First Nation, Métis, and Inuit Education Leads: Transforming Education by Sharing Our Praxis

Abstract

In the fall of 2016, the Ontario Ministry of Education (Ministry of Education [MOE], Indigenous Education, 2016) announced that each school board was required to have a dedicated position under the umbrella title "First Nation, Métis, and Inuit Education Lead" (henceforth referred to as the "Lead"). The MOE also provided the funding for this position. This new funding and mandate ensured that all school boards had the capability to create a new position and/or continue supporting their current Lead position(s).       

However, the MOE provided few guidelines for what this work should entail, and they offered no mandatory training to the Leads. Therefore, in the absence of substantial directions from the MOE, it is critical that these Leads, academics, and other people that work in the field of Indigenous education communicate about the possibilities of this work. This paper is a small contribution to this subject area, in hopes that it will create a much-needed conversation about the future of Indigenous education in elementary and secondary schools. This paper will begin by theorizing about some of the difficulties and barriers that some Leads may experience. Then it will offer one strategy that one school board is using to implement Indigenous education in Ontario.