This entry was originally posted on the State of the Nation: K-12 e-Learning in Canada website.

As a part of the 2019 State of the Nation: K-12 e-Learning in Canada report, we have featured a vignette from the Wahsa Distance Education Centre (WDEC).  This is actually the projects first interactions with the WDEC, which was one of the few known First Nations, Metis, and Inuit e-learning programs that we were left to contact.

The Northern Nishnawbe Education Council described WDEC as “a First Nations high school program dedicated to providing quality secondary education services to remote Ojibway, Cree, and Oji-Cree communities across Northwestern Ontario,” while the program’s About page tells us that WDEC “is a program of the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council with headquarters in Sioux Lookout, Ontario, and serves a geographical area of 200,000 square kilometers, including many communities restricted by fly-in access only.”  It looks like 28 communities based on my count of their map.  You can see some of the graduating class from 2018 and 2019 from these notices in the Sioux Bulletin.

In searching around, it appears that this is one of the few written profiles of the WDEC.  Paul Bennett produced a profile of WDEC for the Northern Policy Institute, which was a part of the After the Healing: Safeguarding Northern Nishnawbe First Nations High School Education research project that the Institute supported (see the full report here).

The State of the Nation: K-12 e-Learning in Canada research team are pleased to welcome the involvement of the Wahsa Distance Education Centre to the annual study.FNMI