Hi, there. My name is Diane Adams. I am a Métis woman from Sioux Lookout, Ontario, in the Treaty No. 3 territory, and I am the president of the First Nations University of Canada students association in Regina.
Today I am sitting before you representing the 2,000 students currently taking classes at the First Nations University of Canada. We currently have 400 classes going on at three campuses. One is in Regina, one is in Saskatoon, and one is our northern campus in Prince Albert.
My first and foremost objective today is to illuminate why it is imperative that the federal government commit sustained multi-year funding to the First Nations University and how important it is to do so. We're receiving $7.2 million, and we can only build from there.
I've come here today to share not only my own experiences but also the accomplishments of our prominent and successful students and alumni. My own educational journey began at a mainstream institution, but two years ago I picked up and moved to Regina to study environmental health and science at the First Nations University of Canada. This is the only place in Canada that I can obtain the specialized education I need to pursue a career as a first nations community environmental health specialist developing innovative, culturally acceptable, and economically feasible solutions to the health problems associated with water, sewer, and housing infrastructure on reserves.
That is what the First Nations University is all about: innovation through bicultural educational. It is a place where knowledge is shared and students go forward with the best of both worlds. The sharing of knowledge is the most important thing to our students, so that they can come out with dual skill sets to enable them to succeed both in mainstream society and with their own first nations traditions.
When the FSIN chiefs in assembly elected Guy Lonechild as their leader last October, the students were very pleased, because he had actively campaigned to bring changes to the First Nations University, the same changes that the students had been calling for for some time. When the FSIN dissolved the board and put our own respected academics in charge, we knew it was the beginning of a new era of accountable, transparent, and qualified governance and leadership at our institution.
While this new era of change for the First Nations University is here, we cannot go forward without the commitment of the $7.2 million that our university had historically been receiving. We cannot go forward without it.
The First Nations University has taught many prominent first nations and non-first nations students over the years. Our students have gone on to be lawyers, doctors, politicians, nurses, managers, and social workers, just to name a few. One of our alumni, Alika Lafontaine, won the prestigious “Canada’s next great prime minister” contest, and is now a medical doctor currently specializing in anesthesiology. Connie Walker is an accomplished journalist working for CBC's The National. We have a provincial deputy minister, and our alumnus Perry Bellegarde ran a campaign for national chief of the AFN last year.
Countless others have completed their Ph.D. and graduate degrees. In the past five years, our nursing program has graduated 71 nurses who are now working in their northern communities, and we have the only school of dental therapy in the country.
That is just a sample of the many reasons that committed, sustained multi-year funding must be immediately restored to the First Nations University of Canada.
As a student, I must point out that no other university in the country relies on or could operate on annual proposal-based funding for its core operation. We could not attract or keep the quality of students I just mentioned on year-to-year funding; degrees take four years to complete, and all students know that.
I'd like to close by reminding the committee that it is the educators at this university who are teaching a new generation of first nations leaders the value of accountable, transparent, and qualified governance in leadership. Tom Benjoe was a fellow student association member. Last year he was named the Red Cross young humanitarian of the year, and he has received more than 30 regional, provincial, and national scholarships. He wanted me to relay this to you today, and I quote:
I strongly believe that change has come. As future First Nations leaders we are proving how education is changing the landscape for our futures, and we are demanding greater accountability and transparency for our institutions and our communities. The FNUniv is helping develop those changes and it is only fitting that change must begin there.
The First Nations University needs that sustained multi-year funding from the federal government. If it is not provided, the Canadian government is sending a strong message to the students of the First Nations University of Canada, to the next generation of young leaders, that accountable and transparent conduct will not influence government decision-making when it comes to financial matters.
With that, I pray to this committee and the Canadian government to lead by example and give value to our commitment to accountability and transparency by reinstating a minimum of $7.2 million directed to the First Nations University of Canada.
Thank you.