THE MISSION STATED
The Village Academy is a parenting support enterprise. In turn it exists to develop students of enterprise; meaning students who are on the path of becoming firstly, competent independent learners and secondly, self-motivated, self-disciplined entrepreneurs. Our vision is best explained through our logo.

THE LOGO EXPLAINED
Village, translated into the Micmac native language is Canada. In a sense we are the "Canada Academy". The source of our vision is our unique and ever-changing Canadian experience. We have purposely chosen not to follow educational approaches which are sourced in other cultures or philosophies which are foreign to the Ministry of Education in Ontario and the other provinces. It is important to us that our students follow a course of study that qualifies them to enter the colleges and universities of Canada. As a result the logo chosen to represent the vision of the Academy is the Inuit Inukshuk, a simple but profound icon of Canada. Inukshuk means, "like a person." It is a group of rocks placed on each other in the form of a person in order to give direction and point towards the better pathway - often a safer and easier passage. It is a "person" that represents the community based collective wisdom of all those who have gone before. In summary the Village Academy is programmed to capture and then convey the collective wisdom of Canadian parents that needs to be passed on to their children.

As a timeless messenger built across Canada's majestic northlands the Inukshuk holds within itself the power to enrich, indeed sustain the life of individual travelers. It shows the better way. Are we not all but travelers for a short while on this earth and do we not all from time to time need help in finding our way? Each new traveler is greeted by the silent but sustained whisper, "you can because we cared." This simple yet profound image celebrating the timeless generosity of one generation helping the next to find a path over the difficult terrain of life, speaks volumes to the role of parents and teachers in today's world.

LEARNING TO READ THE SIGNPOSTS OF LIFE
When the first immigrant explorers came to the lands of the north they saw these silent piles of rock which had been built with Inuit hands but they did not comprehend their meaning. Listening and looking through the eyes and ears of their culture they failed to see or hear what the Inukshuk's were shouting to all the world. Locked into their ethnocentricity they were sociologically deaf and blind to the experience base of another people. One commentator has indicated that the Northwest Passage across the north of Canada could have been discovered centuries sooner had the simple meaning of the Inukshuk been understood. The explorers had charts and what were then modern scientific instruments (sextants) to guide them by the stars, the moon and the sun. However, the heavens only told them which direction they were going, it did not tell them which was the best direction to follow in a new land of infinite choice. That comes only from experience. Technology can never replace experience when a person is confronted with choices. Only the Inuit, who over the space of centuries had learned by traveling and kayaking through the rugged north, knew where to find the best currents for boats and the best paths for overland travel.

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