How Learning Hubs are helping Indigenous communities grow their own teachers
For many Indigenous students, getting a university education means leaving home.
It involves leaving family and community behind, travelling hundreds of kilometres to pursue a degree. Once students graduate, they often never return home, instead establishing their careers in urban centres. Meanwhile, Indigenous communities are in need of professionals, especially teachers who share language, culture and lived experiences with their students.
Today, thanks to the development of community Learning Hubs, more opportunities are becoming available for Indigenous students to access post-secondary education closer to home.
This story began in 2020, when Interlake Reserves Tribal Council (IRTC) approached the University of Manitoba (UM) for a letter of support to advocate for a permanent training centre for its seven member First Nations.
Those conversations coincided with UM's emerging partnership with the Mastercard Foundation's EleV Program and eventually grew into a pilot Learning Hub, bringing post-secondary education directly into Indigenous communities.
The IRTC Learning Hub officially opened in Pinaymootang First Nation in 2021. Its first full degree program—University College of the North (UCN)’s five-year Kenanow Bachelor of Education—has now produced its first graduates. This summer, 11 students crossed the stage, with four more expected to complete the program in the coming months. All 15 have accepted teaching positions in their home communities.
When asked what the Learning Hub has meant for the community, Pinaymootang First Nation Employment and Training Coordinator Ethel Anderson answers without hesitation.
“The biggest thing is they learned at home. They didn't have to leave.”
For graduate Rosanna Anderson, the opportunity changed everything.
As the mother of five daughters, she cannot imagine relocating her entire family to attend university.
“We didn't have to uproot our family.”
While completing her education degree, Rosanna Anderson balanced family life with evening classes, weekends and summer coursework.
She describes the Learning Hub as a second home, where classmates supported one another throughout five years of study. This fall, she will begin teaching at the local high school, where she hopes to introduce a music program.
Graduate Curtis Sinclair represents another side of the Learning Hub story.
Before entering UCN's Kenanow Bachelor of Education program, he worked as an educational assistant in the community school. Even before graduating, he had already accepted a teaching position in a Grade 6/7 classroom.
Now, Sinclair is returning to the community that helped shape him, ready to help shape the next generation.
“We’re growing the future of communities.”
For UCN instructor Kimberly Robinson, the success of the graduates goes far beyond earning degrees.
“We want our youth to be educated by our people.”
Robinson believes students benefit from seeing teachers who share their culture, community and lived experiences—teachers who understand where they come from and who they are.
That message echoed throughout the graduation ceremony.
Pinaymootang First Nation Chief Kurvis Anderson reminded graduates that teachers shape far more than academic success. They influence children's goals, character and futures, encouraging graduates to remember that one day, the students sitting in their classrooms may stand where they are today.
Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs Grand Chief Kyra Wilson, whose remarks were delivered by Senior Advisor Ovide Mercredi, placed the graduates' achievements in a broader context.
Mercredi added that the right to education should mean First Nations people can learn on their own lands, within their own communities, rather than being forced to leave home.
Today, these graduates are bringing more than degrees back to their communities—they are becoming role models in whom the next generation can see their own language, culture and identity reflected.
UM recognizes that lasting change is built through respectful partnerships. By listening, learning and working alongside Indigenous communities, UM is committed to co-creating initiatives like the Learning Hubs that support Indigenous learners in pursuing education, meaningful careers and thriving futures while staying connected to their families, cultures and communities.
“We are deeply grateful to the Mastercard Foundation for its partnership and investment in this work, which is helping institutions collaborate to expand access to education and meaningful livelihoods while supporting learners to remain rooted in their home communities.”
Over the coming months, all 15 students will step into local classrooms as the next generation of teachers.
Somewhere in those classrooms will be a child who dreams of becoming a teacher.
Now, that dream can begin close to home.
Community-driven Learning Hubs bring post-secondary education, training opportunities and supports to Indigenous students in their home communities. Supported through UM’s partnership with the Mastercard Foundation’s EleV Program, four Learning Hubs are being developed in collaboration with community partners.
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