First Nations treaties added to school curriculum ( 09/27/2011 ) WPG Free Press

School students across the province will be studying the treaties between Aboriginal people and the federal government this year.
In a news conference at The Forks this morning, officials released details about the learning materials, which will be available to all grade 5 and 6 teachers.
To mark the announcment, the nine-year-old great-great-great-granddaughter of Chief Yellowquill -- the first signatory in 1871 to Treaty One -- presented a copy of the original document to a group of school children.
"From my family to your generation," Nicahne Daniels said as she presented the document to a trio of students from William Whyte Community School.
Jamie Wilson, Treaty Relations Commissioner of Manitoba, said he expects that as more resource material is developed, treaty classes will become mandatory in Manitoba schools.
The treaty material was taught in 11 schools on a pilot basis last year.
Resource material for grades K-4 and 7-12 will be completed over the next two years.
Grade 5 and 6 teachers will be able to teach the material this year after they participate in a two-day in service session set for Winnipeg and The Pas in October.
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Treaty knowledge passed down the generations

New coursework to be used in grades 5 and 6

WPG Free Press 09/28/2011
Students across the province will get a chance to study the treaties between aboriginal people and the federal government this year.
Officials released details Tuesday morning about the learning materials, which will be available to all grades 5 and 6 teachers.
At the announcement, the nine-year-old great-great-great-granddaughter of Chief Yellowquill -- the first signatory in 1871 to Treaty One -- presented a copy of the document to a group of schoolchildren.
"From my family to your generation," Nicahne Daniels said as she presented the document to three students from William Whyte School.
The treaty material was taught in 11 schools on a pilot basis last year.
Resource material for kindergarten to Grade 4 and grades 7-12 will be completed over the next two years.
Grades 5 and 6 teachers will be able to teach the material this year after they participate in a two-day in-service session set for Winnipeg and The Pas in October.
Jamie Wilson, the treaty relations commissioner of Manitoba, said he expects as more resource material is developed, treaty classes will become mandatory in Manitoba schools.
Lisa Richardson, a teacher at William Whyte and one of those who taught treaty issues last year, said she found the material refreshing. It can either be used as a single unit or be integrated into several subjects during the year, Richardson said.
Parents were generally enthusiastic in their support of the treaty material, Richardson said.
Wilson said the treaties are often viewed as historical documents benefiting aboriginal people, but the course material will show how they were instrumental in the formation of Canada and how non-aboriginal people also benefit from them today.

red road ojibway commands

onishkaa = (getting up from laying down), burpees

namadabi= (sitting). sit ups

ambe- attention!

ahzese-relax
anaamo-breathe
abaawide-warm up ( i have been saying ghiizhobanyok)
agindaaso-count 
mashtadim-horse
baazhida`ige- jump
aandanaamo - push up
bangishin- fall down
bezhigo-giizhigan-monday
niihzo giizhigan-tuesday
niso giizhigan wednesday
niiyo-giizhigan thursday
naano giizhigad friday
ningodwaaso giizhigad saturday
anama`e-giizhigan-sunday

Sept, 2011

Alot has changed in the last little while in my life. I am expecting a baby in october, got married, opened a gym, and i am in the final year of my university program. i think i can credit parent support, and a positive change in my lifestyle to the better year i have been having. i am drug and alcohol free. i am educating myself on living a more spiritual life, by spiritual i mean, the way i relate to others. relationships have improved. the red road ogichidaa gym is my new joy right now. it gives me a chance to make the lives of the aborignal youth better. to live healthier, train in a safe environment. and bring in knowledgeable people to help the process. we are going to learn to make money. to order products from china, and be selling them by xmas out of the red sun gas station, to be independant. we are going to work on our ojibway commands, have people come in to help with the learning process. in the first week, we had a good week warming up in ojibway, counting in ojibway. on the school front, i am adjusting well to the classes i am taking, they are not to hard. should just keep up with my homework and and pass these courses, i will also pursue a masters degree. i am taking aboriginal spirituality, conflict resolution, cdn politics, and community management/ non profits. should be an interesting year. i will share some articles i have come across of interest lately.

Possible Cultural Outings for RROMA Gym

I heard a comment, that's our taxpayers money paying for these teams, OCN and Wayway. Its a common mentality, 'Indians get school for free', 'Indians get free money', Indians have a culture of entitlement mentality',


Every municipality and non aboriginal gets more 'taxpayers money' than every 'indian', x2, from provincial and federal government, Canada spends $25 per person average on non aboriginal canadian, vs. $15 on a first nation person. 'Indians in canada pay estimated 13 billion in taxes a year across canada, and get back 9-11 billion from federal government, while justice, province, health take huge cuts before a percentage reaches first nations communitues. There is a culture of entitlement, non first nations citizens and companies across canada think there are entitled to enjoy the riches of this country, without sharing revenues without first nations, and allow sub-par services in reserves to continue. 
It was never the intention of treaties for fn people to live on small reserves accepting meager compensation. 


