My Home Is My Wigwam 2.92

Project Description:

The My Home is My Wigwam project aims to customize an existing grade school curriculum, produced by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (My Home is My Tipi), to Atlantic First Nations language, traditions and culture.

The materials found inside the "My Home is My Tipi" toolkit are lessons to help support parents, teachers and community members educate First Nations youth on the importance of maintaining a clean and healthy home. APC aim's to make their customization versatile enough reach beyond the classroom and be useful to community groups and parents alike.

Pilot:

In the spring of 2012, APC along with four participating communities (Eskasoni First Nation, Eel Ground First Nation, Lennox Island First Nation and Sheshatshiu Innu Nation) used the toolkit for several weeks. What we learned from the pilot was that the information found in the toolkit is important, however, it must be made more culturally relevant for Atlantic First Nation’s communities.

The committee:

In 2012, APC all Chiefs’ passed a resolution mandating APC to form a committee tasked with developing the My Home is My Wigwam Toolkit. Since then, committee has solidified its strategic direction for the toolkit, and have made several attempts to secure funding to complete the remaining work on the toolkit. The committee is comprised of the following members:

Darlene Marshall, Housing Director, Eskasoni First Nation

Peter-Joe Bernard, Construction Manager, Lennox Island First Nation

Douglas Ashini, Housing Manager, Sheshatshiu First Nations

Karen Boyles, Environmental Health Officer, Health Canada

Vince Kylne, Senior Advisor - Aboriginal Development, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation

Betty Tower, Capital Program Officer, Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada

Thomas Hill, Policy Analyst, Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat

James MacKinnon, Jr. Policy Analyst, Atlantic Policy Congress of First Nations Chiefs Secretariat

Up-coming initiatives:

During the month of January, APC will be using social media to raise awareness for the project. If the campaign proves successful, it will create the necessary conditions to seek alternate funding arraignments via www.Kickstarter.com.

Kickstarter.com is the home for everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. The website provides a platform for individuals to explain their project, set a funding goal and deadline. If people like a project, they can pledge money to make it happen. Our goal is to create enough hype around the project on social media to launch a Kickstarter campaign for $25,000.00.

APC will also be holding a competition amongst First Nations youth to create a logo for our project. Further details to come!