National awards recognize two Alberta recipients

The 2012 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards were announced recently and two well-known Alberta names were included in the prestigious list. Dr. Leona Makokis was recognized for her contribution to education while Chief Victor Buffalo received the nod for the business and commerce category.

Makokis, of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation, has worked since the mid-70s with Blue Quills First Nations College in St. Paul and has through her long career transformed the college from a host campus for other institutions to the first independently accredited Indigenous institution to offer its own degrees.

“I was honoured when I learned of the award, but for me, receiving this award was the acknowledgement of our people to believe that they could do it,” said Makokis. “I’m remembering the passion and the commitment of the many people who took responsibility for educating their own children.”

Generations of First Nations had dreamed of taking control of the education of their people, and she heard discussions throughout her childhood from concerned family members who did not agree with the government policies that determined the education of their children.
“First they fought for their own school and got it. Then they started trying to get their own teachers. Their purpose and mission was successful and it needs to be told and retold so we never forget,” she added.

Makokis entered the work force, first as an instructor in the secretarial arts program at Alberta Vocational College, beginning a long career that led to positions as executive director and later as president until retirement in 2010. Along the way, she earned bachelor degrees in administration and education, then went on to master and doctorate degrees in education.

“It was all to acknowledge my parents and grandparents who made it possible. And here I was encouraging young people to strive for a university degree and I thought I couldn’t expect them to go for it if I hadn’t done it myself,” she explained.

Makokis was just one of the thousands of Aboriginal children who were told that they would never amount to anything. “We were told that those of us in residential school would make good typists and nursing assistants, but never any type of profession. We were told that the white kids were so great that we would never be on a par with them. And I believed it, but at the same time I had this image in my head that the opportunity to go to university would eventually arrive for me too, and it did,” she remembers.

She started with Athabasca University distance-learning courses at Blue Quills, inspired in part by her younger sister who took on studies while raising four children. “I worked so hard, and it didn’t take long before I started to experience success.”

Chief Victor Buffalo of the Samson Cree First Nation is also a champion of education, who established the Samson Education Trust Fund to provide support to community members for university and technical college.
Buffalo was also one of the guiding forces behind Peace Hills Trust, the first and largest Aboriginal-owned financial institute which today has eight branches across Canada with 70 per cent of the workforce from Indigenous communities.

“Each and every one of our award recipients is a leader and role model who has made a profound impact on communities across Canada and worldwide,” said Roberta Jamieson, president and CEO of the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation. “By honouring their achievements we continue to inspire many others waiting to demonstrate their potential.”

There were 15 recipients of the 2012 NAAA.