Prominent First Nations leaders receive honourary degrees
- Angela Hill | June 13, 2016
During the graduation ceremonies at the University of Saskatchewan this spring, six people received honorary degrees.
Three of those people were being recognized for supporting the Indigenous community: Cindy Blackstock, the executive director of First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada; Keith Martel, chief executive officer of the First Nations Bank of Canada; and Ray Ahenakew, former president of the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies.
“It’s a humbling phone call and discussion with the university,” said Ahenakew on learning that on June 1 he would receive an honorary doctor of law of in recognition for lifetime achievement.
Throughout his career Ahenakew was a tireless advocate for First Nations access to education and he worked to have Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technology credits accepted at other institutions including the U of S Edwards School of Business.
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“Education is really the backbone for First Nation development,” he said.
Ahenakew said that in his era and for him education was not the biggest focus, but that it’s something that has been discussed since there was a treaty right to education. He said he is happy to see that young people now are embracing education, that he can see it in the increasing numbers of Aboriginal students in post-secondary programs.
“The most important thing is to have patience,” he said.
That’s how Ahenakew said he was brought up. And it was the skills he learned while playing hockey for the Quakers in Saskatoon that helped him to figure out how to reach goals. Winning would take patience, hard work, and discussion; the team would make a plan where they wanted to be at the beginning, middle and end of the season, he said.
Ahenakew said, teamwork is causing attitudes to change and in the last five years he has seen a big shift in how all parties look at Aboriginal education.
“Everyone has a role to play supporting each other,” he said.
“This award I got should probably be distributed to the 200 people that I’ve worked with over the years.”
Cindy Blackstock feels similarly about the recognition she received on June 2.
Blackstock is a driving force behind First Nations children’s rights – she pushed that cause to the Federal Court of Appeal as part of her campaign that ended with a landmark decision from the Canadian Human Right’s tribunal in January. The end results mean the federal government will need to provide equal funding for child and family services in First Nations communities across the country.
She said receiving the honorary doctorate of law from the U of S gives the work of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada “more credibility.”
“It’s a great honour because I viewed this case as a collective effort,” she said.
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During the years she pushed for equal rights, Blackstock made multiple visits to Saskatchewan. She could see the level of support she had by the number of people who would come to her lectures. It was U of S law student Riva Farrell-Racette, who wrote the I am a witness campaign song, she said, and thousands of students sent Valentines to the Prime Minister.
Blackstock said that tens of thousands of children are learning of the inequality and learning there are peaceful ways to address the discrimination, but Blackstock added, “our work isn’t done yet.”
There are ways people can still make a difference and Blackstock asks people to visit fncaringsociety.com to see seven free ways to make a difference.
The importance of quality education is something First Nations Bank of Canada’s Keith Martel talks about often.
He said he believes education is the key to the future of Saskatchewan’s growing Aboriginal populations. Martel’s start came after graduating from the U of S in 1985.
“I attribute a lot of my success to that good start,” he said.
He went on to work with KPMG, Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and on the board of directors of PotashCorp.
While he has been named member of Canada’s Top 40 Under 40, by The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine, Martel said he is doing what he loves.
“You don’t do the work that I do for the awards.”
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Most recently Martel has been involved with the dean’s advisory committee with the Edwards School of Business, where he said he has seen how a university degree and opportunity allows people to “turn things around quickly.”
While speaking after receiving the honorary degree on June 1, Martel said what he has is “dad advice” about what makes a good career.
“We have to take advantages as they come forward.”