The University of Saskatchewan and Métis Nation – Saskatchewan signed a memorandum of understanding Monday afternoon to remove barriers and decrease gaps for Métis people wanting to achieve a post-secondary education.
As part of the MOU, the U of S and MN-S will work on enhancing their relationship and identifying common priorities.
MN-S President Glen McCallum said post-secondary students are making use of a new 10-year, $89 million fund and the MOU will build upon this.
“It has made a big difference already this year,” he said. “Three-hundred-and-seventy-four students are in school right now, post-secondary, and a lot of them are here at the university. The president and I, Peter ( U of S President, Stoicheff), have discussed the opportunity to be able to work with them, engage with them, to be able to get them interested in other areas and that’s the job that we have now.”
U of S President Peter Stoicheff said part of the reasoning behind signing the MOU is to recognize the significant role Indigenous students play at the university.
“We’ve got 3,400 students now at the University of Saskatchewan who are self-identified Indigenous and just under 40 per cent of those self-identify as Métis,” he said. “So, the first thing it means to me is that this is a way of ensuring that we understand how to, and are guided on how to, support a large number of students at the university.”
The MOU will also include various partnerships and the planning and sharing of ethical research initiatives.
As part of the signing ceremonies, the Métis flag was raised on campus.
The university says the number of Indigenous students on campus increased by seven per cent this year as compared to last year.
There are also 217 employees who self-identify as Indigenous.
(PHOTOS: Top, Métis Nation-Saskatchewan President Glen McCallum, left, and University of Saskatchewan President Peter Stoicheff, right, sign memorandum of understanding. Bottom, left to right, Norm Fleury, Peter Stoicheff, Earl Cook and Glen McCallum on their way to raise the Métis flag on campus. All photos by Fraser Needham.)