With the release this fall of a new learning resource on the history and legacy of residential schools in British Columbia, the BCTF is continuing its work toward justice and equity for Aboriginal students, teachers, and communities.
“It’s so important that now, following on the landmark report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission last June, we provide teachers with tools and support to bring this tragic part of our shared history alive in classrooms across the province,” said BCTF President Jim Iker.
“It is precisely because education was the primary tool of oppression of Aboriginal people, and miseducation of all Canadians, that we have concluded that education holds the key to reconciliation.” ~ Justice Murray Sinclair, Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.
Project of Heart: Illuminating the hidden history of Indian Residential Schools in BC is available as a 40-page publication and as an online ebook which contains links to a great range of teaching resources including videos, original historical documents, timelines, classroom activities, and more.
The resource contains moving testimonials from elders who endured the abuses of the residential school system and survived, as well as the story of one girl among the estimated 6,000 children who did not survive. It also profiles two key historical characters: the federal bureaucrat who promoted the Indian residential school system and the doctor who blew the whistle on this national crime. As well, it looks at the Harper government’s apology to residential school survivors and the lack of follow up to this historic gesture. The courage and resilience of the children in the face of profound neglect and abuse, and the ongoing resistance of Aboriginal people to the government’s assimilationist policies are also important themes.
Discover A Range of Teaching Tools. The book, Project of Heart, is available online at bctf.ca/HiddenHistory and on the TeachBC website. For copies in print, please contact Gail Stromquist, BCTF Aboriginal education co-ordinator, at gstromquist@bctf.ca.
First Nations Drum Newspaper reaches out to Aboriginal peoples across Canada, providing information to help build strong communities. We are currently preparing an Education Directory of schools with programs tailored to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples. This guide will be included as a separate insert within the paper, in full colour, that can be kept for future reference.
Our Education Directory will provide information to help recent high school graduates and returning students make choices for the upcoming school year. Parents encouraging their children to attend college, university, or skills training programs will also benefit from information to help young adults develop a career pathway plan.
Every school advertising in the Education Directory has the opportunity to submit a 500 word story about the school or a successful student to add to our editorial. Our camera-ready advanced booking date is November 6th, which offers priority placement in the guide. The final booking date is November 12th. If you do not have an ad, our in-house graphic artist can create one for you free of charge.
Please contact the First Nations Drum sales department:
OTTAWA – On October 5, polling stations opened at 40 campuses across the country. Brigette DePape and other young activists participated in “Storm the Dorm” at university campuses to boost youth voter turnout.
“Over 80% of young people want to see a change in government. Our generation can make that change happen by voting,” says Brigette DePape, the Council of Canadians Youth Vote Campaigner who first gained prominence in 2011 as the rogue page holding a “Stop Harper” sign.
“Voting is an essential step to get the government you want,” adds DePape. “Despite the Harper government making it harder for us to vote, young people are going to be the game-changers nobody saw coming.”
Storm the Dorm events encourage university students to vote. Photo by Jared Korb
These events are a partnership effort between the Council of Canadians, the Canadian Federation of Students, the Canadian Labour Congress, Unifor, the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition, and Check Your Head.
Participating universities included Simon Fraser University (Burnaby & Vancouver), University of Calgary, University of Manitoba (Winnipeg), University of Toronto and UT Scarborough campus, Concordia University (Montreal), McMaster University (Hamilton), and Western University (London).
The Council of Canadians / Le Conseil des Canadiens
In a recent survey, ten successful men and women were asked what part education had in their success and whether their parents supported them and encouraged them to attend university or college. Not surprisingly, all praised their parents for helping them through their childhood and convincing them of the importance of post-secondary education.
There is a fine balance for parents who are dealing with children going through the rebellious period of the teenage years. Parents must be strong, strict, yet understanding and patient while at the same time trying to convince their children that going to university has to be their own decision or it will be destined for failure.
The communication lines must be open. Playing sports—any sport—with children can be a healthy way of communicating with your children on another level. Introducing children to books or music and helping them work through personal problems can create a closer ties and strengthen a parent’s bond with a child. This is very important because as they get older and are dealing with school, friends, growing up, and eventually relationships with the opposite sex, the communication lines with your children could suffer unless you the parent take into consideration the changes your children going through.
