Ininiwak.

The resource is organized into four bundles or collections of resources wrapped together to support learning and teaching about residential schools:
Moccasin Bundle – Purpose and History
Our Stories Bundle – Voices of Truth
Orange Shirt Bundle – Reconciliation (Actions)
Heart Bundle – Our Healing Journey

A companion resource, Our Healing Journey Handbook, seeks to further support students, residential school survivors, their families, school staff, and others as they navigate through the history and teachings found in these re-source bundles.

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The Cree Weather Poster, available in both Early Years and Later Years versions, is a valuable educational resource designed to help students engage with weather concepts through the lens of Cree culture and language. It offers an immersive way to explore weather patterns while supporting language revitalization efforts in Indigenous communities. A perfect tool for classrooms, the Cree Weather Poster fosters both language learning and cultural connection in a dynamic and visually engaging format.

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MFNERC Heritage Fair

The Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre (MFNERC) is excited to invite each school to participate in the 2025 Heritage Fair! This inspiring event celebrates the rich histories, languages, and cultures of First Nations students while providing them with a platform to share their voices and stories.

Dates: March 12- 13, 2025

Call for Project Submissions

Each school is encouraged to submit two Heritage Fair projects, with each project created by up to two students. We recommend submitting:

  • One project from middle years students
  • One project from senior years students

These “project boards” will represent students’ exploration of their First Nation’s unique history, treaty stories, current issues, language, and Traditional Knowledge.

Event Highlights

  • Non-competitive format: Students will participate in a Gallery Walk, where they will practice public speaking, share primary sources from their research, and answer questions about their Nation’s history, languages, and cultures.
  • Student recognition: Each student will receive a certificate and a special gift as a token of appreciation for their hard work.
  • Exclusive tours: Students will enjoy a guided tour and presentation at the Treaty Agowiidiwinan Centre and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights at The Forks.

How to Register

To participate, schools must complete the registration form and the attached audio/visual release form for each student attending. Submit all forms by January 31, 2025, to:

Whitney Lynxleg
Administrative Assistant
Email: whitneyl@mfnerc.com
Fax: 204-477-4314

Don’t miss this unique opportunity for students to share and celebrate their Nation’s stories and traditions. We look forward to seeing the incredible projects that highlight the strength and resilience of First Nations cultures!

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The Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre is excited to host the annual MFNERC Schools
Science Fair 2025 on March 12-13, 2025, at the Victoria Inn, 1808 Wellington Ave, Winnipeg Manitoba.
Students from Grades 4-12 from MFNERC and MFNSS affiliated schools are encouraged to participate in this two-day science fair, with a maximum of 10 projects per school.

Please be advised that MFNERC will not be responsible for travel and accommodations for this event. Interested schools will need to complete the attached Registration Form by January 20, 2025.

Please obtain and submit your completed forms by contacting:
Nicole Fontaine
nicolef@mfnerc.com

Should you have any questions regarding any of the above, please contact the Science Facilitator assigned to your school at 1-204-594-1290 or email:

Alberto Mansilla albertom@mfnerc.com
Carrie Fontaine carrief@mfnerc.com
Jennifer Garson jenniferg@mfnerc.com
Rockford McKay rockfordm@mfnerc.com (MFNSS Schools)

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The Imagination Library and the Resource Centre start a new chapter

The Manitoba First Nation Education Resource Centre (the Resource Centre) has proudly partnered with the Dollywood Foundation to ensure new readers on 38 First Nations will receive books as part of Dolly’s book gifting program.  The Dolly Parton Imagination Library puts books, each month, into the hands of children throughout Canada, USA, and Australia. Dolly’s philosophy? If you can read, you can do anything, dream anything and be anything. 

Families can register their children, from birth to age four, who are then provided with the free, brand-new books through Canada Post.  The books are delivered in the child’s name, until they graduate from the Program when they turn five.

The presence of books in the home supports the child’s academic, social and emotional development. The Resource Centre has always believed children’s learning capacity is enhanced when their experiences are nurtured in a caring, safe environment. Children can develop a strong bond with their parents or caregivers by snuggling up and reading together, even if it only for 15 minutes a day.  The Resource Centre hopes to include books that depict First Nations’ cultures, within the next year, as an add-on to the Imagination Library.

February is “I Love to Read” month and its focus is the importance of reading and all its many benefits.  Reading can make a huge difference in a child’s academic success, speech & language development and confidence.  Both Dolly and the Resource Centre want to inspire children and families to love books and reading! 

