Photo courtesy Big River First Nation Facebook page
The chief of the Big River First Nation has received an honourary diploma in business from the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technology.
Bruce Morin was given the award for his role in making education a priority in his community. He received the honours during SIIT’s convocation exercises in Saskatoon Thursday.
He said he was a bit surprised when he found out that he was receiving the honourary diploma because it wasn’t just him that has pushed for better opportunities for his community.
“Sitting down with my councilors and the people I work with and brainstorming on how we can do more for our people, we thought it was best to try and help them further their education,” he said.
Morin said the First Nation partnered up with the University of Saskatchewan to help bring the Indian Teacher Education Program to his community to give people an opportunity to broaden their education at home. He said the program just had its third graduation this spring.
“We have had students, not only from our own community, but also from other First Nations like Pelican Lake, Witchekan Lake and Ahtahkakoop,” he said. “We even had one from Black Lake this past year.”
Morin said there are also upgrading classes for those who want to get their Grade 12 education. The chief says there are advantages to having students learn at home.
He said that attending university in places like Saskatoon or Prince Albert is expensive with the cost of living. He said that there are other supports at home for young mothers who can rely on their own parents for babysitting when they are at school.
Morin said that when it comes to funding, the First Nation hasn’t said no to any student yet that wants to get their post-secondary education.
“We don’t take any administration charges from our post-secondary funding or pay staff out of that pool of money,” he said.
The community has also topped up their funding with own source revenue to ensure that students can get the education they want, either at home or in Saskatoon or Prince Albert.
Morin says when students succeed, the First Nation is successful.