The human cost of “First Nations University” failure
On February - 9 - 2010
Canada’s First Nations University (FNU), located in Regina Saskatchewan, will soon be closing its doors because of infighting, financial scandals and mass dismissals, the most recent example being the firing of its Chief Financial Officer, Murray Westerland, in December 2009, just days after he released a damning report.
So, while it may have been necessary for the Conservative governments in Saskatchewan and Ottawa to pull the public funding plug on FNU from an accountability point of view, as a former university teacher myself, I also want to point out the human costs in terms of damaged futures, blighted careers and the destruction of institutional and cultural memory.
Continued at Crux of the Matter.
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The human costs for “First Nations University” failure « Crux of the Matter Says:
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Posted on February 9th, 2010 at 11:11 am
Cunctator Says:
While we can acknowledge the human cost, this university should close down. What a disgrace that there ever was a “First Nations University” in the first place. If South Africa’s apartheid regime had opened a university for blacks or “coloureds”, the entire world, including Canada, would have been screaming bloody murder about that regime’s racist policies. But we open a university for Indians in Canada and then laud ourselves. Really, the whole approach to the Natives and their problems is quite ridiculous. It would farcical, if it were not so tragic.
There is, of course, another sad aspect of the problem that is not discussed. I wonder how many of the degrees granted by this university would have been regarded as the equivalent from other non-race-based institutions. So, you have a student work hard to graduate from a university that many people will never regard as a serious learning institution, only to discover that outside a relatively small circle his/her degree is not worth much. Given that the value of a degree is affected by the institution one graduates from, that is the great con perpetrated upon students.
Posted on February 9th, 2010 at 12:19 pm
Cy Says:
It was an “ordeal” for portions of my wife’s family to even attend our wedding because it involved leaving the reserve. Among the relatively few that even tried, most huddled conservatively in a corner while all the other ethnic groups freely mingled. In the town near the reserve, the natives tended to move en masse to a single bar and take it over as their de facto hangout; otherwise, very few would attend a bar and those who did got harassed by the bouncers.
Having seen this non-stop for at least 20 years, I’d have to say it’s probably more realistic to create a native University if we are to have any hope of young natives getting a higher education. At least for awhile, this will be the case. So long as the university is sufficiently far from a reserve, those natives will eventually mingle more with non-natives and their perhaps their children won’t be so insular. But expecting them to go en masse to U of T or Ryerson does not seem very feasible at this point, based on a fear of outsider.
Posted on February 9th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Jack Says:
Re: #3 — I tend to agree with Cy and this experiment by liberals has a worthwhile goal. Educating more natives who will in turn go back to their reserves and boot the thieves out of power is a fine example of what this idea could be.
My view is that the university needs another “look see” by government and all the present power players fired.
The idea isn’t wrong…inviting thieves in was.
Posted on February 9th, 2010 at 5:45 pm
Undecided Voter Says:
Why not a University for Natives? Heck, here in Ontario we have four publicly funded education systems: the English Public, English Catholic, French Public and French Catholic. And the TDSB now has a school for African-Canadians.
In todays multicultural society, everyone should be treated the same, unless of course one doesnt speak French.
Posted on February 9th, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Cunctator Says:
#3 – that was the argument for segregation — separate, but equal. Back to the future, I suppose. I sympathise with the Natives. They have been badly served by their own corrupt leadership and the self-serving demagogues of the First Nations Assembly. But the current approach dooms them to government subsidised second-class status. The FNU is a byproduct of that warped, and already failed policy.
I don’t think UofT or Ryerson is what I was referring to. However, if they want to go, and can make the cut, more power to them. That is what the idea of a university is about — scholarship, not race-based affirmative action. But FNU was located in Regina. Why not go to the university there? or U of Sask or U of Manitoba or U of Calgary?
Posted on February 9th, 2010 at 8:19 pm