Excerpts
When Pat Calihou was asked to build a children’s playground in Saanich for a Métis child-care centre, he thought back to his own childhood.
“What things did I not have growing up? What things didn’t I see?” said Calihou, a Maple Ridge-based Métis artist.
So he built a child-sized trapper’s cabin, a teepee, a Red River cart, and voyageur boat that all had Métis-specific imagery such as the infinity symbols, snowshoes and the fiddle embedded throughout.
It’s a fun, organic way for children to learn about their history, he said.
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The childcare centre, which was set up in partnership with Island Métis Family and Community Services Society, and the Ministry of Education, was Métis Nation B.C.’s first foray into childcare programs. But more are coming.
Another Métis Nation child-care centre with 34 spaces is expected to open next spring in Port Alberni, with additional centres in Kelowna, Mission, Terrace and Vernon expected to open in the next 12 months.
The five child-care centres were funded with $13.9 million from the federal government though B.C.’s Ministry of Education and Childcare.
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