Indigenous teachers are getting community-based training that keeps education close to home

Donna metal(a) ne'er thought of herself as dodgy, so she was surprised how subject she matt-up braiding lengths of sweetgrass and creating clay art pieces this month during an intensive learning session on the land. 

The Mi'kmaw teacher-candidate from Listuguj Mi'gmaq First Nation was among a group of aspiring educators who gathered in French Village, N.B., just ahead of the new school year for an intensive training workshop organized by the Mi'kmaq-Wolastoqey Centre at the University of New Brunswick (UNB).

A former police officer, Metallic recalled her law enforcement training in Mission, B.C., that incorporated Coast Salish teachings, something that deeply resonated with her since it was culturally connected learning she'd never had before. 

Now back home on the East Coast and pursuing an education degree through an Indigenous lens, she's excited about kids — including her own granddaughter — learning things she didn't at their age.

"Our role as an educator is so very important: to bring them back to the land, to the teachings, to show them that this is our way," said Metallic.

From Yukon to Labrador, new, locally led programs are supporting a fresh crop of Indigenous teachers learning in their home communities.

A July announcement of $8.6 million in funding from the Rideau Hall Foundation is helping get the latest round of initiatives started, with the goal of training and certifying hundreds more Indigenous teachers, supporting thousands of students and bolstering Indigenous-led education across the country.

Indigenous teacher-training weaves workshops on the land with online learning

Western models for teacher education haven't necessarily been responsive to Indigenous needs and education challenges, according to Juan Rodriguez, a UNB associate professor in the faculty of education who was facilitating the New Brunswick workshop alongside a group of elders.

Introducing programs where teacher-candidates learn online combined with some dedicated in-person sessions provides flexibility, he noted.

"It's about opening options for Indigenous [teachers] not to leave their families, their communities, their obligations."

The hope is that these efforts will alleviate a shortage of teachers working in First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities across Canada, explained Marti Ford, associate dean of Indigenous education in the University of Manitoba's faculty of education. 

Recruiting and retaining educators has long been an issue in different regions, noted Ford, a former teacher, principal and superintendent with the Frontier School Division. It's Manitoba's largest division, geographically, and covers some communities only accessible by boat, air, rail or ice road.

Ford empathizes with aspiring teachers hailing from remote areas, since she herself was once a single mom who travelled from the North to Winnipeg to study education.

Though it's been many years since then, she still vividly recalls juggling schooling for herself and her daughter while living far from her worried family in northern Manitoba and Nunavut, feeling homesick, lacking a community for support and also unable to contribute to responsibilities back home. 

Ford's initiative — which includes studies for both a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Education — will train teacher-candidates in their home communities during fall and winter, but unite them for in-person learning come summer in Cranberry Portage, near Manitoba's border with Saskatchewan. Summer sessions will also include programming for the children of participants.

"There will be a language component … and activities for the children while the parents are in school and learning to become teachers," she said.

The program is one of the latest dozen initiatives that received the Rideau Hall funding this past July, and Ford is working toward an inaugural intake in September 2026. 

It makes a big different to Indigenous students when a teacher is from their community, "understands them, understands where they're coming from … their life, their culture, their teachings," she said.

"If we can provide that within our communities, those teachers are going to stay and those kids are going to get a proper education."

Add some “good” to your morning and evening.

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