Communication is pivotal. It’s important to talk to your children to show that you’re interested and there to help. Bring discussions about career choices and interests to the kitchen table. Talk to your children about positive work experiences you’ve had. This sends the message that work can be meaningful and enjoyable. Balance is important, too. Let your children see that life is a combination of hard work and enjoyment. Also, you must let them know that you have made mistakes, but they helped you grow. Billionaire Bill Gates stated that he only hires people who have tried and failed; the will to succeed will get stronger if you made it through tough times.
Use time spent in the car to ask your children about their interests and activities. Get involved in an activity that you can do with your children. Make a list of occupations of interest. Each month, select an occupation to explore and discuss with your children. There are a multitude of high tech jobs that have been created in the last 20 years, for example. Find out what university or college degree can prepare your children for a position in high tech. Clip out career articles and put them on the fridge for everyone to see and discuss. This will open the door to post-secondary education discussion.
Explore music, books, websites, movies, TV shows, sports, and other things your children are interested in. Use these as starting points for career-related discussions. As a parent, you play a key role in helping your children succeed. In fact, you are you are your child’s head coach. Keep in mind that your teenage child needs to find an occupation that fits their skills, interests, values, and beliefs right now. As they journey through life, they’ll continue to evaluate and adjust their career plans in response to external factors like a shift in their interests or a change in their life circumstances.
Be observant and generous with your praise. Pay attention to how your teenage son or daughter spends their spare time because it is often a clue to what they are good at. Share what you enjoy about your own job. Talk about how your values, interests, skills, and personality link to your work.
Career planning is a lifelong journey, and the cycle repeats over and over again. Every journey has its unexpected turns. As your teenage child makes occupational choices, things may happen to change their plans. Help your child prepare for the good and the bad along their journey and discuss the importance of having a backup plan.
Brian Tracy, a specialist on the development of human potential and personal effectiveness, says, “If you raise your children to feel that they can accomplish any goal or task they decide upon, you will have succeeded as a parent, and you will have given your children the greatest of all gifts.”
Bruce Walsh, director of the University of Regina Press since 2013, is two time winner of the Libris Award for outstanding contribution to Canadian Literature. He has worked with writers including Alice Munro, Leonard Cohen, and Margaret Atwood.
In the early seventies when not all universities had Aboriginal programs or courses, the University of Regina under the auspices of Canadian Plains Research Centre Press published books on a variety of educational topics and Aboriginal history. They published 230 books from 1974 until 2013 when the CPRC became the U of Regina Press and Bruce Walsh was hired as director. A savvy veteran of the book industry, Walsh is two-time winner of the Libris Award for outstanding contribution to Canadian publishing and has worked with the best of Canadian writers, including Alice Munro, Leonard Cohen, and Margaret Atwood. “I’m joining a team of publishing professionals who have a history of putting out sophisticated and necessary books,” Walsh said when he was hired. “I have every expectation that we will do great things together.”
David Malloy, the Associate Vice-President (Research) of the University of Regina was happy to have Walsh as director of the U of Regina Press. “I am pleased to have someone of Bruce Walsh’s calibre join us at the University of Regina. With a goal to enhance scholarship, discover great writers, and have our books read around the world, we are very pleased to have Bruce leading the publishing team.”
It didn’t take the team long to produce. Regina U Press have two best sellers in 2015: The Education of Augie Merasty: A Residential School Memoir and Clearing the Plains, both nonfiction. “In less than two years, we’re a player on the Canadian publishing scene,” Bruce Walsh said, “and we’re working very hard to have a footprint internationally.” Walsh also has high expectations for Children of the Broken Treaty written by Charlie Angus and due for release in August. “It’s going to make readers rage at a system stacked against First Nations kids.”
The Education of Augie Merasty: A Residential School Memoir is a true story told by a man who was brought to St. Therese Residential Residential School in northern Saskatchewan in 1935 when he was 5 years old. He would remain there for nine painful years. The book looks back at the sadistic practices of the religious orders, nuns, and brothers against the vulnerable children. Physical punishment, mental and sexual abuse are recounted by Merasty, who still can’t understand why former students and his own family didn’t protest the treatment of children in these schools. Merasty also recounts how the administrators of the school would dupe Native leaders when they made their annual visit by providing hearty meals that gave the impression students were being treated well at the school. The truth was much different; students were never fed proper food—more like the scraps.
