Chief Kerry Prosper
Director of Education Doreen Prosper
Mi'kmaw Language Teacher/s nil

     Afton First Nation is located sixteen kilometers northeast of Antigonish.  It is a small community of two hundred and eighty-three people.  The number of households is eighty-six.

     Afton First Nation has partial local control of education.  They have had a daycare program operating in their community for the past twenty years.   All their one hundred and nine students from grades P-12 attend provincial schools.  It is not known when Afton can get their own school in their community.

    Presently the language of instruction in their daycare program is English.  If they could train or obtain teachers, they would be able to implement an immersion program.

     There is no Mi'kmaw language course available for the children who attend a nearby provincial school.  If there was a program, the children would have to be taught Mi'kmaw as a second language.

     If people in the community were interested in learning the language, the director felt that they would need a system in place with appropriate materials and resource people.

     Afton has two licensed teachers.  One of them is marginally fluent while the other speaks English only.  Given the appropriate materials and support, the marginal speaker should be capable of teaching the Mi'kmaw language.

     In the past, Afton has made efforts to teach Mi'kmaw to adults and young people in the community.  They have had an excellent teacher by the name of Bernie Francis, a well known Mi'kmaw linguist and instructor who taught there for about six months.

     Presently, Afton offers an after school program for students and a computer training program for the adults in the evening.  Their facility and furnishings are not the best, but they do have access to modern technology.  Several computers are available for interested adults by which they can keep up with the latest in technology.

    Afton is a ten minute drive from St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish.  St. F. X. offers two courses in Mi'kmaw.  One of the courses that is offered was taught in an off-campus site in Eskasoni.  The course in Reading and Writing in Mi'kmaw was taught by a specialist; Elizabeth Paul of Eskasoni.  Also available is Mi'kmaw Language.  Both courses are three credits and offered in alternate years.