Trent University to offer Indigenous B.Ed.

Next fall, Trent University will offer an Indigenous bachelor of education degree program. The new program is partly in response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission report last summer that called on all levels of government to change policies to repair problems caused by residential schools. The report also recommended that students be taught about the history and current plight of First Nations, Métis and Inuit. Cathy Bruce, interim dean of education at Trent University, says the school is still accepting applications and hopes to have 15 students, all who self-identify as Aboriginal, start the first year of the program in September. Some of the professors will be Aboriginal. Lakehead University in Thunder Bay offers a similar program that allows graduates to teach children up to Grade 6. Trent graduates will be able to teach through high school.