ABSTRACT
The first Indigenous teacher education program in Canada began in the NWT in 1968. 1 As the earliest professional post-secondary program available to northern residents, the program emphasized serving Indigenous teacher candidates and the home communities to which they were expected to return. 2 It has remained the most consistent and accessible professional post-secondary option. Indeed, teacher preparation has been the avenue towards employment and career advancement of various kinds beyond education, including public service and politics, for many Northerners, especially women. And yet, more Indigenous teachers are badly needed across the North at all levels from kindergarten to grade 12, as well as in post-secondary college and university-affiliated programs. 3 They are also urgently needed in educational leadership positions in schools, community/regional school authorities, and governments. The questions this chapter seeks to answer are as follows: What opportunities were provided by teacher education conceptualized in the North, for the North? What struggles and constraints emanating from the unique geographic, political, and cultural contexts of Canada’s largest and most dispersed region have characterized teacher education?
