The New Mi'kmawey School
Chief Lindsay Marshall
Director of Education Margaret Gloade
Mi'kmaw Language Teacher/s Roseanne Murray
Chapel Island, located ten kilometers from St. Peter's on Cape Breton Island, is a small community of almost four hundred people. The number of households in this community is one hundred and three.
The old school built in 1939 was a poorly furnished one room school. Like so many schools in the early years, attendance was very bad. From 1965 to 1982, the children attended school off reserve in Johnstown about twenty-five kilometers away. In 1982, Chapel Island operated a school on reserve housed in two portables run by Dr. Marie Battiste. Last year the community opened a brand new facility.
The New Mi'kmawey School
The new school has an enrolment of eighty-five
students from head start to grade seven. Mi'kmaw is taught as a second
language in this school and the majority of the teachers are Mi'kmaq.
The official language in this school and in the community is Mi'kmaw.
| a. Never heard Mi'kmaq spoken at home |
| b. Grand/parents or yourself attended Residential School |
| c. Children attended non-native schools in your area |
| d. Only way to succeed in school was to speak English |
| e. Brought in by a family member from the U.S. |
| f. Neighbours speak English |
| g. Too much English on TV |
| h. Knows the language but afraid to make mistakes |
| i. One of the parents was non-native |
| j. Babysitter was English speaking |
| k. Other |
