Mistissini to get new adult education facility

Representatives of the Quebec and federal governments announced $32 million for a new adult education facility as well as 40 new housing units for school board employees in Mistissini, a Cree community of almost 4,000 about an hour's drive from Chibougamau.

In a region where nine out of 10 students do not graduate high school, the Cree School Board says the new facility will provide opportunities for people to catch up on prerequisites required for post-secondary programs or train for jobs in mining, government and other sectors.

"Adult education is kind of an opportunity to recover, for students that have fallen out of the system," said Cree School Board director general Abraham Jolly at the announcement this morning in Mistissini.

"What are the opportunities to recover these students, who are adults now, so they can still play a role and contribute in some way to the Cree Nation?"

The Cree School Board also runs the Saptuan Regional Vocational Training Centre in Waswanipi, a Cree community of about 2,000. Students come from throughout Eeyou Istchee to take courses there, but family commitments and a housing shortage make it difficult for some to relocate for work or to further their education.

The federal government is putting $12.5 million toward the construction of the new adult education facility in Mistissini, while the Quebec government is contributing the remaining $4.2 million.

Funding thanks to JBNQA

The governments' responsibilities to fund Cree education are laid out in the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement signed in 1975.

"Most of the credit (for today's announcement) goes back to that leadership 40 years ago that signed the James Bay and Northern Quebec Agreement," Quebec's Minister responsible for Aboriginal Affairs, Geoffrey Kelley said.

"It's been a long relationship, it's had its moments, some were better than others, but I think it's always in a good direction."

The economy in Eeyou Istchee has changed dramatically since the 1970s when Cree leaders negotiated an education clause in the JBNQA that would give them more control over what is taught in their own schools. Grand Chief Matthew Coon Come said getting an education — at any age — is more important now than ever.

"The land cannot hold our nation as hunters, fishermen and trappers. The land is getting smaller, it's flooded, it's clearcut. So one has to think of the future, of preparing the young people, giving them the tools... to be ready for the future that is coming."