Verna Kirkness

Verna Jane Kirkness
Born	1935 Fisher River Cree Nation, Manitoba
Residence	Winnipeg, Manitoba
Nationality	Canadian
Education	B.A (1974) B.Ed. (1976) Master of Education (1980)
Alma mater	University of Manitoba
Awards	Order of Canada (1998), Order of Manitoba (2007), Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal (2003)

Verna Jane Kirkness, CM OM (born 1935 Fisher River Cree Nation, Manitoba) is a Cree scholar, pioneer and lifelong proponent of indigenous language, culture and education who has been influential in Canadian indigenous education policy and practice. She is an associate professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia and resides in Winnipeg. Kirkness has received numerous awards for her outstanding contributions spanning five decades including the Order of Canada in 1998. Kirkness had an important impact on Canadian indigenous education policy and practice. She is the author of "numerous books and articles on the history of Indigenous education." The University of Manitoba's Verna J. Kirkness Science and Engineering Education Program was established in 2009 and in November 2013 a native studies colloquium honoured her as a national leader in education.

Kirkness attended a private high school in the 1950s 160 kilometres away from Fisher River with her tuition paid by the Women's Missionary Society of Canada.

Kirkness graduated from the Manitoba Normal School with a Teaching Certificate in 1959. She completed her B.A (1974), B.Ed. (1976) and Master of Education (1980) at the University of Manitoba.

With her teaching certificate in 1959, Kirkness began to teach in a residential school. She taught elementary school in the Manitoba public school system then worked as principal in First Nations schools. While acting as the "first cross-cultural consultant for the Manitoba Department of Education Curriculum Branch" and Elementary School Supervisor with Frontier School Division from 1967 to 1970, Kirkness launched a language immersion program in Cree and Ojibwa in several Manitoba schools.

In the early 1970s she was the first education director for the Manitoba Indian Brotherhood—now known as the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs—and then the National Indian Brotherhood where she played a pivotal role in the publication of the two quintessential policy documents, "Wahbung: Our Tomorrows" (1971) and "Indian Control of Indian Education" (1972). "These two major works have shaped First Nations education in Canada for more than 40 years."

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