FNUC President Uneasy About Less Chiefs On Board

FNUC President Uneasy About Less Chiefs On Board

Tuesday, December 06, 2005 at 13:10

The president of the First Nations University of Canada doesn’t think having less chiefs on the university’s board is the way to go.

Charles Pratt is responding to one of the key recommendations in a report completed recently by a task force that examined the troubled institution.

The task force recommended there be no more than two chiefs sitting on the board, and no one from the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations executive.

It was in response to complaints from students and staff that the university board was too politicized.

The FSIN will decide the matter at its next assembly early in the New Year, but Pratt thinks it would be a mistake to limit the involvement of First Nations leaders.

Pratt feels any First Nations institution needs to respect the “initiatives, visions and desires of our chiefs” in order to function as intended.

Meanwhile, Pratt says he has no problem with the task force’s recommendations for management — and says the university has already started acting on them.