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CHILDREN ARE PRECIOUS. SO ARE THE PEOPLE WHO CARE FOR THEM.

1. Education must be rooted in and reflect community.

  • Reform curriculum working together with experts, teachers, Elders, and parents.
  • Know our history as a community: teach Treaty and the history of Residential Schools in all years of the provincial curriculum.
  • Stop scheduling exams, class-room head counts (for the purposes of funding), or school events on culturally significant days of observance. No diploma exams during Ramadan or Yom Kippur for example.
  • Reinstate sex education in the provincial curriculum.

2. Make sure that kids have the teachers, resources, and space to learn.

  • Engage in a historic recruitment of school counsellors, speech pathologists and therapists, educational assistants, and other professionals and pay them well.
  • Recruit and pay teachers competitively.
  • Support outdoor education and experiential and community learning.
  • Improve capital planning and investments in public and Catholic school boards.

3. Let kindness and love be the foundation of schools.

  • Address hunger and health in schools.
  • Teach Indigenous languages.
  • Address the roots of addiction and social issues with appropriate supports for students, families, and teachers.
  • Integrate counsellors and public health nurses in schools and with Family Health Clinics to provide resources and care for the health of students and families.

4. End the historic rates of death of children “in the care” of Alberta Children’s Services.

  • 81 children died in the care of Alberta Children’s Services in 2022. 70% of those kids were Indigenous. 30% were between the ages of 12 and 17.
  • Stop aging kids out of care without supports. No community can pull the rug out from 19 year olds and expect these young adults to thrive. But that is exactly what Alberta is doing with kids in care.
  • Support kinship and First Nations seeking jurisdiction over children’s services.

5. Boost productivity by investing in students and classrooms.

  • Public dollars spent on education are a direct investment in our community and our economic prosperity. No other investment will result in as significant economic returns and productivity.