Spring is coming!!!

Hello Everyone!

Well, spring may finally be on its way after a long, cold, trying winter.

Many things have happened for Aboriginal people in the last little while- with many of those events focusing on Aboriginal Education specifically!

The First Nations Education Act (FNEA) was formally announced in Blackfoot territory in February. For highlights of the announcement and information on how this will affect First Nations education in the future, please see http://www.pm.gc.ca/eng/news/2014/02/07/first-nations-control-first-nations-education-act

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada will be wrapping up their National Events in Edmonton, Alberta on March 27-30. For details and information on attending, see http://www.trc.ca/websites/alberta/index.php?p=766

For residential school survivors that received a common experience payment (CEP), there is a new option for funding assistance to attend school. The Personal Credit program provides up to $3000 for educational programs and services provided by universities, colleges, trades or training schools, Indigenous institutions of higher learning of which relate to literacy or trades as well as programs and services related to Aboriginal identities, histories, cultures, or languages. These credits can also be transferred to children, grandchildren, spouses or siblings. For more information, please visit www.residentialschoolsettlement.ca 

AARN has a new logo courtesy of Del Beaverbone:

We will be using the circular logo on letterhead and emails from now on, and this larger graphic for presentations and wherever else we can. Special thanks to Kathy Davis at Macewan for facilitating the design of this logo. Hope you like it!

As always, if you have any events you would like AARN members to attend, please contact us at aboriginal.recruitment.alberta@gmail.com

See you on the road!

Tori and Amber

Happy Holidays from AARN!

Boozhoo!!

It is that time of year, to reflect on what has come to pass and prepare for the year to come.

AARN is continuing to grow, and we are excited about the future. The institutional update project is well underway, which will provide a new option for prospective Aboriginal students to learn about their post-secondary options in and around Alberta.

For the first time, AARN was invited to share information about our organization with ELAA at their counselor update in Red Deer on November 14-15. We were honoured to be invited and look forward to further developing the ELAA- AARN collaboration.

We are pleased to announce our newest Associate Member, First Nations University of Canada! For more information on their programs and services, please visit their website http://www.fnuniv.ca/

Spring travel planning is underway, with a number of events already planned for February and a few in March. If you are hosting (or planning to host!) an Aboriginal career fair, education fair, open house or other event where you would like AARN members to attend, please contact us! aboriginal.recruitment.alberta@gmail.com 

Our next meeting will be a virtual meeting in January. The host will be MacEwan University in Edmonton, but we are encouraging virtual participation to alleviate travel costs and environmental concerns. If you are a member, you will receive the meeting details in the new year. 

Congratulations to Bow Valley College (Calgary, AB) on the opening of their new Aboriginal Centre: Iniikokaan! For more information, please visit http://www.bowvalleycollege.ca/campus-services/iniikokaan-aboriginal-centre.html 

The province of Alberta recently announced the creation of two Aboriginal women's councils: First Nations Women’s Economic Security Council and the Metis Women’s Economic Security Council which will report directly to the Minister and will serve to provide advice and recommendations on ways to improve economic outcomes for Aboriginal women in Alberta. For more info: http://alberta.ca/release.cfm?xID=3552471A4D81A-C496-0D97-C0C881353154D3F4

As always, if you have information that you would like to share with AARN, please contact us via email at aboriginal.recruitment.alberta@gmail.com 

Wishing you and your family a safe and happy holiday season!!!

Warmest regards, 

Tori and Amber