Today in Waswanipi!

Today's visit to Waswanipi was great! It was a beautiful sunny day to walk around a beautiful community.

There are so many things I learned from my visit today, but what really struck me is the fact that Waswanipi Eenouch really care about education! People care about results and accountability, they care about student success and about ensuring that we all collaborate to support our schools. We discussed strengthening collaborations between entities in order to better support our students in innovative ways. We also discussed ways of supporting the teachers in our schools so that they can continue to support our students.

I heard from many people about the importance of Cree culture and langauge, and our ability to use our school system to support Cree culture and language in an authentic way, while we still maintain high academic standards for those subjects that are required for graduation.

I was able to visit the Sabtuan Vocational Training

Centre and speak with dedicated staff and with students about their dedication to their programs and to obtaining qualifications in their chosen professions. These young peple are extremely motivated! They are motivated by the plans for their own futures, for the futures of their children and the futures of their communties.

I am grateful for the way in which people shared their thoughts and visions with me and for the really great discussions throughout the day. Thanks to those who allowed me to interrupt their work days, their lunch hours (!), and to come into their home. I am also grateful to Paul Gull for shepherding me around for the day!

On to Mistissini tomorrow!