The Northern Nishnawbe Education Council was founded in the belief that district First Nations should exercise self-government authority in education through district First Nations organizations and institutions.

NNEC began its life in 1978 as an essential part of the movement for First Nations to develop administrative capacity to take over the boarding program for students of the Sioux Lookout District attending grades 9 through 12 outside their communities. NNEC was incorporated in 1979 as an area Education Authority and is directed by the Chiefs of the 24 Sioux Lookout District First Nations.

Our Crest

The loon sheds a tear and raises her wings to protect her young as they leave the tipi to go to school. The children too, weep gently in their new homes, far away, and dream of the day they will graduate and return as adults to their parents in their traditional territories. The circle of life has no beginning and no end.

NNEC Founding Members

Solomon Lazarus Begg - Big Trout Lake
Charles Stanley Matthews - Fort Severn
Harry Lawrence Semple - Kasabonika
Josie Hartley - Long Dog Lake (Wawakapewin)
Stanley Norman McKay - Angling Lake (Wapakeka)
Joseph Tait - Sachigo Lake
Eunice Fiddler - Muskrat Dam
Jepita Mosquito - Bearskin Lake
Alec Capay - Lac Seul
John George Martin - Wunnumun Lake
Lazarus Kakekayash - Weagamow
Pardamus Anishinabie - Sandy Lake
Raymond Meekis - Deer Lake
John Campbell - North Spirit Lake
Aglaba James - McDowell Lake
Norman Quill - Pikangikum
Joseph Wesley Suggashie - Poplar Hill
Archie Ombash - Cat Lake
Gordon Harvey Carpenter - Slate Falls
Roy Kaminawash - Osnaburgh
Elijah Begg - Kingfisher Lake