News Archives: Supporting Indigenous Education
Friday, April 1st, 2016
New program at GPRC mixes employability and personal discovery for students
Aboriginal Administration Diploma Program (AADP) instructor Kirsten Mikkelsen’s search for a textbook for a course in the new GPRC program uncovered how deep the college’s roots in Indigenous education run.
While developing courses Mikkelsen, an Anishinaabe/Danish woman, discovered the textbook ‘Restorying Indigenous Leadership: Wise Practices in Community Development’, was co-edited by Indigenous GPRC alumni: Brian Calliou and Dr. Cora Voyageur.
“I thought, ‘what an excellent linkage to show the full circle’,” says Mikkelsen, “Here they are, alumni who have gone on to do amazing things - and they’re now publishing works being used by current students.”
“I’m really pleased and honoured that the book is being used,” Calliou says. The focus of the book, he says, “is on helping Indigenous leaders build a knowledge and capacity base to help them in their work.”
Calliou, who is Cree, is the Director of Indigenous Leadership and Management at the Banff Centre. He started his post-secondary journey at GPRC, continuing on to a BA and two law
degrees from the University of Alberta.
Voyageur, a Dene woman, who completed her PhD at the University of Alberta, is a professor at the University of Calgary and an instructor at the Banff Centre. Her topics of study include Indigenous women, Indigenous leadership and Indigenous health.
“There are so many positive stories to tell,” Voyageur says. She hopes the book inspires Indigenous GPRC students to be proud of their heritage and to dream big.
“Our nation, the Indigenous people, is a nation on the move,” she says. “A lot of what is written about the Indigenous community is negative and there’s not enough recognition given to the richness of the culture.”
GPRC launched the AADP in response to a need identified by Elders and Indigenous leaders in the region for a program that combines business administration with interdisciplinary arts courses and core Indigenous studies courses.
The Business Administration component is critical for employability but Mikkelsen says it’s the Indigenous Studies courses that can be life-changing on a personal level for students.
“It’s a timely move and vitally important,” says Mikkelsen who instructs the Indigenous Studies courses. “GPRC is well positioned to be a leader in Indigenous education in the north.”
It’s not uncommon, she says, for learners to have a heartfelt experience as they gain an understanding of injustices that have affected Indigenous peoples and ways they are regenerating themselves in a contemporary context.
“It’s a process of transformation,” Mikkelsen says. “You can see how the strengths of people emerge in a way that’s very profound and reflects a regeneration of Indigenous ways of being.”
Cara Manuel, a 23-year-old Dene woman from Fort Good Hope, NT says the courses gave her new awareness regarding her own life.
“It’s important to learn about colonialism, but it’s just as important to learn about decolonization and to be able to put that into action by regenerating our culture, traditions, foods, medicines and leadership, along with spiritual and ceremonial renewal,” says Manuel.
She came to understand that issues in her family and community stemmed from the damaging, ongoing effects of the past, including residential schools. Manuel is now working on a project to rename her hometown to its Deneke name, Radilih Koe - ‘Place of the Rapids.’
The AADP is one part of GPRC’s commitment to support Indigenous education and wisdom on campus. GPRC’s Indigenous studies courses are also available to all students as university transfer courses.
Jennifer Tourangeau, who is Dene, says GPRC is sending a clear message to Indigenous students. “They’re saying, ‘we want to make sure your needs are being met and that you’re not feeling like an outsider’.”
Tourangeau, a Fine Arts student, took the Indigenous Studies courses as electives. “I learned not only how colonialism affected and continues to affect our way of life but to also come away from these courses with a sense of pride.”
Krista Umble is an AADP student and says Indigenous students feel appreciated and included at GPRC. “It’s the college atmosphere, the college culture,” Umble says. “It’s really open.”
The student, mother and business owner says she is excited about the AADP. “I’m Métis and I’ve always had a real interest in my own culture. I thought by taking the program that I could educate myself about it. I thought it would also give me an edge in a business context.”
Umble says she hopes to become one of the leaders Voyageur and Calliou’s book seeks to inspire. There is a lot of darkness in the past, she says. “I hope that by the time I’m done this program to be a little more knowledgeable in how to go about changing the future.”
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