Image: Sqwá First Nation / Sqwa First Nation and Chilliwack School District announced a groundbreaking partnership Friday (Sept. 1) in which an Adult Education Centre will be established at Sqwa First Nation and be open to all community members. The First Nation band, located about two kilometres west of downtown Chilliwack, says the Adult Education Centre will offer opportunities for adults to earn their B.C. Adult Graduation Diploma (Adult Dogwood) while gaining valuable trade or vocational skills, like building maintenance, education assistant, carpentry, office administration, Indigenous entrepreneurial cook and adult updating. 

By Mike Vanden Bosch

Sqwá First Nation

Sqwá First Nation in Chilliwack partners with SD33 to establish new Adult Education Centre

Sep 5, 2023 | 9:19 AM

CHILLIWACK — Sqwa First Nation and Chilliwack School District announced a groundbreaking partnership Friday (Sept. 1) in which an Adult Education Centre will be established at Sqwa First Nation and be open to all community members.

In a news release, the First Nation reserve, located about two kilometres west of downtown Chilliwack, says the Adult Education Centre will offer opportunities for adults to earn their B.C. Adult Graduation Diploma (Adult Dogwood) while gaining valuable trade or vocational skills.

Leaders of SD33 and Sqwa First Nation met last Friday to officially celebrate the partnership by signing a memorandum of understanding. This collaborative commitment signifies a step forward for adult education in Chilliwack because adult education will now make training for employment part of the Adult Graduation program, and is therefore free to participants. All Adult Education programs are free to students who graduated in June 2023 and were under 19 on July 1. Programs will begin in September and registrations are currently being accepted.

“The establishment of the Adult Education Centre and our partnership with the Chilliwack School District represents a significant stride in advancing education, training and employment for Sqwá community members, and also other First Nations and non-First Nations, throughout the region,” said Chief Lara Mussell of Sqwá First Nation. “Adults now have an opportunity to fulfill their goal of completing high school, at any age, while concurrently obtaining valuable skills and training that will lead to gainful employment.”

The programs being offered include building maintenance, education assistant, carpentry, Indigenous entrepreneurial cook, office administration and adult updating.

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“This partnership between the Chilliwack School District and the Sqwá First Nation will ensure we create opportunities for all Indigenous learners in our community to obtain their Dogwood Diploma while celebrating and honoring an important First Peoples Principle of Learning – that ‘learning involves patience and time,'” SD33 Superintendent Rohan Arul-pragasam said in a statement. “The opportunity for ungraduated and recently graduated adults to receive free training in a trade or vocation, while completing or upgrading their high school diploma, will help our students thrive in an ever-changing world. Thank you to leaders from the Chilliwack School District and Sqwá First Nation, who worked tirelessly to make this vision a reality.”

To apply, or for more information on this new program in Chilliwack, contact Dianne.Parkinson@skwah.org, or call 604-308-4829. Sqwa (Skwah) First Nation is located at 615 Lower Landing Drive.