Released at a time when the Truth and Reconciliation report stated that the residential schools were cultural genocide, The Education of Augie Merasty is a first-hand account of how the schools operated and the price the children were forced to pay. This book should be in every high school in the country.
James Daschuk, author of Clearing the Plains, is a health studies professor at the University of Regina Kinesiology. Daschuk began researching the book twenty years ago while attending the University of Manitoba, collecting information about the famines First Nations had deal with, many of them brought on by European settlers and most of them controlled by the government. Prime Minister John A. Macdonald was one of the “Fathers of Confederation” who was pushing for the railroad; he promised in parliament that emergency rations for Natives would be suspended “until the Indians were on the verge of starvation, to reduce the expense.” Broken treaties filled with hollow promises and the damage created by the fur trade are also examined in in depth. Historian Elizabeth A. Fenn described Clearing the Plains as “a tour de force that dismantles and destroys the view that Canada has a special claim to humanity in its treatment of indigenous peoples.”
Bruce Walsh and the U of R Press team can take pride in their accomplishments, and the future does look bright. The motto at U of R Press is “A voice for many peoples” Walsh says. “We will try to honour that with our editorial choices, whether by publishing scholars or the homeless.”
PhD candidate Kyle Bobiwash wins Aboriginal Student Award to pursue pollination research.
Once Kyle Bobiwash completes his research, he wants to help create sustainable farms on reserves using everything he’s learned, to show that agriculture can truly sustain a community.
PhD candidate Kyle Bobiwash is one of 25 Aboriginal students who received the 2015 Irving K. Barber Aboriginal Student Graduate Award. With the $5,000 renewable award, Bobiwash (age 31) is free to undertake his doctoral research in pollination at Simon Fraser University without having to worry about working on the side.
Pursuing a PhD in Biology, the focus of Bobiwash’s research is pollination ecology – looking at which native pollinators are important for crop pollination and how pollinator diversity impacts crop yield. By planting wildflowers next to blueberry fields, for example, he examines whether increased floral resources leads to greater native bee pollination and fruit yield as compared to a field with only honeybees.
By understanding the relationships between pollinators and crops, Bobiwash, of the Mississauga First Nation, intends to develop farm systems that are productive and profitable to create opportunities for First Nation communities.
Growing up with traditional farming practices like wildfire burning taught Bobiwash about the relationship between land and food and how to manage land in an ecologically sustainable way.
“Many communities have lost their traditional agriculture practices,” says Bobiwash, “I soon saw the direct benefits that understanding ecology could provide to native species, farmers and communities.”
Once he completes his research, Bobiwash wants to help create sustainable farms on reserves using everything he’s learned. By creating productive and profitable farms, Bobiwash wants to demonstrate the opportunity that First Nations communities have in sustainable agriculture. He wants to incorporate research and academia, jobs, economics, scientists, and accountants to show that agriculture can truly sustain a community.
UBC Okanagan Student Nathan Sletten wins Aboriginal Student Award for Master’s Studies.
Nathan Slatten’s research and concern for the growing health issues in many Aboriginal communities led him to focus specifically on children and youth; he sees his work in that area having the greatest impact.
The 2015 school year was made a little more manageable for health sciences student Nathan Sletten who was awarded a $5,000 renewable Irving K. Barber Aboriginal Student Award. Undertaking a master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies at University of British Columbia Okanagan in the fall, Sletten’s focus will be exercise physiology and health-related conditions in children and youth.
During his studies, Sletten saw an opportunity to bring knowledge and awareness to Aboriginal communities about the connection between physical activity and lowering instances of disease.
“Maintaining health is so important in Aboriginal communities,” says Sletten, “Metabolic diseases, like Type 2 Diabetes, are much more common in the Aboriginal individual and there is a lot we can do to reduce these negative impacts.”
Sletten’s research helped him to develop an acute understanding of the impact that exercise has on cardiorespiratory function, health, and body composition. His research and concern for the growing health issues in many Aboriginal communities led Sletten to focus specifically on children and youth; he sees his work in that area having the greatest impact.
