Chris Puglia
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 13/02) - Mildred Hall school is making an effort to meet the needs of its aboriginal students with a new program.

Yellowknife Education District No. 1 school board instituted the Aboriginal Cultural Language program this year after it was requested by the Parent and Aboriginal Parent Advisory Committees.

"It's really satisfying for us because we really pushed for it," said Stacy Ridgley, chair of the Mildred Hall PAC.

About 51 per cent of the students at Mildred Hall are aboriginal, and Ridgley said it is exciting to have a program that speaks directly to their needs. This year, about 90 students are enrolled in the program that is being offered as an alternative to French.

"This is an opportunity being offered to aboriginal students because a lot of kids come from the smaller communities and they don't have core French language classes in the (small Northern) communities.

"When they are stuck in French class in Grade 5 they are really lost so we lobbied for this program," said Ridgley.

School principal Adrien Amirault said the program is an attempt to include the cultural identity of aboriginal students in the curriculum.

"All the languages are represented," said Amirault. "The goal is to give the students a voice and acknowledge their cultural heritage. For a long time their cultural identity of these students wasn't recognized."

And the number of students involved in the program is increasing as the word spreads.

"It's changing daily. When parents find out about the program we get one or two more," said Amirault. "We are getting more participation in the younger grades. The Grade 7 and 8 students have taken French for a number of years and they have chosen to stay with it."

Amirault said staff and teachers are working with aboriginal parents to develop the program to best fit the needs of students in the NWT.