Some cultural activities RROMA Gym would like to attend are. 


- The Red Road Pow Wow is held in Minneapolis at the New Year. The 2010 Pow Wow had more than 1,500 Minneapolis residents in attendance, and 
- The Gathering of the Sacred Pipe Sundance and Youth and Elders Conference will be held in Pipestone, Minnesota. Over 400 attend the Midewiwin Program, held in Bad River, Wisconsin.

Red Road Ogichidaa Martial Arts opens its doors this September

Red Road Ogichidaa Martial Arts has gone from a dream long
envisioned to a reality set to open its doors this September in
the Polo Park area.

In Ojibway, Ogichidaa means, “a person of big heart”.

The goal of Martial Arts is developing trained warriors. However
like all properly trained police officers and soldiers, a true
Ogichidaa is dedicated to protection of a peaceful society.
RROMA’s vision is to produce more than warriors trained in
combat skill, a true Ogichidaa must be spiritually based.

Ogichidaa men and women must be fiercely independent. The goal
is to produce skilled workers and successful entrepreneurs with
good financial skills. Home and business ownership is a goal.
Developing leadership skills, installing self confidence and
identity goes beyond just combat skills. RROMA will be private
gym that will initially focus on a group of young men, aged 14-
 20 years old who are committed to scheduled training five days a
week for one year. It is absolutely required that the trainees
refrain from the use of drugs and alcohol.

The gym will focus on self defense and learning a progressive
jiu jitsu system. Boxing, kickboxing, and
conditioning exercises will also be part of the schedule. Youth
will be introduced to culture, ceremony and language. All
commands and instructions will be done in Ojibway. Special
training programs will teach our history and the nature of treaties.

This one year program is put together by Chief Terrance Nelson
with lead instructor/manager Jason Bone. Other trainers and
helpers will be assisting as the program develops. As manager, I
am very excited to be a part of the plans. This is a great
opportunity and dream come true to run a gym tailored to the
needs of First Nation youth. What is more important is that this
is not a government financed enterprise, it is a private gym
dedicated to developing strong individuals.I think the best way
to describe this program is to liken it to the concept of a
hockey team. Martial arts will be used as a vehicle to get to
the Ogichidaa way of living. Chief Nelson has been very clear
with me, that his involvement is conditional on not developing
gangs or goons, it must be a program dedicated to developing a
fully trained individual, one who is spiritual, physical and
mentally conditioned to be self-reliant and being a role model
for other youth. If you think this is for you or someone you
know, email Jason Bone at, rroma2011@live.ca for location and
more information.

When is it time to throw in the towel?

Sometimes I am training these days, I feel I would be at my best now. Life without and marijauna, drinking and partying, other factors like a wife to be and baby on the way, an education, a steady place to live make a big difference. The shoulder is healed, I am 31, lifted weights for abit now.  While I am still a student of jiu jitsu, (about a year from purple belt) I feel I am well rounded. Some days I am in the limbo of retired and one more fight. I feel like calling someone out, putting on a show, with an entertaining ring/cage enterance, walking out with an old Gino Odjick Vancouver jersey, to 'Bad to the Bone', with an old hockey fight montage playing on a big screen.
I would have continued to fight if it wasn't for my parents dissaproval, my former trainer's disapproval. I suppose I should take some comfort in realizing that no one can take away the fights I been in, but every man is thier own biggest critic. I fought 4 years with a bad shoulder, all the fights on youtube are pre-surgery.
If I want to talk like this, I should walk the walk, wake up and run, instead of watch the news, check facebook and the internet. Even if its just for fitness. I know I have one more fight in me, I will save it to protect myself, and family if I ever need too.

Relationship Among Education, Community Development, And Community Economic Development.

This essay will examine how education is a necessary relationship to community development and economic development of Aboriginals. Education has always been the objective of Aboriginals to build community development through economic development ventures. Education, in my view, is the basis of a strong community that leads people to help themselves through employment or business enterprises that leads to economic development. The examples provided illustrate why education is a requirement that produces employment and capacity building. Education therefore becomes a prerequisite for Aboriginals to bring themselves out of social crisis, dependency, and welfare state mentality and will lead to good work ethics and desire to change their situations to employment. Education must include life skills and personal development to provide a strong basis for education and training leading to employment.

