Indigenous Peoples Education Circle (IPEC)

Indigenous Peoples Education Circle

In 2004, a small group of Indigenous education advocates from six colleges were invited by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) to make a team presentation at the annual conference of the Association of Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology in Kingston, Ontario.  These participants were selected for their Indigenous education initiatives which were funded by the Aboriginal Education and Training Strategy Fund.  These representatives worked in Indigenous programs and services at Canadore, Cambrian, Confederation, Georgian, George Brown and Sault College.  The conference enabled these educators to highlight the best practices of Indigenous education within their respective colleges.  When the conference was over these participants were encouraged to share their models of delivery on an ongoing basis with their colleagues across the system.  The Ministry supported the participants in the initial phase of this provincial process.  The view was such that Indigenous education within the colleges had not been highlighted provincially before this conference and that there was a need to continue to share experiences and best practices amongst other colleges. 

The initial six college representatives began organizing meetings and developing an outreach strategy amongst other Indigenous educators in the colleges.  The goal was to bring together all those colleges that had received designated Indigenous specific funding from MTCU to not only share best practices but to communicate regularly to support each other with information and expertise.  A few years later, IPEC was formally recognized through Colleges Ontario to serve as a constituency group not unlike other such designated program groups inside the college system. Questions regarding IPEC can be directed to [email protected]

IPEC Executive

Carolyn Hepburn, Chair
Dean, Indigenous Education & Academic Upgrading
Sault College