Saturday, January 30, 2010

The Usual Response

Chief Thug Chair of the FNUC Board meets with students:
"Clarence Bellegarde, Chair of the FNUC Board of Governors, spent half an hour meeting with concerned students this afternoon - half of that was taken up by a written statement he prepared, leaving only 15 minutes for questions. The encounter left students with a sour taste in their mouths, including the vice-president of the First Nation University Student's Association, Cadmus Delorme.

"Clarence read from a piece of paper," Delorme said. "It doesn't really seem like it came from the heart. It wasn't like his conscience speaking."

Following the student meeting, Bellegarde spoke to the media in a written statement where he asked everyone, including the government, to be patient with the process."
[---]
"There is talk of the University of Regina taking over the institution, which is something students would welcome if it means getting a good education.

"Right now we think of our education, quality education," Delorme said. "It has no price, and if it has to be run by non-First Nation, then let it be. I want the best education I can have.""
Good luck, Mr. Delorme, both to you and your fellow students. Maybe you should have thought of that before you applied for admission, though. Take it from Blair Stonechild, former head of Indigenous Studies at FNUC:
"The relationship between governments and First Nations has gone from one extreme to the other since the 1970s. First Nations went from living under a dictatorial system in which they weren’t allowed to make any of their own decisions, to a situation today where government officials are hesitant to make any criticisms or try to intervene in any way to correct mistakes that First Nations’ officials make."
[---]
"It is essential that First Nations’ leaders be held accountable for their actions, including what has happened at the First Nations University of Canada. In light of the above elders’ interpretation, it is certainly not against the spirit of the treaties for mainstream society’s officials to become involved in giving advice on what the problems are and how they can be rectified. Everyone is in real trouble when First Nations’ leaders in positions of power, who are not experts in such matters, nonetheless think they can create a better university without input or advice from "outsiders." Much of the success experienced by the First Nations University (formerly Saskatchewan Indian Federated College) is simply because of a willingness to learn from "siblings" in the type of treaty relationship described above."
No. Corruption and mismanagement is not new at FNUC, and as long as the FSIN has their fingers lurking around the till, it will never change.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home