One non-profit organization is working toward student success in northern Manitoba by recruiting the most well-suited teachers.
Gakino’amaage: Teach For Canada was created in 2015 to address the teacher shortage in remote communities across the country. Now, it works with 32 partners across Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario.
“Really the organization is to recruit, prepare, support, and sustain the right educators for First Nations students in the north,” said Deanna Matthews with Gakino’amaage.
This week, Gakino’amaage is hosting an advisory council meeting in Winnipeg to get feedback from its partners to guide the program and advance Indigenous education.
“A lot of it is about sitting together, listening, having conversations, and figuring out how we can continue to improve the best possible education system for teachers, for students, and for First Nation schools,” Matthews said.
Teaching up north
Sheryl White with the God’s Lake Narrows First Nation School Board said a teacher in the north needs to be a “jack of all trades” as they are working with limited resources.
She added they also need to be energetic, adventurous, and willing to put themselves out there and take part in the community.
“We do try to provide as much as we can,” she said.
“We do not have the school clinicians, the school psychologists, so [teachers] pretty much have to do everything.”
For any teachers considering work up north, White said it’s a great way to take on a new adventure and challenge yourself.
- With files from CTV’s Rachel Lagacé.
