Education summit looks at best practices

The Lloyd Barber Summit on Aboriginal Post-Secondary Education was held for two days in May at the University of Regina and looked at best practices. “This conference is important because it will help educators and leaders explore ways to narrow the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal educational attainment,” said U of R President Vianne Timmons in a news release. Topics discussed included challenges such as negative stereotyping, the federal post-secondary cap on funding for education and the need to listen and learn from other institutions demonstrating successful strategies. Speakers at the summit included Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde, the first treaty Indian to graduate with a degree in business administration from the U of R, and Assembly of First Nations National Chief Shawn Atleo. A panel discussion was moderated by Paul Davidson, the president of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada. Panel members were Chief Tammy Cook-Searson, Cadmus Delorme and Shauneen Pete.