John Jerome Paul, Director of Program Services for Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey, and Jeff Orr of St. Francis Xavier University presented a paper, “Mi’kmaq Educators’ Stories of Cultural Negotiation of Schooling” at the prestigious Canadian Congress of Social Studies and Humanities.  The conference was held at the University of Alberta, on May 24, 2000. The paper deals with some of the front-line changes and challenges for teachers and students that have resulted from the original colonial perspective on education to the present where Mi’kmaw people are reclaiming responsibility for the education of their children.  They demonstrate how “simple acts, such as speaking one’s Aboriginal language and using everyday Mi’kmaq knowledge reflect dramatic shifts in what is viewed as appropriate schooling.”

There was a joint Capital Committee / Directors of Education meeting on June 14 in Halifax. The meeting was to finalize the preparation of the Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey Learning Centre (school) Space Standards that was recommended and approved in principle by the Board of Directors on June 28, 2000.In order to work toward specific recommendations, the committee first agreed upon seven guiding principles. A few of these principles are:

• A minimum of one school per community is required to deliver the Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey mandate regardless of population size.

• Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey standards are only an overall size entitlement. Design issues, program priorities, space trade-offs, and space enhancements are best based on local factors.

• Much of the Mi’kmaw Kina’matnewey curriculum and approach is new and space needs are untested. Standards must be revised as experience is gained and new information arises.

Using these principles as a guide, specific issues were addressed. Work is also in progress to develop a school construction priority rating system, and to review the DIAND school replacement formulas. The full report will be posted on www.kinu.ns.ca following its presentation to the Board of Directors.