Edith Loring-Kuhanga has spent more than 40 years advancing Indigenous-controlled, culturally based education. With a bachelor’s and master’s degree in education from the University of Victoria, she has helped federally-run schools in British Columbia and Alberta transfer authority to band jurisdiction, and travelled across Canada helping First Nations build relevant education programs.
During her ten years as a trustee with the Greater Victoria and Saanich school boards, chairing Greater Victoria for four, she initiated the province’s first mandatory Indigenous-content graduation requirement.
As school administrator of Stein Valley Nlaka’pamux School in Lytton, BC she built a year-round cultural curriculum framework that lifted student achievement and well-being; in July 2020 it became the first school in Canada to reopen during COVID-19. She helped set up a muster station at that school during the 2021 Lytton Creek fire and organized the commemoration of the anniversary of that fire a year later.
A former elected councillor for the Gitwangak Band. She is now helping open the Gitksen West Secondary School in Gitwangak.