51ÁÔÆæ

Gracey Rich

Since 2002, more than 400 students have earned their bachelor of education degrees from the Aboriginal Teacher Education Program (ATEP) in the U of A’s Faculty of Education, adding to the number of certified Indigenous K-12 teachers equipped to transform classrooms and uplift communities in Alberta and across Canada. 

A newly announced grant of nearly $1 million from the Rideau Hall Foundation, a non-partisan national charitable organization that is a leader in supporting Indigenous teacher education in Canada, will help ATEP deepen community connections with the Elders, school leaders and mentor teachers that play an essential role in Indigenous preservice and early career teacher success. 

ATEP is a bachelor of education program that prepares Indigenous teachers through teaching core educational competencies grounded in Indigenous pedagogies, perspectives and knowledge. It’s one of 11 such programs across Canada that aim to increase the number of certified Indigenous educators and, in turn, enhance the educational experience of Indigenous schoolchildren, while restoring and revitalizing cultural connections within their communities.

Samantha Palisoc, a member of ATEP’s graduating class of 2025 from High Prairie, says she’s seen firsthand the impact of Indigenous educators at the front of the classroom.

“It matters to have Indigenous educators in Indigenous spaces and ATEP is absolutely the vehicle to deliver that,” Palisoc says. “Looking at the history of Indigenous people with education, it’s not a positive experience … This is building positive relationships.”

Values-driven Indigenous education

The Rideau Hall Foundation's four-year funding commitment will directly support ATEP’s latest initiative. The project will provide ATEP student teachers with opportunities to bring traditional practices, medicines, materials and perspectives into field experience placements while supporting certified educators and leaders in communities throughout Alberta in learning how to uplift Indigenous brilliance in their schools.

“Our work is rooted in the Cree principles of wîcihitowin (sharing), manâhcihitowin (respect), and mêskotônamâtowin (reciprocity), and this funding allows us to deepen our relationships with multiple communities while preparing the next generation of Indigenous teachers,” says Dr. Evelyn Steinhauer, ATEP Director and Associate Dean, Indigenous Teacher Education at the Faculty of Education.

The support offered by ATEP is not confined to the classroom. Steinhauer explains that walking alongside students during field placements and early career experiences is central to the program’s approach

“By centring student-teachers’ well-being and grounding our approach in community, culture and language, we create a foundation that supports them as whole individuals,” she says.”As they move into their roles as pre-service and in-service teachers, ATEP continues to hold space for them to be in community with one another and with ATEP staff and educators.” 

Meaghean Lehr, who completed her two practicums in her home community of Fishing Lake Métis Settlement near Cold Lake, says the regular coffee chats organized by ATEP to connect student teachers and advisors, along with on-site visits from ATEP facilitators, helped build her confidence in transferring her experience with earlier grades to older students. She also often leaned on the ATEP value of sâkihitowin ekwa sâkihiwêwin (love, and loving one another).

“[Students] need reassurance and love,” Lehr says. “It’s honouring them where they’re at.”

ATEP’s values continue to guide its graduates in their careers, as well the educators who came alongside them as mentor teachers. Terrence Gadwa, from Kehewin Cree Nation near Bonnyville, says the principles that underpinned his experience as an ATEP student have informed his own approach to relationality with youth he teaches. 

“These supporting guiding values that ATEP provides, they help me guide [my] students,” he says. “They need that kind of kinship.”  

Creating space for Indigenous learners

Gracey Rich, from Peavine Métis Settlement near High Prairie, was in her first student-teaching field placement at an urban elementary school when she discovered how ATEP at the 51ÁÔÆæ had prepared her to meet the unique needs of her students. 

One day Rich spotted a student sitting in the school office who refused to attend class. Living many hours away from his home community, he felt disconnected in the school system. Though her first attempt to engage was not successful. 

“But then he noticed I was wearing beaded earrings and he asked, ‘Are you Indigenous?’’ and when I said yes, that clocked it for him,” says Rich. “He was more willing to talk to me. He saw me as an equal.” 

Drawing on the skills she developed at ATEP, Rich spent afternoons with him, teaching him how to bead a moccasin vamp, smudging and offering tobacco to the land. She arranged for him to tour amiskwaciy Academy, a junior-senior high school for Indigenous youth in Edmonton. Before her five-week practicum ended, she had encouraged him to rejoin his classroom.

“If I didn’t have ATEP, I wouldn’t have had the knowledge that allowed me to connect with him,” says Rich. “That’s where I took women’s ribbon skirt workshops, a moss bag workshop, workshops in beading, tufting, the moccasin workshop.” 

Rich’s experience is echoed by many ATEP students who credit the program’s persistent dedication to uplifting Indigenous brilliance and cultures as critically influential in their own educational practices.

Responding to the TRC Calls to Action

The Rideau Hall Foundation has set a goal to help grow the number of First Nations, Inuit and Métis educators in Canadian classrooms to 10,000. Steinhauer says ATEP’s project is a powerful step toward that vision, aligning with national priorities for reconciliation, Indigenous-led education and systemic change.

Between 2025 and 2029, the project will support up to 90 students annually and engage more than 200 school personnel in creating more inclusive and responsive learning environments, resulting in more than 300 newly certified Indigenous K-12 teachers in Canadian classrooms.

“Together, we are contributing to fulfilling the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action,” Steinhauer says. “This grant supports the resurgence of Indigenous knowledges and leadership in the teaching profession — and we are deeply grateful.”