            Education builds capacity, and a healthy, capable Aboriginal population is in the best interest of Canada. Economically, it will cost less to educate Aboriginal people now rather than pay out social services in the long run. “According to a Census done in 2001, Winnipeg has the largest Aboriginal population in Canada and in ten years, one in five, upwards to one in three people entering the work force will be Aboriginal. These numbers indicate that Aboriginal education is crucial to the future of Winnipeg”[1]. Aboriginal students do not complete high school at the same rate as non-aboriginals. These numbers are higher rurally than in urban centre’s. Reasons go back to the thinking that creating the residential school system, to assimilate First Nations people, the current school system still works to assimilate them because First Nations contributions to Canada are not taught enough in the current school system (Silver, 2008). Speaking for myself, I did not learn anything about treaties in high school. Before I went to Red River College, I did not have a good understanding of our history and what brought us to this point that we are at now. I would estimate 90% of Aboriginals do not know their own history.

            Some of the problems with high school education today that Aboriginal people are facing are that they feel excluded by a system that does not consider or respect their values, perspectives, worldview, and different culture (Silver, 2008), but rather focuses on the dominant European/American global cultural influence.“The regular school system has not yet made the changes needed to reflect aboriginal cultural needs”[2]. History is written from non-aboriginal writers, and Aboriginal teachers and curricula are scarce.  Due to many overwhelming social ills, Aboriginal students are not graduating at the same rate as other Canadians.

In Winnipeg there are two high schools that educate youth about culture and support them when faced with problems. For urban youth, Children of the Earth (COTE) high school is unique by incorporating Aboriginal cultural components and values while sticking to the Manitoba curriculum. According to their website they have teachings about seasonal feasts, women’s and full moon teaching, and also pipe and sweat lodge ceremonies. The school also strives to preserve the language with Cree or Ojibwa courses as graduation requirements. COTE school was also named one of Canada’s top ten high schools by MacLean’s magazine. South East Collegiate, which serves students from the remote areas along the east side of Lake Winnipeg, has a program called, “Mino Bimaadiziwin,” or the “Good Life.” It encourages and supports students to live a drug and alcohol free life in order to achieve true happiness and success, which is not possible while carrying the burdens of an addiction (COTE, SE Collegiate Website, 2011).

Adult Learning Centers have been very successful at providing a second chance to Aboriginals moving many from social assistance to employment. The Aboriginal Learning Centre (ALC) is part of Louis Riel Institute (LRI), and instructor Stephanie Miller says that teaching the individual is instead of the classroom is why the ALC is such a success. “We try to accommodate the students as much as possible, there’s a lot of flexibility in our program. There are no set schedules or classes, each student is taught in a different way to meet their needs. We work at the students pace.[3]” ALC work because many students are more mature with children, jobs and other responsibilities.

According to the Aboriginal Organizations in Manitoba, there are 38 education outlets for Aboriginals looking to improve their situation (Aboriginal Organizations in Manitoba website, 2011)."This is a very spatially segregated city," Eleanor Thompson said. "Those tracks are a big barrier, and people in the North End are not as mobile as you think.[4]" Urban Circle has made great steps in bridging the education gap, partnering with Red River College, the University of Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba to name a few programs, despite the success and turnover of graduates, there is constantly a struggle to receive and maintain funding. Jim Silver, head of the U of W's urban and inner-city studies program said “We've proven that it works, that it can turn lives around. Despite that, there isn't enough money.[5]" By the Adult Learning Centre’s Act, programs are required to function as a non-profit (Silver, 2008).

            Further reasons why adult learning centers have been working well for Aboriginal students are the support students get from instructors who go beyond what is required. This includes picking up students who do not have a ride to acting as a counselor. Instructors realize that the problems students face are just as complex as the academic problems. Aboriginal people want to learn but not give up their culture and identity. Students want to learn about whom they are (Silver, 2008), “they have a right to learn about their cultures and attempts to eliminate them, and to come to terms with who they are as people and how they came to be where they are today[6].” This addresses the identity crisis amongst students and helps to locate their personal situation in the context of colonization by developing critical reflection (Silver 2008). Education is a decolonization process and, through education, “capacity building occurs. The result is transformative, at both the personal and collective levels. This is community development at its best[7]”.

This essay has provided evidence that education is necessary to empower the people and to develop the work ethics for employment. Community development is the ability to help people to help themselves. It is important that people are willing, capable, able, and have a strong desire to change their situations. Without people’s willingness, participation, and a sense of ownership to education leading to employment, there will be no positive community development. The true sense of community development is restoring the people’s ability to help them self. Education provides positive relationships to community development and economic development.

References

1. www.policyalternatives.ca , Aboriginal Education for Winnipeg’s Future, January 23^rd, 2009. 

2. Silver, J. In Their Own Voices: Building Urban Aboriginal Communities. 2008. Fernwood Publishing, Halifax.

3. Rajotte, P.(2011, June 14^th) Adult Learning Centre’s flexible schedule gets positive results. Grassroots News, p34.

4. Aboriginal organizations in Manitoba. www.Edu.gov.mb.ca, 2011.

5. Winnipeg Free Press, Putting folks on the right track, Learning Centres Offer a Future, Dan   Lett. June 13/2011.