Education vital to Aboriginal people, say NAAA recipients

As Alanis Morissette would say: Isn’t it ironic!

On March 26th, the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation rolled out the red carpet for 14 outstanding individuals less than a mile down the road from the First Nations University of Canada in Regina, where the academic institution is in danger of having the rug pulled out from underneath it by the federal government.
The topic was mentioned more than once during the night by those such as Métis academic, teacher and film-maker, Dr. Raoul, J. McKay, who was honoured for his work in education.

“Governments tend to think that if we don’t play their game they can withdraw their money. It’s like a toy,” McKay said. “They haven’t played a good game for our people. They tend not to fund those universities, and they want to control them. I think people should be given a chance to put their efforts on the right track.”

“To kill the university just like that would do a huge disservice to Canadian society and particularly to our own people,” he told the audience.

McKay grew up in the Métis community of St. Eustache, Manitoba, and completed four university degrees, including a PhD in history. He spent a lifetime teaching students about the beliefs and history of Indigenous peoples and played a vital role in the development of the Indigenous Studies Program at McMaster University. He was also the founding department head of the Native Studies Department at the University of Manitoba.

“If you look at the staffing at many native studies programs in Canada and the United States, very often the majority of staff is non-native,” he said.

“To me, people have to be from our culture from our nations, so they can tell the story from within. Native people need to be the instructors; they need to be in control of education. In many ways this can only happen if you have institutions like the First Nations University and the Gabriel Dumont Institute here in Saskatchewan, because students, when they come out of it, they will do these things,” he added.

McKay said he was especially impressed with NAAA youth award winner Skawenni:io Barnes of Kahnawake, Quebec.

“Look at this young woman,” he said, “she established a library in her community, my goodness, she’s only in her twenties. So you know our society, the First Nations, Métis and Inuit are in good hands for the future.”

Thinking back on his career, McKay said those times that he was able to help students in need are some of the favourite moments to look back on.

“Some people say the highlight of my career was when I established the St. Laurent exhibit at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., but I don’t think so. When you can really touch someone, and know that you’ve made a difference, those are the moments I will always remember. Things like establishing the pre-medicine program for native people. Some of those people have taken care of me in recent years; they’re so accomplished, so good at it. That feels really good.”

Law and Justice recipient, Donald Worme is a legal scholar and Cree lawyer from the Kawacatoose First Nation in Treaty Four territory.

“It feels really good to receive this award,” said Worme, “I’m very excited. For guys like me, simple country lawyers who toil in the trenches, we never expect to be recognized. I’m very proud of this, but it’s also a bit overwhelming.”

Just about as overwhelming as going to law school back in the day, said Worme.

“I graduated from law school at a time when people quite openly told me, “You Indians don’t belong here, go back to where you came from. Many Aboriginal people had to put up with this,” he said.

“But they’ve done it. They’ve made success stories, they raised successful families. We have strong and powerful communities despite what has been inflicted upon us by a non-caring government, which was allowed to happen by a population who cared not at all for us.”

Worme who was called to the Saskatchewan Bar in 1986, served as lead council to the family of Neil Stonechild in the public inquiry into his freezing death in Saskatoon in 1990, and has been an active member of the Human Rights Tribunal since 2001. Most recently he was appointed as Chief Council for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

“There is no Aboriginal person that I know of who has not been touched by the tragedy of the residential school catastrophe and all of the other ills that has brought to our communities,” he said.

Despite the residential school system, Worme says his grandfather was an absolute believer that First Nations people must be educated.

“We often hear that some of our ancestors stated that education is our new buffalo. It’s an absolute must. We must understand the tools of the settler society, their culture, so we can take from it the good things and use them together with our own talents, our own culture and laws. Clearly in this province First Nations University is a central institution,” said Worme.

“That institution must not be allowed to go by the wayside. It must be there to perpetuate the knowledge of Indigenous peoples, to facilitate young Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people to live together, and provide the future our grandchildren deserve,” he added.

Worme and McKay were joined at the podium by exceptional Aboriginal achievers from diverse backgrounds, both culturally and geographically.

More than 1,700 guests attended the 2010 National Aboriginal Achievement Awards in Regina.

The gala event, which was hosted by Andrea Menard and Raoul Trujillo, showcased entertainers Buffy Sainte-Marie, Elisapie Isaac, Leemai Lafontaine, Red Bull, Michael Greyeyes, Lorne Cardinal and the Wanuskewin International Dance Troupe. The NAAA will air on Global Television and APTN beginning May 1.

For more photos please turn to page 12.