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Nibinamik students continuing to raise money for Toronto trip

Nibinamik Education Centre looking for support to send students in grades 7 and 8 on a trip to Toronto.

NIBINAMIK FIRST NATION — Staff and students at the Nibinamik Education Centre are hoping to raise money for a trip that's been years in the making.

The school is looking to take students in grades 7 and 8 on a trip to Toronto, where they'll be able to visit the Royal Ontario Museum, Ontario Science Centre, and Queen's Park. Initial fundraising for the trip started in 2020.

More than $40,000 of the $60,000 required for the trip has been raised through various community fundraisers and donations, but there is still $20,000 that's needed.

David Mossman, a Grade 5/6 teacher at Nibinamik Education Centre, said opportunities for the youth are fairly limited in the remote community.

“When they look around here, the only jobs they really see are working at the community store, potentially working for the band council, or working for the nursing station. But the scope of what’s out there and what possibilities are out there, they have no idea really,” Mossman said.

Nibinamik First Nation, located 500 kilometres north of Thunder Bay, is one of many fly-in First Nations communities in northern Ontario. With no road access and a small airport, an ice road during the winter months is the community’s more inexpensive way to travel.

“Up here, we find that they see the lack of opportunities and that trickles down to them not attending high school. Some at the end of grade eight stop showing up because they have no motivation or goals,” Mossman said.

Nibinamik Education Centre’s Go Fund Me page states the hardships within the community reflect a lot of their experience. The community has been under a boil water advisory since 2013. Their homes are over-crowd with up to four generations of family members under one roof. Their homes are non-insulated from the elements and have long-standing mould issues. Some have no running water. Low-income family situations and poor housing conditions contribute to depression and suicides among First Nations youths.

“We really want to take them to different places like museums, the aquarium, and government places like Queens Park and show them all these different kinds of opportunities in science and the arts,” Mossman said. “Some of them think, “I can never go into acting because I’m from here.” We want to show them there are different opportunities all over.”

Mossman said Toronto is the best fit for their trip because most of the youth have seen smaller cities like Thunder Bay. Although Thunder Bay has its fair share of culture, the scale of a metropolitan area offers a broader experience.

“Between the ages of 12 and 14, they really soak everything in and if we take them down to southern Ontario, everything there from restaurants to the theatre to arts and science centres just for them to see and learn a lot, but also to see all the different places people are working. There are things you can do in your life where you can travel, and where you can live,” Mossman said.

Once in Toronto, Mossman states that the student will be staying in the residence building at the University of Toronto where they will get the first-hand experience of living somewhat like a university student.

“I know they are a few years away from that, but that can be at the back of their minds and that might keep their educational goals in line,” said Mossman. “If anybody in the public is generous enough and willing to donate five or ten bucks, anything will help. It is a large sum of money, but in the end, it can do a lot of good."



Clint Fleury

About the Author: Clint Fleury

Clint Fleury is a web reporter covering Northwestern Ontario and the Superior North regions.
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