{"id":37495,"date":"2016-02-02T12:48:38","date_gmt":"2016-02-02T16:48:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=37495"},"modified":"2018-07-17T14:03:26","modified_gmt":"2018-07-17T18:03:26","slug":"brock-joins-in-major-ontario-campaign-to-boost-aboriginal-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2016\/02\/brock-joins-in-major-ontario-campaign-to-boost-aboriginal-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Brock joins major initiative to engage Indigenous students"},"content":{"rendered":"

As home to hundreds of Indigenous students, Brock University is a keen voice in a province-wide chorus celebrating the success of First Nations, Metis and Inuit learners.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier today (Feb. 2) the Council of Ontario Universities launched the \u2018Let\u2019s Take Our Future Further\u2019 campaign, which is aimed at encouraging Indigenous\u00a0students and also recognizing the achievements of graduates who are making a daily difference in their communities.<\/p>\n

The ambitious COU initiative, launched on behalf of Brock and other Ontario universities, is outlined on the website www.futurefurther.ca<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Brock is bringing the campaign home with a week-long Open House<\/a> at Aboriginal Student Services in Room 212 of Decew Residence, where staff and counsellors will discuss numerous supports provided to help Aboriginal students thrive in a university setting.<\/p>\n

I encourage Indigenous students to set goals for a sustainable future, for yourselves and for your communities.\u00a0Everyone needs to focus on the future.\u00a0It\u2019s time for reshaping the way we live on this earth.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sandra Wong, Brock\u2019s Aboriginal Academic Program Support Coordinator, implored people to drop by and better understand the range of supports, from tutoring and advice on healthy lifestyles, to helping students maintain their cultural identity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese services help Aboriginal students ease their transition,\u201d says Wong. \u201cIt\u2019s important for people to understand this, not just within Brock but across the whole Niagara community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wong said Brock has about 385 self-identified Aboriginal students \u2014 encompassing First Nations, Metis and Inuit \u2014 as well as an unknown number who have not self-identified. \u201cWe know we have more students here, but certainly nobody\u2019s forced to self-identify with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shirley Cheechoo, the University’s Chancellor and a member of the Cree nation, said she applauds any effort to eliminate gaps between indigenous peoples and post-secondary education. According to Statistics Canada, seven per cent of Canada\u2019s self-identified Indigenous population over 15 has a university degree or certificate; \u00a0for non-Indigenous people the engagement rate is three times higher.<\/p>\n

“Without education, you will be left behind,” said Cheechoo. “I encourage Indigenous students to set goals for a sustainable future, for yourselves and for your communities.\u00a0Everyone needs to focus on the future.\u00a0It\u2019s time for reshaping the way we live on this earth.”<\/p>\n

Brock President Jack Lightstone said a post-secondary education “is the most assured means of advancing Canada economically, culturally and socially. Not only justice and fairness demands that providing more aboriginal people with a university education be a priority, but our own self-interest as Canadians demands it, too. We shall all benefit.”<\/p>\n

COU project explores the experience and embraces Aboriginal students<\/strong><\/p>\n

The COU\u2019s major campaign includes compelling profiles and videos from 13 role models who are studying at, or have recently graduated from, Ontario universities.<\/p>\n

One role model, Raigelee Alorut, tells how she overcame the challenges of attending university as both a mature student and as a grandmother, and how she hopes that her Honours Bachelor of Arts will inspire her grandchildren.<\/p>\n

Another, Donna May Kimmaliardjuk, describes the welcoming home she found at her university\u2019s Aboriginal Student Centre and the personal growth she experienced while studying to become the first female Inuit cardiac surgeon.<\/p>\n

The campaign will be distributing resource kits to help Aboriginal learners transition into a university setting and culture, and the week of Feb. 8 will launch a video contest on Twitter and Facebook asking Indigenous\u00a0learners currently at university to tell their story about how university education has taken their future further, or enriched the future of their communities.<\/p>\n

The COU campaign comes just months after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission put a spotlight on the need to ensure equitable access to post-secondary education for Aboriginal students.<\/p>\n

In Ontario, nine per cent of Ontario\u2019s self-identified Indigenous population in that age group had a university degree or certificate compared to 23 per cent of Ontario\u2019s non-Indigenous population.<\/p>\n

The same Statistics Canada survey indicates that Indigenous\u00a0youth between 15 and 24 represent 18 per cent of the total Aboriginal population in Canada, with a further 28 per cent being children aged 14 and under. This means that a significant number of Indigenous\u00a0youth will be contributing to Canada\u2019s economic and social prosperity by 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As home to hundreds of Aboriginal students, Brock University is a keen voice in a province-wide chorus celebrating the success of First Nations, Metis and Inuit learners.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":37524,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3319,6833,1],"tags":[132,654,3786,3785,1093],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37495"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37495"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":52327,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37495\/revisions\/52327"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}