About Us
Nicola-Similkameen (School District #58) is located within the traditional territories of the Nɬeʔkepmx and Syilx people. Our district proudly includes six local Bands: Coldwater Band, Lower Nicola Band, Nooaitch Band, Shackan Band, Upper Nicola Band, and Upper Similkameen Band. We are honored to serve students from these Bands as well as the Métis people.
We provide educational services to a diverse and multicultural student population, with approximately 40 percent of our students being of Indigenous ancestry.
Our Indigenous Education Enhancement Agreement outlines the goals, strategies, and structures that serve as a framework for our students' success. As detailed in our Local Education Agreement, some of these goals include:
- Ensuring that students are confident in their self-identity, their families, their communities, and their traditional values, languages, and cultures.
- Equipping students with the skills they need to thrive in contemporary society, including 21st-century technological skills.
-
Preparing students to graduate and transition to post-secondary education, training, or employment.
Land Acknowledgment
We acknowledge that we learn, teach and work on the traditional, ancestral and unceded, territory of the Nɬeʔkepmx and Syilx People.
Acknowledging the territory is performed at any significant event such as school assemblies, awards, meetings, presentations, graduation, celebrations in Aboriginal communities are some examples. Acknowledging the territory is a way of honouring and showing respect for a group of people who have been living and working on this land from times before colonization. A "Welcome" to the territory is only offered by the First Nations people who are traditionally from the territory. Visitors, including everyone who is not a member of the traditional First Nation, would "acknowledge" the territory.
