Media.Knet.Ca

NAN press release 

NAN celebrates Education Week

            THUNDER BAY, ON, May 11 /CNW/ - Nishnawbe Aski Nation (NAN) Deputy Grand Chief Terry Waboose and students and educators from NAN First Nations will celebrate the Second Nishnawbe Aski Nation Education Awareness Week May 11-15.

            "Education is the key to our success as First Nations people, and educational opportunities are an important investment in the future of our people as we move towards greater self-sufficiency and self-reliance," said NAN Deputy Grand Chief Terry Waboose, who holds the NAN education portfolio. "Our children will never know that they can have a better life if they don't receive a proper education. With proper education and support, First Nations youth can share the optimism of young people across the country that they can grow to become anything they want to be."

            Education Week will be celebrated with a variety of events in NAN First Nations. The Wahgoshig First Nation education department will hold a Seven Traditional Teachings contest to encourage students to write about the sacred
teachings of Honesty, Humility, Courage, Wisdom, Respect, Generosity and Love. Education Week will be highlighted with a Post Secondary Education Roundtable May 14-15 at the Victoria Inn in Thunder Bay with representatives from Assembly of First Nations, Chiefs of Ontario, Oshki Pimache O Win Education and Training Institute, Nishnawbe Aski Nation and other partners from across NAN Territory with a vested interest in Post Secondary Education.

            "The Nishnawbe Aski Nation Education Committee is working hard to raise the profile of education on behalf of NAN First Nations," Waboose said. "I am proud that NAN First Nations are delivering quality education programs and services despite tremendous barriers and chronic underfunding of First Nation education that continues to make learning a struggle in many of our communities."

            NAN supports many educational and literacy programs in NAN First Nations and is working with Lakehead University for the creation and accreditation of a law school in the North with a focus on Aboriginal law.

            Nishnawbe Aski Nation is a political territorial organization representing 49 First Nation communities in James Bay Treaty 9 and Ontario portions of Treaty 5 - an area covering two thirds of the province of Ontario.
      
-30-

/For further information: Michael Heintzman, Media Relations Officer - Nishnawbe Aski Nation, (807) 625-4906 or (807) 621-2790 mobile/