First Nations and Mtis association in northern Alberta hope to establish their own education authority

The Athabasca Delta Community School is getting a new school board, after years of community leaders saying they have an education crisis on theirhands.

The Mikisew Cree First Nation, Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation and Fort Chipewyan Mtis Association came together to get the school to switch from theNorthland School Division to theParkland School Division.

The nations will work in the meantime to establishtheir own education authority and eventually take over the school. The hope is thatthe nations take over the schoolwithin about a year and a half.

Tammy Riel, executive director of the Fort Chipewyan Mtis Nation, said there were few graduates and issues with staff retention.

She said switching divisions was seen as a way for the community to find a new hope in the education system.

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Six school districts were in the running to work with the community. Parkland stood out because of their interest in having a reciprocal relationship with the community, Riel said.

"They were coming in because they saw the potential that they could learn and participate in this really neat experience," she said. "They were coming in as an equal partner."

The communities intend to show the board how they embedculture in the education system.

While the Parkland head office is almost 765 kilometres away, the distance isn't a concern to leadership.

The head office of the previous school board, Northland, was in Peace River. Riel said it's actually harder to get to Fort Chipewyan from Peace River than from Edmonton.

"The community really expects the same quality and quantity of student supports that are being offered to other Parkland schools," said Riel.

This isn't the first school the nations have operated. They've been running the Fort Chipewyan Community High School and seeing success with graduates for a few years now.

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Shauna Boyce, superintendent with Parkland School Division, has gone to the community several times, and the board will have regular in-person and virtual visits with the school.

Parkland is hiring eight to 10 teaching staff, including the principal.

"We are really excited," Boyce said. She said she is looking forward to the opportunity to learn from Fort Chipewyan.

"[The board is] making sure that we can have an Indigenous perspective in our education and we're really looking forward to bringing that perspective to every one of the schools we have," Boyce said.

Mikisew Cree First Nation chief Peter Powder welcomed the change and said that few studentsthat did graduatefelt they were behind in post-secondary.

"Our education has to be better," he said.

"We have enough educated people in our nations now I think we can utilize these people and have our own authority and control our own education how we see fit."

That would include on-the-land learning, Powder said.

Nancy Spencer-Poitras, superintendent of Northland School Division, said the change in school division was a mutual agreement. Spencer-Poitras said there are no other schools in the district switching boards this year.

She said the board will work with Parkland with the transition, and make sure the school is successful.