The University of Saskatchewan is working to increase the number of First Nations Land Managers.
The College of Agriculture and Bioresources has a signed a memorandum of understanding with the National Aboriginal Lands Managers Association, which will allow some courses from the Professional Land Management Certification Program to be used towards academic programming in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources.
Indigenous students can now use course credits from both institutions to receive professional certification.
Six courses from each institution will be recognized by the other organization.
Fran Walley, an Associate Dean at the College of Agriculture and Bioresources, says it is hoped the changes will motivate some students to continue academic studies.
“The diploma is essentially the first two years of the degree program so once students complete the diploma they might also might also be interested in laddering in to a degree program here in the College of Ag Bio.”
Walley says they tried to simplify the process of getting a certificate.
“The certificate is actually delivered in a really compressed format so students come to the university for a couple of weeks, three times in a year and so they’re not away from their home communities for months at a time.”
The U of S’s Indigenous Peoples Resource Management program has trained 200 Aboriginal land managers since 2006.
Since 2003, the Lands Managers Association has certified 143 First Nations Lands Managers across Canada.