“If we can find strategies to improve the health of children and youth before they develop sedentary habits and health issues, we can increase the number of healthy years of living and the overall health of our communities,” says Sletten.
Sletten studies efficiency in processes of the body; it’s no surprise that he leads his life efficiently as well. Over the years, time management became a very important skill, and he uses it to help him live his life as fully as possible.
UBC Psychology student wins Aboriginal Student Award to pursue graduate studies.
Environmental factors like poverty and stress can affect the brain and, in turn, impact mental health. Through Behavioural Neuroscience, Tomm wants to one day help affect First Nations policy decisions to improve health and wellness from within the community.
Ryan Tomm of the Seton Lake First Nation was awarded a $5,000 renewable Aboriginal Student Award. With an undergraduate degree in psychology under his belt, Ryan is heading straight into a combined Master’s/PhD program in Behavioral Neuroscience at UBC this fall.
The combined program allows Tomm to earn a master’s degree on the way to earning his PhD and provides an opportunity to continue his research, which looks at alteration in cognition and the effects of aging on decision making. Behavioral Neuroscience is offered as a specialization through UBC’s Department of Psychology.
Tomm and his sister moved in with their grandmother after they lost their mother to cancer. It was Tomm’s grandmother that pushed him to lead by example and prioritize education as a means to serve his community. She saw education as a way for Tomm to make a difference.
Through his studies Tomm saw an opportunity to help Aboriginal people by addressing mental health and wellness of First Nations on a systemic level.
He learned that environmental factors like poverty and stress can affect the brain and, in turn, impact mental health. Through Behavioral Neuroscience, Tomm wants to gain knowledge that will one day help him affect First Nations policy decisions to improve health and wellness from within the community. “I want to use the knowledge I will learn in graduate school to help my community and First Nations communities across Canada. Many leaders within our communities are rising up in all fields of research, and I feel humbled to be a part of this very exciting time.” says Tomm.
Spending summers doing research and the rest of the year studying is taxing, and it doesn’t leave much time for work. The scholarship has allowed Tomm to have a better quality of life while in school and purchase important computer equipment needed for his research.
“I never thought to ever apply for a scholarship, and then I realized how much they can help,” says Tomm. “I almost dropped out of school! Even if you think that you won’t be successful – apply anyway. It’s worth it.”
Are you concerned abut your child’s education? It has been proven young people learn best when they feel confident about the learning process, develop strong connections with teachers and peers, and believe their effort has real world value. An unstable learning environment, large classes, and less time with teachers will inhibit the success of students. There is an option. At Rosseau Lake College, we are transitioning our academic program to be engaging, student-centred, and personalized to illicit deeper learning. We call it Future Forward. Add to this approach our 48th year history of a strong community and small classes where every student is known and cared for, and you have a formula that will nurture and develop the best in your child.
A strong school cannot exist without a robust and meaningful educational program that meets the needs of both new and future students. After two years of research, consultation with the community, and planning, I am proud to introduce to you Future Forward. The cornerstone of the RLC experience has always been the close-knit inclusive community set in a truly beautiful and natural setting. On the shores of one Muskika’s most beautiful lakes, Rosseau Lake College’s natural surroundings educate and inspire. The college’s commitment has always been and remains dedicated to providing students a “Best of Self” education that includes the teaching of leadership skills, while building within students confidence, competence and character. These values remain consistent, but how we define these values must be harmonious with the world our students will soon enter.
The Future Forward program will help RLC redefine the competence value to meet the demands of tomorrow with a focus on relevant skills, knowledge, attributes, and credentials that will put our students at the forefront as candidates for the programs and careers they seek. Over 95% of RLC graduates receive offers of admission from the university’s or colleges of their choice. As a university preparatory school, a challenging academic curriculum is a given. RLC teaches at the academic level necessary for university admission in Canada and many other countries around the world. With small classes, individualized attention, and a qualified caring staff (many of whom live on campus), students receive the guidance and direction they need to continue on the path of success.
Students feel connected to their mentors and to each other. Teachers are truly dedicated to their students success, and their help makes it easier for students to excel. Structures and routines help foster organizational and study skills, and students discover just how much fun it is to do well and take ownership of their success.
