SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
As the GNWT embarks on redefining its education program, it's looking around the world for advice.

Justice Murray Sinclair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, left, is joined by Hekia Parata, New Zealand minister of education, and Jackson Lafferty, GNWT minister of Education, Culture and Employment. They participated in the fifth International Summit on the Teaching Profession in Banff, Alta., last weekend. - photo courtesy of the Department of Education, Culture and Employment

Jackson Lafferty, minister of Education, Culture and Employment, attended the fifth International Summit on the Teaching Profession in Banff, Alta., last weekend and talked about aboriginal education.

His speech drew parallels with the experience of Hekia Parata, New Zealand's education minister, with regard to how each country could retain its aboriginal people's culture through public education.

The New Zealand government incorporates Maori, the name for its indigenous population, language and culture in its education curriculum.

Maori language was once on the brink of extinction but has since been revived in public knowledge, thanks in part to the government's educational efforts.

"That made a huge difference in their country in the last 30 to 40 years," said Lafferty, comparing that program to the GNWT's much younger education renewal initiative.

The education renewal project is in its second year of 10 and aims to increase graduation rates and student outcomes.

"We have some commonalities between New Zealand and the Northwest Territories and how we deliver aboriginal education and indigenous education," said Lafferty.

He went to residential school in the North in his youth but said his experience was positive.

"I got educated and retained my knowledge," said Lafferty. "But there are others that got a severe impact even to this day. They are still dealing with their emotions."

New Zealand had native schools but Lafferty said it was not as "severe" of a situation as with Canada's residential schools.

In New Zealand, the government did not force Maori children into segregated schools, though the goal of native schools was still to assimilate the indigenous population into European culture.

Range Lake MLA Daryl Dolynny, who also attended the conference, said ECE's education renewal initiative lines up with international goals for best practices.

"It's a huge undertaking we're doing in the Northwest Territories to change the educational delivery model," said Dolynny.

"It might take half a generation or a generation to evaluate how successful we are, but I think we're on the right track."

The cost of the trip couldn't be determined by press time.