Awashishuck is a Cree word that means "children". So Awashishuck Daycare means "Children's Daycare". It can serve up to 36 Aboriginal children, ranging from infants to senior kindergarten age. Awashishuck has been open since November 27th, 1995 and has since demonstrated that it is possible to be a culturally based program and meet the stringent daycare licensing regulations in Toronto.

Awashishuck serves the need for a strong cultural presence in the lives of our children living in an urban setting. We believe that investing in good consistent, cultural programming for our children will help them to develop good self-esteem. We foster development of good self-esteem through a positive understanding of their identity as Aboriginal people and by providing an opportunity to develop all the foundation skills necessary for later learning. We have an Ojibwe language teacher to provide the children with daily lessons. We also have visiting Elders involved in our program. At Awashishuck, we recognize that our role is to support Aboriginal families by providing quality cultural based daycare. We share the desire of the parents for their child to develop good self-esteem and a foundation of literacy skills so that their Aboriginal child has the necessary tools to build on in the mainstream schooling system

Awashishuck was opened in 1995 and our goal is to provide a traditional, well-balanced program to our First Nations children.

Currently there are two management staff, eight daycare teachers and one in-house cook who prepares traditional foods.

Due to the location of our daycare, the women who use Nekenaan Housing have the opportunity to take advantage of the daycare, which is on the premises.

1296 Weston Road
2nd Floor
Toronto, ON
M6M 4R3

Phone: (416) 243-1464
Fax: (416) 243-9929

E-mail: awashishuck@anduhyaun.org

Daycare Director: Jules Koostachin