Our logo is an adaptation of the medicine wheel, a centred and quartered circle, a symbol associated mainly with the First Nations of the plains - Cree, Blackfoot, Dakota and others. It has been adopted by many First Nations and was used in the 1996 report of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples [RCAP] in its depiction of lifelong, holistic education (see vol. 3, Gathering Strength, p. 445).

“The medicine wheel represents the circle that encompasses all life and all that is known or knowable, linked together in a whole with no beginning and no end.... The lines intersecting at the centre of the circle signify order and balance. They help people examine experience by breaking down complex situations into constituent parts, while reminding them not to forget the whole. The centre of the wheel is the balance point where apparent opposites meet. The flags at the ends of the intersecting lines signify the four winds whose movement is a reminder that nothing is fixed or stagnant, that change is the normal experience and transformation is always possible” (vol. 1, Looking Forward, Looking Back, pp. 646-647).

We use the medicine wheel to depict the four steps of the Educational Review and the continuity of results that flow from it.

For details about the medicine wheel as depicted in the RCAP report, visit the Commission website: http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ch/rcap/index_e.html.