Governor General, foundation promote “smart and caring”

Governor General David Johnston and his wife Sharon had a full itinerary on their recent visit to southern Alberta. Top of mind was recognition of citizens from Siksika, High River and Calgary for their response to the earth-shattering June floods. Johnston handed out rare awards, the Governor General’s Commendation for Outstanding Service, to representatives from each flood-affected community.   He was also the keynote speaker at The Calgary Foundation’s Vital City event on Sept. 16 at the BMO Centre where he shared his nation-wide initiative to inspire Smart and Caring Communities.

Greeted by traditional drums and Siksika children singing O Canada, Johnston presented the first community service award to Chief Fred Rabbit Carrier and band council for all members of Siksika.

The award, said Johnston, “was to recognize what this community has done with the help of their neighbours to deal with the great challenge of the flood that moved through here . . . . It’s a fairly rare honour, and we are just delighted to be here to present it to these great people and to encourage them and to tell them that they inspire communities across Canada for what they’ve done.”

Dale Ens, board chair of The Calgary Foundation, told how the Governor General, patron of Community Foundations of Canada, a national network of over 191 community foundations, called on community foundations to help build “Smart and Caring” communities in celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday in 2017.
“People who believe in the power of community – people such as you – understand that, in a democracy, everyone has something to give. And because of that, we all have a responsibility to give back and to help out. We have a duty to share some of our good fortune with others. It is both the right thing to do and the bright thing to do. In other words, it is the smart and caring thing to do,” Johnston said.

”Inspired by the Governor General’s vision, we pondered what we could contribute,” said Ens, citing statistics from an Alberta School Boards Association report in 2011 that reveal the low high school completion rate of Aboriginal students. “The drop-out rate for Aboriginal students in Alberta is more than twice as high as the overall rate for students, whereas the overall high school completion rate in Alberta is 79 per cent, for Aboriginal students the rate drops to 45.8 per cent,” said Ens.

Neepin Auger, a successful student at Mount Royal University, shared first hand her poignant story of the struggle she faced when attending high school. Straddling two cultures, she related how she didn’t fit into either educational system, resulting in her parents pulling her from school. Only when she learned about her cultural identity was she able to go forward with her education.

In light of the educational challenges young Aboriginals face, The Calgary Foundation announced a “Smart and Caring” granting program of $1 million over the next several years to improve the success of Aboriginal young people in Calgary and area.

“These funds will come, in part, from the estate of the late Sandy Cross, who left a legacy gift to the foundation to support a number of charitable interests, including the Plains Indians residents in Alberta,” said Ens.

“The Calgary Foundation clearly sees what our contribution might be to help build a smart and caring nation. We want to better extend our reach of service to our Aboriginal neighbours. There is no better nation-building we can do, than to work to ensure all parts of this nation share in its greatness,” said Eva Friesen, foundation president and CEO.

Photo caption: Keynote speaker Neepin Auger, with her mother Grace, shows Stan Carscallen of Carscallen LLP and John Lounds, president and  CEO, Nature Conservancy Canada her original artwork in her first published books, written in English, French, and Cree, Discovering Numbers and Discovering Words, which she gifted to the Governor General.