Register here.

Please include the parent’s name, mailing address, the child’s name and birthdate (all info is considered strictly confidential and is not shared). If you would like a greeting from Dolly on your child’s birthdate, and a congratulatory message when they turn five, please include your email address as well.

For more info, please contact Karyn Davis, Imagination Library Coordinator.

Text info to (204) 249-0236

Call info to (204) 594-1290 Ext. 2344

Email info to imaginationlibrary@mfnerc.com

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Another First Nation has joined the ranks of Manitoba’s Indigenous-run school board as the education hub in charge of it marks 25 years of operations.

The Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre celebrated its anniversary and ongoing efforts to revitalize Indigenous languages and cultures at a conference in Winnipeg last week.

Members of Kinonjeoshtegon First Nation — the 12th First Nation to enter into a partnership with the centre to deliver education — were among the hundreds in attendance.

Principal Adeline Travers said the change has resulted in more funding per student, a fully-stocked computer lab, and new desks and maintenance equipment.

“We’re a small school so every penny counts,” said the leader of a kindergarten-to-Grade 10 school located on the west shore of Lake Winnipeg, roughly 250 kilometres north of the Manitoba capital.

“It’s important that we have our own people to teach our own values, our own languages, our own histories and our own teachings,” said Charles Cochrane, executive director of the centre that just wrapped up a two-day event looking ahead to its next quarter century of programming.

Those beliefs were behind the 1998 launch of the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre and more recently, the creation of a school division supported by the umbrella organization’s consultants and clinicians.

Shared frustrations related to limited funding and resources led independent education directors — including Cochrane, who oversaw a band-run school in Ebb and Flow First Nation in the 1990s — to pitch a formal support network.

The centre has become a go-to hub for First Nations education with curricular resources and professional development opportunities.

What began as a small operation with a handful of staff now boasts a workforce of more than 250 people, the majority of whom are Indigenous.

Cochrane said, historically, it has been incredibly difficult to find and pay for experts willing to travel and provide training and services to First Nations students and keep their teachers in-the-know about best practices.

The education centre, which runs on federal funding and proposal-based grants, has streamlined that process and ensured greater access to specialists and program facilitators, he noted.

Chief Tony Travers said the promise of clinical resources prompted Kinonjeoshtegon to enter the school system for 2024-25.

More than 80 clinicians, including occupational therapists, speech language pathologists and school psychologists, are dispatched to rural and remote schools via the centre throughout the year.

“Ten years ago, there were no clinical services other than the odd speech language pathologist. Now, we have pretty well all the services that provincial schools are able to access,” Cochrane said, noting the recent addition of a clinical department at the centre.

The making of Wapaska Virtual Collegiate and Manitoba First Nations School System are highlights from the organization’s short history.

Starting in 2009, centre consultants began developing the former to give teenagers more flexibility to obtain credits in their home communities. The grade 9-12 alternative school was up and running with accreditation in place within five years.

The First Nations-built school board — the first of its kind in Canada — officially launched in 2017-18, following a pilot involving Roseau River Anishinaabe First Nation, Ottawa and the Manitoba First Nations Education Resource Centre.

The trio deemed the initial collaboration, during which the centre created a strategic plan for Roseau River’s formerly independent school, a success. An education governance agreement was reached in 2016.

The school board currently includes Bloodvein, Brokenhead, Dakota Plains, Dakota Tipi, Fox Lake, Keeseekoowenin, Lake Manitoba, Lake St. Martin, Pinaymootang, Roseau River, York Factory and Kinonjeoshtegon.

The announcement of a 13th partnership is imminent, Cochrane said, adding he’s waiting on the community’s leaders to publicize the move.

The centre helps its member schools plan budgets, establish policies and deliver programs. An additional 29 First Nations access its general education services.

A breakdown of graduation data was not made available, but communications director Michael Hutchinson said figures have been “steadily rising” since the school system’s inception.

“We have done a lot of work in expanding our own language and cultural programming in schools. Land-based education is big,” Cochrane said.

Sessions during the Oct. 3-4 Circle of Knowledge conference covered topics ranging from beginner Ojibwa to the Dakota 13 moon calendar.

The executive director said promoting outdoor education will remain a priority, as well as undertaking efforts to retain professionals and lobbying for more say in teacher certification.

Asked about what’s in store for the future of the centre, he said: “We want our own council or a body to certify teachers.”

Maggie Macintosh
Education reporter, Winnipeg Free Press.

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