Evidence of meeting #31 for Status of Women in the 41st Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was students.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
How do they deal with the financial aspect of it? Is the university able to help some of them with grants? There must be some who have a pretty significant struggle.
Department Head, Professional Programs, First Nations University of Canada
Yes, that's true. As a university we need to be doing more to support them. Right now the university is involved in strategic planning. I think that would be one of the areas in which to support our students more.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
The fact that you have the capacity for 800 full-time students and you only have 560 I suggest would be a significant concern for you.
Department Head, Professional Programs, First Nations University of Canada
Yes, it is, absolutely. As I said, sometimes these are issues that are beyond our control. There are political circumstances that impede our work, but at the same time we have a core group of people who are committed to this institution and who are committed to improving the lives of aboriginal people.
Liberal
Judy Sgro Liberal York West, ON
Thank you very much, Dr. Weenie. Unfortunately, I have to slip out to another meeting. Thank you very much for your contribution.
Is there any time left?
NDP
The Chair NDP Marie-Claude Morin
That means we have about eight minutes left, so we have time for someone else.
Ms. Bateman, you have eight minutes.
Conservative
NDP
The Chair NDP Marie-Claude Morin
Sorry, it is actually six minutes, now that we're on our second round.
Conservative
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Angelina, I want to thank you so much for joining us today and for your comments.
I noted with care your comments about the importance of high school. I had the honour to serve as both the chair and a trustee in the Winnipeg School Division. Children of the Earth High School is a beautiful model. I know they would be delighted to share their model with you in any way that it could help students in your care.
One thing we learned on the board of trustees for Children of the Earth, which was one of our 79 schools, was that science and math are very important to young aboriginal students if we want them to succeed at higher levels of learning.
I'm interested to find out a few things. First, I'd like to find out the percentage of the curriculum of your university that is science and math, because those are the tools for success for all students. It certainly was our motive. Of our population of 34,000 students, 25% were aboriginal students.
The other thing we did was partner often. The University of Winnipeg has done some outstanding work with the aboriginal and immigrant communities. A homework club was created where older students help younger students. They mentor the younger students. I know that the president, Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, would be very willing to share that information with you in the interests of sharing the models.
The University of Winnipeg is a huge aboriginal education university now. It realizes the importance of reaching out to younger students and helping them get there.
How are you doing that? Are you partnering with other organizations such as the University of Winnipeg or, as we heard from my colleague, the University of Western Ontario? How are you approaching that?
Department Head, Professional Programs, First Nations University of Canada
I think that's part of the strategic plan in terms of creating more partnerships and networking with other universities. It is an area in which we ourselves recognize the need to improve.
Also, we work under the umbrella of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, which has summer programs for youth. We build on those. There are science camps. More activity similar to that would be beneficial.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
I know they would be willing to share, because they're very generous, and they're very committed to this community. I'll make sure they know I said that.
I want to ask about the curriculum you offer in the university you serve. Our colleague, Ms. Sgro, has left now, but she indicated that you have declining enrollment. In an academic environment, where most enrollments are increasing, that has to be of some concern.
I wanted to ask about the composition of most of your degrees and the graduation rates you have experienced. Of the 565 students, what is the anticipated graduation rate? Over the 35 years, you have had more experience than many other universities in terms of having interesting data to demonstrate. Has it improved?
Department Head, Professional Programs, First Nations University of Canada
I want to provide more accurate data to you following this presentation.
Conservative
Joyce Bateman Conservative Winnipeg South Centre, MB
Okay. I welcome that. We'll wait until you get your data. Just know that we, through the committee and through Mme la présidente, are very interested in it.
Can I ask you about the composition of math and science in your—
NDP
NDP
Mylène Freeman NDP Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC
Thank you very much, Ms. Weenie, for being here. It's a real pleasure to have you talk about your university, all the good work it's doing, what has been done, and what we can learn from what your university has been doing to make the curriculum more relevant to first nations students.
Could you reiterate for this committee essentially how that is having an effect on the accessibility of education for first nations?
Department Head, Professional Programs, First Nations University of Canada
The question is about our curriculum.
Department Head, Professional Programs, First Nations University of Canada
A lot of our work is on first nations language revitalization and the indigenous studies courses. We also offer programs in indigenous health studies. We have Indian social work programs and a school of business. Those are the different areas we work in, in terms of our programming.
NDP
Mylène Freeman NDP Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC
I'm sorry to interrupt. Could you maybe explain to this committee why it's necessary that there be culturally specific programs in things like business and social work?