THUNDER BAY – Indigenous educators from Hawaii, Australia and Norway are visiting Matawa Education and two of its First Nations this week as Matawa seeks institutional accreditation for its Indigenous language revitalization program.
Through its Matawa Waka Tere program, Matawa has since 2018 been working to revitalize Ojibwe, Cree and Oji-Cree in the First Nations it serves.
“Accreditation will formally recognize the Matawa Waka Tere program’s effectiveness and the credentials it grants, and it will allow access to sustainable funding to ensure we can continue to support and train language speakers and save our Indigenous languages,” said Sharon Nate, Matawa Education’s executive director.
After visiting the Matawa campus in south-side Thunder Bay, the visiting education scholars will make site visits in Long Lake #58 First Nation and Webequie First Nation later this week with members of Aroland, Ginoogaming and Constance Lake First Nations attending.
The Matawa Waka Tere program adapts a teaching methodology from New Zealand to train Ojibwe, Cree and Oji-Cree speakers.
Mike Graham, an Indigenous language revitalization specialist, came to Thunder Bay from New Zealand in 2018 to help Matawa implement its program.
The New Zealand program was quite effective in revitalizing the Pacific Ocean country’s Maori language, he said Monday, adding that the Matawa program has already seen success as well.
The Matawa program had a class of 90 graduates this summer, he noted.
Matawa Waka Tere is “at stage three” in the World Indigenous Nations Higher Education Consortium (WINHEC) accreditation process, said Aroha Watene, another Indigenous language revitalization specialist at Matawa Education from New Zealand.
“So from Monday to Friday they will be visiting different communities and taking notes and listening to the Indigenous people of Matawa First Nations communities,” Watene said.
Sadie Heckenberg, a visiting education expert from Australia, said WINHEC will decide on accreditation for Matawa next month at a meeting in Hawaii.
Established in 2002, WINHEC is a collective of representatives from Indigenous cultures across the globe who support Indigenous Peoples pursuing common goals through higher education.
It offers accreditation to educational institutions that integrate Indigenous culture, language and worldviews into their program.
Seven Generations Education Institute, which has campuses in Fort Frances, Kenora and Sioux Lookout, is a WINHEC-accredited institution.
