8 METIS NA TION Of ONT ARIO Annu A l Repo R t 20122013 The MNO s work with gover nment agencies combined with MNO citizens encouraging our young people will generate the kind of inter generational success necessar y to build a str onger Metis Nation in the futur e e ducation A key element in building that str onger futur e is securing the Metis place in the pr ovincial education system Accor dingly this year the MNO r eleased thr ee major r eports on the status of Metis within the Ontario education system The Our Place in the Cir cle r eport examined teacher training in Ontario to determine what teachers ar e being taught about the Metis Another r eport studied Metis content in the Kinder garten to Grade 12 curriculum and school pr ogramming while another study looked at similar issues at the postsecondar y level While all these r eports showed a need for impr ovement they also demonstrated a str ong inter est in the part of educators and gover nment offcials to work together with the MNO for meaningful change Postsecondar y education is an ar ea wher e of the MNO is incr easingly making its pr esence felt In October 2012 I r epr esented the Metis Nation at the Indigenous Education Summit wher e I was a key note speaker along with the former Prime Minister the Right Honourable Paul Martin as well as other nationally and inter nationally known experts on Aboriginal education MNO staf f also pr esented at the summit as well as at other national and pr ovincial educational confer ences thr oughout the year Contributing to our gr owing infuence in the postsecondar y feld is the Infnite Reach Metis Student Soli darity Network which had a highly successful year It trained 22 Infnite Reach facilitators who attend 15 On tario postsecondar y institutions These enthusiastic Metis youth assist other Metis students adjust to academic life and identify ser vices and pr ograms that can help them They also encourage our students to participate in the o n s ept 24 2012 p r esident l ipinski and mno Chair f rance p icot te part icipated wit h members of t he Joint W orking Gr oup on v iolence a gainst a boriginal W omen in a meet ing in T or onto The Hon l aur el b r oten m inister r esponsible for W omen s Issues and p r emier Wynne who was m inister of a boriginal a f fairs at t he t ime wer e part of t he meet ing