News Stories

As we continue to celebrate National Indigenous History Month, we invite you to take part in a learning opportunity.

In 2018, Robert Bateman Secondary offered a unique Art Activism class, which empowered students to become leaders in their community through art. Every year students take on a different social issue and seek to make a difference and promote awareness through community art fundraising events.

Statistics released by the Office of the Correctional Investigator last December were sobering for those concerned with the over incarceration of Indigenous people.

Almost 50 per cent of all federally-sentenced women are Indigenous and the combined men and women proportion has now reached 32 per cent and appears to be climbing.

This week marks the first anniversary of the announcement of the discovery of over 215 children’s remains at Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc First Nation, where the former Kamloops Residential School was located. Since then, Indigenous investigations across the country have found evidence of more than 1,800 confirmed unmarked graves at former residential school sites, with thousands more anticipated to be discovered in the months and years ahead. 

The Grade 5 students at Sandy Hill elementary didn’t know they were capable of such big things.

That was the resounding message from the kids as they filled 500 bags with personal hygiene products for refugees last week.

Students and seniors who were matched in a flower project through an Abbotsford elementary school were finally able to meet in person on Friday (May 6) for its completion.

The project, Planting Intergenerational Promises, paired teacher Debbie Mar’s 22 Grade 3 students at Upper Sumas Elementary with seniors through Archway Community Services.

The program was done in partnership with the B.C. Agriculture in the Classroom Foundation.

The Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the First Nations Education Steering Committee (FNESC), is implementing a new graduation requirement. 

On March 4, the Provincial Government announced that it is expected in the 2023-24 school year, this new requirement will take effect. Secondary students who are to graduate from B.C.’s K-12 education system will be required to complete Indigenous-focused coursework before they graduate. Students currently in Grade 10 would be the first group to complete this new requirement. 

Dear Abbotsford School District families,

This past week has been a difficult time with the invasion of Ukraine. Children, youth and even adults may experience a range of emotions when they hear about or see images and videos from these deeply upsetting events. I wanted to reach out to share available supports, should you find them of use.

Thousands of students and staff across the Abbotsford School District recognized the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Orange Shirt Day and Truth and Reconciliation Week. From a virtual assembly to classroom-based group projects, students worked with their teachers and Indigenous Education staff over the course of the last few days to build a better understanding and awareness of truth and reconciliation.

A group of Rick Hansen Secondary students recently launched a video project that sheds light on the impact of inclusivity and equity in their community. The new video production, 'What is Vaisakhi?', is being shared online and may become the groundwork for other schools in the Abbotsford school district to use when trying to explain cultural similarities in their school communities. 

When Abbotsford, B.C., teacher Nerlap Sidhu met her Grade 6 social studies students at the beginning of term last September, she knew right away she wanted to do a class project with them about anti-racism and inclusion.

Last spring, Black Lives Matter protests had ramped up in the U.S. following the killing of George Floyd during an arrest in Minneapolis.

Conversations about police violence and racism were also heating up in Canada.