Competition for placement in post-secondary programs, and beyond this in the workforce, has never been greater. At their age, few of us had to ask, “Will I get a job?” But today, so many young people do. With Future Forward, RLC students will be able to ask different questions and have the skills and confidence to answer them.
Six Nations Polytechnic (SNP) is excited to offer the first year of an Indigenous Visual Arts degree program at SNP, starting in September 2015, in partnership with OCAD University. Credits earned at SNP will be eligible for credit transfer at OCAD University. Students who successfully complete their first year studies with an average of 70% at SNP can then proceed into 2nd year programming at OCAD University’s Toronto campus. Students also have the option to receive a Six Nations Polytechnic Certificate for year 1 studies.
She Sells Sassafras by Hill (Indigenous Visual Arts Student)
This program is designed for visual communicators who want to learn to express themselves creatively. The Indigenous Visual Arts Program combines contemporary and traditional Indigenous aesthetic and social studies with studio-based art education. The program prepares students to engage in complex and evolving global discourses around Indigenous history, art history and contemporary art practice across a range of expressions, materials and media. The Indigenous Visual Arts Program at Six Nations Polytechnic will be delivered in a classroom setting, in studios, as well as through online courses.
Six Nations Polytechnic (SNP) is an Indigenous- owned and controlled, community-based educational institute that develops and delivers culturally enriched, accredited post-secondary certificate, diploma, degree and post-graduate programs to Indigenous students in partnership with colleges and universities. SNP exists in the heart of Canada’s most populous First Nation community In Canada, comprised of six distinct Hodinohso:ni’ Nations and languages (Mohawk, Cayuga, Onondaga, Oneida, Seneca, and Tuscarora). More than two decades of culturally relevant teaching, learning, research and student success, coupled with the growing higher education demands from the Six Nations community and non-Indigenous learners and partner institutions, positions SNP on the frontier of higher learning for Indigenous peoples.
The new Indigenous Visual Arts program is an exciting addition to the programs that SNP offers, and this year we are able to offer tuition sponsorships to First Nation students for this program. Please contact SNP Student Success Officer, Lee-ann Blackbird for more information about the program, studentsuccess@snpolytechnic.com.
Visit our website www.snpolytechnic.com for information on all the programs we offer and to learn about Deyohahá:ge: Indigenous Knowledge Centre, a centre that is aimed at preserving Hodinohso:ni’ languages, culture and traditions. Deyohahá:ge: operates as a resource centre for community members, scholars, and researchers, as an archive for cultural materials, and as a research centre.
Prince George, BC – UNBC researchers secured a combined $436,000 in funding through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) grants and scholarship programs announced on Monday. “These grants will allow UNBC researchers to probe, explore, and innovate on important topics that matter to people,” says UNBC President Dr. Daniel Weeks. “The researchers at UNBC and across British Columbia continue to lead Canada in important research and this funding from NSERC is a crucial piece that provides researchers with opportunities to make the next important breakthrough in their respective fields of study.”
Three NSERC Discovery Grants will help fund research projects in health care, biology, and computer science. An NSERC Research Tools and Instruments Grant will help fund the purchase of new imaging equipment. In addition to the research grants, UNBC received $52,500 for scholarships and fellowships for high-calibre students in eligible master’s or doctoral programs.
“NSERC’s ongoing support of research, training, and networking allows UNBC faculty to continue to conduct world-class research that has a direct impact on our region and our country,” says UNBC Vice-President Research Dr. Ranjana Bird. “All of our outstanding researchers who submitted Discovery Grant proposals this year were successful, which reflects the high quality of research at UNBC.”
Northern Medical Program Associate Professor Dr. Sarah Gray received a Discovery Grant worth $140,000 to continue her research to better understand which hormones play a role in regulating energy balance and how they do it. This work relates to how the body balances energy consumed through food intake and expended through actions such as thermogenesis (heat production) and the organism’s metabolic rate.
Ecosystem Science and Management Professor Dr. Russell Dawson will use $105,000 in Discovery Grant funding towards furthering his research on determining the important factors influencing reproductive effort and success of birds. Dawson is the Canada Research Chair in Avian Ecology and will examine how parent birds allocate resources between reproduction and their own self-maintenance, how elaborate ornaments such as bright plumage, which are indicators of the quality of individuals, influence mate choice decisions of females and patterns of paternity in socially monogamous birds, and the interactions between nest-dwelling parasites and their avian hosts.
