The courses provide a double benefit by offering First Nations students high school language credits while also preserving their language, history and heritage, said Bill Chopp, superintendent of education for the Brant Haldimand Norfolk Catholic District School Board.
“We see some of what we struggle with in maintaining Catholic education as some of the same struggles that (First Nations) have maintaining their aboriginal values,” said Chopp. “That’s the reason that we centred on this.”
The courses, offered through the board’s continuing education department, will let students earn a high school credit by studying beginner level Mohawk, Cayuga, Ojibwe or Oneida. The hope is to eventually add advanced levels until there is a native language credit from Grade 9 to Grade 12, similar to how French is offered.
The courses, which begin in mid-October, are a response to a study the board conducted at Assumption last spring that found 150 of the school’s 1,300 students were of First Nations descent. Several of these students expressed an interest in learning to speak in their native tongue last year, said Chopp.
The board has entered into partnership with the Gai hon nya ni (They are learning): Amos Key Jr. E-Learning Institute. Amos Key is a private First Nations virtual school which combines some structural elements of a traditional classroom, such as having a course facilitated by an instructor during a specific time slot, with the geographical flexibility of online courses.
“It was difficult to find somebody to come in and teach one period only so we lined up with Amos Key,” said Chopp.
Assumption College students will be required to attend classes from 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday to Friday where they will log on to a program called Blackboard to connect to their instructor.
“Students will gather online in the classroom (and) they will be equipped with a computer and headphones which will link them to the instructor,” said Chopp. “We are going to have an onsite teacher from our own board (as well) that will oversee the instruction and help students if they are stuck. The last thing we want is for someone to come on and say I cannot connect in so we want someone with some IT experience to help out at our end.”
While the course is primarily targetting First Nations students at Assumption, it is also available to any First Nations person between the age of 15 to 30 in the board’s catchment area free of charge. The fees for all First Nations students are being paid by the Niagara Peninsula Aboriginal Area Membership Board (NPAAMB).
Non-First Nations students can take the course, said Chopp, but they must pay a $950 tuition fee.
Amos Key’s executive director Audra Maloney is hoping to expand the program across the province. She has already reached out to boards in Kitchener-Waterloo, Hamilton and Niagara Region which are eligible for NPAAMB funding.
Maloney praised the Brant Haldimand Norfolk for launching the initiative.
“They’re being the cutting edge and they’re being visionaries for their students,” she said. “They are looking out for the well being of their First Nations students and, for me, as a First Nations woman, I appreciate that.”