KITCHENUHMAYKOOSIB INNINUWUG FIRST NATION, ON — By 2021, young people on the K.I. First Nation will no longer have to travel far from home to complete their high school education.
Indigenous Services of Canada recently confirmed $42 million in funding for a new school that will provide education right through Grade 12.
Currently, after Grade 10, students must leave Kitchenuhmaykoosib Inninuwug to complete high school in places such as Sioux Lookout, Thunder Bay and Winnipeg.
K.I. has close to 1,800 residents and is located on the shore of Big Trout Lake, 600 kilometres north of Thunder Bay.
Chief Donny Morris says making a complete high school education available at home is important for the students and for the community as a whole.
"Students coming out of Grade 10 are 13, 14 or 15 years old. This way we get to keep our kids a little longer...it gives them time to figure out what they really want to do after Grade 12. They get to be more mature to decide their destiny," such as whether to go on to university or college, Morris told Tbnewswatch.
Building materials will be trucked to Big Trout Lake on next season's winter road network, and construction will begin in 2020.
About 370 students enrolled in Kindergarten to Grade 10 currently attend school at K.I., taking instruction in the Aglace Chapman Education Centre, an older facility that requires repairs.
