Funding bump for next four years welcomed by Yellowknife land-based education centre

Yeah, I feel like that's a question a few elders were asking. Staff from the DeChinta Center for Research and Learning tour the Camp Connection site. It's roughly an hour drive out of Yellowknife. This winter will be their third time hosting programs there. And spirits are high. Their annual federal funding is set to go up from two to three million dollars a year through 2031, as outlined in the federal budget. It's the result of years of advocacy. Honestly we were jokingly gonna have like a watch party even though we were like does that happen with a budget? We didn't know but it's been a lot of work, a lot of trips to Ottawa. We've had elders down in Ottawa meeting politicians and And, um. civil servants and people down in Ottawa so yeah it's been a lot of time, energy and effort so when we finally got the news it was we were all celebrating. DeChinta offers land-based post-secondary education, research and community engagement across the north. It delivers accredited university-level education in a way that's anchored in indigenous culture and practices like hide tanning and harvesting muskrat with northern indigenous students in mind. Students can even bring their kids along to land-based And that's not... It's Western and it's built for them and with them and just see their confidence grow. So I'm super excited and I feel like over the last eight years I've seen DeChinta grow and now it's amazing to see that we are still here, we're continuing this program and yeah, we can just dream big now. See what's next. DeChinta's continued funding is also set to benefit the organizations it works with. I think it's good news for the NWT and the North in general, just being able to get that research funding, as well as being able to offer the on-the-land programs in a way that's where they have funding into the future is really supportive for the long-term planning. This funding means stability for the Chinta. It can keep delivering education for Northerners right at home and keep expanding its programs across all three territories. Sarah Saint-Pierre, CBC News, Yellowknife.