UPDATE ON MARCH 30, 2021
Congratulations to the James Bay Eeyou Student, Tashvit Verma, who won first place for this year's Expo-Sciences Autochtone and was automatically selected for the Canada-Wide Science Fair for his science project "Learning Analyzer: A Fortran Code." Good luck at Nationals!
Our 2021 Regional Science Fair was organized as our first virtual science fair this year! The Waapihtiiwewan School hosted the regional event that took place on February 23 & 26. Students across Eeyou Istchee were invited to submit their science projects by video.
Several years ago, the Cree School Board began planning to improve digital literacy and learning technologies in concert with Quebec’s Digital Action Plan for Education. Student laptops, accounts, and an eventual department for e-learning was a long-term vision for the CSB. However, COVID-19 school closures changed what was once a gradual, decade-long strategy into a sprint to digital readiness.
Pink Shirt Day happened on February 24, 2021, and it was a day where Cree School Board students and employees took a stand against harassment and bullying in our schools, workplaces, homes and online. Pink Shirt Day has shown the importance of supporting each other, especially for those who need it. Here are a few things our students and employees participated for the anti-bullying campaign in their schools.
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Wemindji is a Cree community about 1,400 people at the mouth of the Maquatua River on the eastern shore of James Bay. The community is nestled on an inlet among the picturesque Painted Hills Islands. The name Wemindji comes from the Cree for "ochre hills" or wiimin uchii. The people of Wemindji relocated to the current site of the community in 1959 from their original home on Old Factory Island.
Maquatua School first opened its doors to students in 1973 under the name Wemindji Day School. In the late 1980’s a large addition was added to the original building. A local contest was held to rename the building. MaquatuaEeyou School was the winning entry and references the location of the school on the Maquatua River.
In 2016 Wemindi celebrated the opening of an elementary school to serve the student population from Pre-K to Grade 6 and so MaquatuaEeyou School now serves only secondary students.
Joy Ottereyes Rainbow Memorial School opened in August 2016, with an official inauguration in April of the following year.
The school was named after a Grade 6 student, Joy Ottereyes, who passed away suddenly in 2010 as the result of an allergic reaction. Joy would have graduated the year the school named for her opened. The "Rainbow" was added to the school's name because Joy loved rainbows and would often sign her name with a rainbow at the end of it.