THUNDER BAY - Students from several remote First Nation communities are learning about everything the city of Thunder Bay has to offer, including how to stay safe, so they and their families can feel more at ease if they choose to come to the city to attend school.
The Matawa Education Centre is hosting a tour and orientation this week for 17 Grade 8 students from five remote Matawa communities.
Brad Battiston, principal at the Matawa Education Centre, said the tour comes as part of a recommendation from the Seven Youth Inquest, which states students from remote communities should be given an opportunity to be introduced to the city of Thunder Bay in a positive and supervised environment.
“This is a recommendation that the jury thought was important and the Indigenous inquest partners definitely supported,” he said. “This is the first year that we’ve had the funding to complete it and this is the first time that we are doing this.”
During their five-day stay in the city, the students will participate in various activities, including touring a fire hall with Thunder Bay Fire Rescue, archery with members of the Thunder Bay Police Services, tours of Lakehead University, Confederation College, city hall, the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, as well as St. Ignatius High School and Superior Collegiate and Vocational Institute.
“It’s to take away some of the mystery, to take away some of the unknown or the uncertainty in coming to school in Thunder Bay,” Battiston said. “Information and knowledge are key for the students to feel comfortable, it’s important for their families to know about the city in making the informed decision to come to school here. This is just an attempt to show them first hand as to what things look like, how they operate.”
Battiston added that the tour and orientation is not just a presentation or a video, it is something the students can see and experience, which is important in giving them a true sense of what the city is like.
But the tour is also about educating the students about safety concerns that exist in the city. Jordan Wabasse, who died in 2011 and one of the seven youth included in the inquest, was a student at the Matawa Education Centre, and Battiston said the recommendations from the inquest are very important to students and staff at the centre.
“We want them to have fun, but we want them to learn about not just all the great things the city has to offer, but also some of the safety concerns, for them to learn about the support services like the police, the fire department, the hospital, the school boards, our school,” he said.
“We want them to learn as much as possible so that they feel comfortable and that their parents feel comfortable and their communities feel comfortable in them coming to Thunder Bay for high school.”
Other inquest partners will be holding similar tours for students from remote First Nation communities. Battiston said the tour this week is funded by the Ministry of Education and is the only one tour for prospective Matawa students planned, but he would like to see that change.
“We would like to do it every year pending funding,” he said. “If federal and provincial governments are willing to support it, we would love to do it all the time.”
