Former PM visits school on Piikani Nation bringing good news
BROCKET “There is no excuse for the underfunding for education on reserves.”
Words from former prime minister Paul Martin Monday morning as he toured Napi’s Playground Elementary School in Brocket on the Piikani Nation.
Martin was there to coannounce, with the Peigan Board of Education, that Napi’s is one of six schools in Canada selected for the inaugural year of the Martin Family Initiative’s Model School Project (MSP)
Designed to help preserve identity, culture and language, the MSP introduces different ideas toward early education, literacy development and providing better assessment tools for teachers, primarily from kindergarten to Grade 3. It had previously gone through a five-year pilot project at two schools in Ontario.
“It worked wonderfully well. As a result of that, we decided that we wanted to do is take this program across the country,” said Martin, 78, who was Canada’s 21st prime minister, serving from December 2003 to February 2006.
The MSP is a partnership with the federal government, and schools were requested to apply. Martin praised the Piikani Chief and Council, the education trustees, the superintendent, the principal and the teachers, saying that proper governance was one of the most important criteria for their approved selection.
“There was no doubt about this school and about the Piikani Nation,” he said. “It was so clear that the leadership was here.”
“I certainly applaud Prime Minister Martin, and the Martin Family Initiative and the stance they’ve taken in terms of bridging the gap in learning and education for First Nations and Indigenous people across this country,” said Piikani Chief Stanley Grier.
“Education is that medium that bridges that gap between misunderstanding and true understanding and tolerance. It gives them a greater start in their education and their career development. I look at
this as a tremendous opportunity.”