GW Children's Centre in Deer Lake delivers ECE training program for staff
The Ga Wiianiniiganiitamagoyak Children's Centre (GWCC) in Deer Lake First Nation is a new organization funded under Health Canada's Head Start program. It is evolving to become a fully accredited child care centre which has been its goal since its inception. Rather than being a stagnant entity the centre continues to be very proactive in its approach to reaching this goal.
The centre has achieved many successes with its innovative programming and its community based approach to developing local services that address local needs and objectives.
To achieve its goal, the Centre worked to develop an Early Childhood Education Program for its staff and interested community members in partnership with the regional college. This objective became a reality when funding was secured for a community based ECE Program to be delivered by Confederation College through the use of video conferencing. Students are able to attend classes in our community with regularly scheduled instruction and class time the college instructor who is located in Kenora. A virtual face-to-face classroom is now operating at the centre.
The broadband connectivity is being provided by Deer Lake's Broadband Community Network and the video conferencing equipment was provided to the Centre by the Regional Management Organization (KO) with Industry Canada's First Nations SchoolNet Program as a pilot project.
Sandy Lake's Aboriginal Head Start Program joined the initiative when they heard how the courses were being delivered. K-Net Services as a recognized leader in connectivity and telecommunications is providing the video bridge to connect Sandy Lake with Deer Lake and Confederation College for these courses.