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    • 'Exciting time' for first ever cohort of high school graduates from Toronto Indigenous school

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    TORONTO -

    The very first cohort of high school graduates from K芒pap芒mahchakw锚w 鈥 Wandering Spirit School in Toronto are celebrating the impact of their Indigenous-led education.

    "It is just an exciting time to be transitioning from high school to university, especially coming from a very Indigenous-based school,鈥 said graduating student Ella Laforme to 愛污传媒.

    LaForme and her peers make up the very first high schools graduates at K芒pa芒mahchakw锚w, where Ojibwe language and Indigenous cultures, values and traditions -- particularly from the Anishinaabe perspective -- are 鈥渋nterwoven鈥 through the curriculum, which is taught by Indigenous educators, elders, and knowledge keepers.

    The school was founded in 1977 by Pauline Shirt and Vern Harper who were looking for a safer school for their own child 鈥 and when they could not find one that 鈥渘urtured their son鈥檚 Indigenous identity鈥 -- they founded their own.

    In 1983 the school was recognised by the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) as a Cultural Survival/Native way program instead of an alternative school, and what started as an elementary school, began accepting secondary school students in 2017.

    For Laforme, the school presented the opportunity to learn the opposite of what she had repeatedly been taught in mainstream schools about Indigenous people.

    鈥淚t was always the downfall of Indigenous people,鈥 LaForme said of her education prior to K芒pa芒mahchakw锚w. 鈥淚t was always just the same things just being repeated over and over again.鈥

    It was the same message hammered home generations before LaForme when Tanya Senk, the assistant superintendent of Indigenous education at the TDSB, went to school.

    鈥淢y schooling, I never saw myself represented and if I did it was a gross representation,鈥 Senk said to 愛污传媒.

    But in order for that to change in the mainstream school system, there needs to be a concerted effort to overhaul the current curriculum 鈥 and that would require the country to make Indigenous education mandatory, something that falls under the jurisdiction of the provinces and territories.

    And when it is not mandatory, the issue of curriculum presents a moral issue for teachers and principals.

    鈥淚n order to make this mandatory across Canada, there needs to be political will,鈥 Senk said. 鈥淭o not do anything would mean you鈥檙e implicated in this on-going colonial project.鈥

    Education about Indigenous history is one of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee鈥檚 Calls to Action which asks for 鈥渃urriculum on residential schools, treaties and Indigenous people鈥檚 history鈥.[and] contemporary contributions to Canada be made mandatory education for all grades.鈥

    And experts like the Director of Reconciliation at Canadian Geographic Enterprises Charlene Bearhead want the curriculum literature overhauled too.

    鈥淭here are racist resources that are being used that sadly, the level of ignorance is still so high,鈥 Bearhead told 愛污传媒. 鈥淚n some areas that people don鈥檛 even get that that鈥檚 racist, which is a scary thing.鈥

    With files from CTVNews.ca writer Jeremiah Rodriguez

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