Dolores Wawia to be Featured on TVO's Your Voice

(February 4, 2009 --Thunder Bay, ON) TVO will be bringing Your Voice, an online discussion series for parents, to the Thunder Bay's Fort William First Nation Community Centre to examine issues in Aboriginal education, with an expert guest panel on February 6 and 7. Two specials focusing on Aboriginal Education will be taped.

Lakehead University professor Dolores Wawia of the Department of Aboriginal Education will be a featured guest on Your Voice. Dolores Wawia, Muk-Kee-Queh (Frog Lady), member of Gull Bay First Nations Reserve, is a highly respected Elder in the Aboriginal community.

Co-chair of the Aboriginal Advisory Committee for the Lakehead Public School Board, she is a survivor of the Residential School system, and was the first Aboriginal woman in Northwestern Ontario to obtain a Bachelor of Arts and a Masters in Education.

According to Wawia, "All teachers should be taught how to meet the needs of Native children in the classroom." Ms. Wawia has been with the Native Teacher Education Program at Lakehead since its inception in 1975, and she was instrumental in setting up the Indigenous Studies Program at McMaster University in 1994 - 1996.

In this episode, Your Voice seeks to explore the role of education in the protection and preservation of Aboriginal culture, as well as how education in Ontario needs to change in order to rebuild trust and give Aboriginal students a greater chance at success. While Aboriginal youth is one of the fastest growing segments of Canada's population, up to half of Canada's Aboriginals aged 25 - 64 have less than a high school education.

The two-part special will be streamed online at tvoparents.com on Tuesday, February 10, and Tuesday, February 17 at 9:00 p.m. ET, and broadcast on air Sunday, February 15, and Sunday, February 22 at 6:00 p.m. on TVO.

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Media: Dolores Wawia is available for media interview. For more information please contact Lisa Pelot, Communications Officer, at 343-8177, or commun@lakeheadu.ca

About Lakehead
Lakehead is a comprehensive university with a reputation for innovative programs and cutting-edge research. With a main campus located in Thunder Bay, Ontario and a campus in Orillia, Ontario, Lakehead has over 7,900 students and 2,250 faculty and staff, and is home to the west campus of the Northern Ontario School of Medicine. In 2006, Research Infosource Inc. named Lakehead University Canada's Research University of the Year in the undergraduate category. For more information on Lakehead University, visit www.lakeheadu.ca