Computer Science Professor Dr. Alex Aravind received a $90,000 Discovery Grant to develop, verify and prove, and conduct performance studies on a class of concurrent programs that solve synchronization problems. Concurrent programs allow multiple computations to occur simultaneously rather than sequentially. Until recently, except in some specialized domain like high performance computing, the (general purpose) computers had a single processor capable of running a single program sequentially at any time. Recently, the hardware technology has changed and now all the modern computers including handheld and embedded devices have multicore (or multiple) processors capable of running multiple programs simultaneously. This shift in the software development comes with a fundamental issue of synchronizing activities that compete for shared resources. Understanding synchronization issues in concurrent programming will allow software engineers to design simple, reliable, and efficient software for future systems including education, communication, entertainment, medical, and financial systems.
Biochemistry Professor Dr. Chow Lee, along with co-applicant Chemistry Professor Dr. Stephen Rader, will purchase a piece of equipment with imaging capability for proteins and nucleic acids analysis. The NSERC grant worth $48,999 will cover 90 per cent of the total $54,443 equipment cost, with the remaining funding coming from UNBC. The new device will replace a 14-year-old piece of equipment and will allow them to better understand the biochemical functions of proteins and ribonucleic acids in biological systems. Specifically, the equipment will allow Dr. Lee to understand the RNA decay processes as they relate to cancer. The equipment will allow Dr. Rader to better understand the pre-messenger RNA splicing mechanisms.
CALGARY — Bow Valley College (BVC) unveiled the 1,000 Women Rising Campaign at a breakfast launch at the BVC South Campus on June 10, 2015.
This initiative has a simple, but powerful goal: 1,000 women rising up to help other women finish their post-secondary education and achieve their career ambitions. Our aim is to raise $1 million in funding support to assist our female students in overcoming barriers to learning.
Sheila O’Brien is well-known not only for her long career in the energy sector, but also for her volunteer service in the Alberta Status of Women Action Committee, YWCA of Calgary, Alberta College of Art and Design, the Canadian Mental Health Agency, Foothills Hospital, and most recently chaired a two year national task force on Human Sex Trafficking.
At the launch, Sheila O’Brien and Kevin Peterson announced their $100,000 pledge. This is a matching gift to help encourage others to participate in the initiative. For every dollar donated, matching contributions, up to $100,000, will be made to the campaign. RBC’s Tasha Giroux, Regional Vice President – Commercial Financial Services, Alberta & Territories, presented a $5000 donation from her bank towards the initiative. The total raised so far today was $120,940.
“This support makes a difference, not a subtle one that plays out at the margins. It is meaningful and enduring, this extraordinary power of 1,000 women rising above the constraints of circumstance,” said Sharon Carry, AOE, Bow Valley College President and CEO. The 1,000 Women Rising Campaign will aim to make a difference in four areas:
1. Return to learning
The fund will provide support for students who withdrew from their studies and want to return, but who face financial or other barriers that, with minimal assistance, can be overcome to get the student back on track.
2. Child care bursary
Most BVC learners qualify for government childcare subsidies. But even with these supplements, they can still face a substantial expense, which might lead them to withdraw from their program. This bursary will provide eligible learners with funds for child care expenses to support care at a facility, day home, or after-school care program.
3. Financial aid
The 1,000 Women Rising Finish Line Fund will be used to provide financial or academic assistance for at-risk learners, to a maximum of $2,500 per student. The fund will improve the rates of program completion, and subsequent employment for our female learners by providing funding support for students who need additional, individual tutoring, or students who face financial barriers.
4. Learning technology
This fund will help erase the digital divide for our female learners by helping them to acquire computers and laptops for classroom use, delivering responsive programming, increasing learning flexibility, and connecting students to online learning experiences and support.
Linda Olsen of Global News Calgary helped to host this event. Olsen’s distinguished journalism career has seen her work to support women, including hosting and producing the award winning Woman of Vision series.
For more information on the 1,000 Women Rising Campaign, and to find out how you can make a difference please go to: www.bowvalleycollege.ca/1kwr
