Learning Track stories surprise facilitators

First Nations Technical Institute created the Aboriginal Media Program in 1997 to help develop Aboriginal journalists who can tell stories of their families, communities, nations and people.

If any proof was needed that education is a powerful tool for Aboriginal people, the stories learners tell in this fourth annual edition of The Learning Track are that proof.

As part of their curriculum our learners develop and produce an on-line magazine. It's subject matter is Aboriginal education, mostly but not exclusively post-secondary education. Aboriginal Media Program learners have found stories from all over Turtle Island for this edition.

Their stories tell of the recovery of recordings made 70 years ago in the Mi'kmaq language, of suicide prevention walkers from B.C. and of a connection between the end of residential schools and the increase in Aboriginal population. Learning Track contributors wonder what their ancestors would think of hundreds of years of "progress" and what sort of education their children are getting at alternative schools.

One of the joys of working in the program, and there are many, is seeing and hearing the education stories our learners find to tell you year after year.

The Learning Track is a chance for opinion and experimentation by the learners, and for exploration and thoughtful feedback from our audience.

That's you. Please send your comments, critiques, questions and story ideas to us.