Ermineskin elder Wilton Littlechild told an ominous story about the death of a language to those attending the recent United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples.
At the end of spring, Canada’s National Observer published a five-part series on the incredible odds stacked against First Nation students in northern Ontario who must travel hundreds of kilometres away from their families to get a high school education. This is what we found.
Throughout colonization, attending school has meant a loss of language, cultural practices and connection to the land. But what if school could also mean a return to the language, culture and territory that has been stripped away?