REGINA, Sask. — Earlier this month marked a noteworthy celebration of Indigenous higher education.
On Sept. 10, the Hotel Saskatchewan hosted the gala evening marking 50 years of First Nations University of Canada — the institution that was founded in 1976 as Saskatchewan Indian Federated College. It has since grown to include campuses in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert.
At that event, FNUniv president Jacqueline Ottmann, who has held the role since 2021, shared the story of how First Nations advanced education came to be.
She told the audience at the Hotel Saskatchewan that it was the vision of a group of Indigenous leaders from Treaty 4 territory back in 1910 and 1911, who went on one-way train tickets to Ottawa to “hold Canada accountable to treaty negotiations and to treaty obligation,” she said.
“Among the things for which they advocated was something extraordinary — a First Nation-owned and -operated higher education institution,” Ottmann said.
“Think about that. 1910, 1911. More than a century ago, when you consider the treaties, our leaders were already beginning to imagine the institution that we are privileged to inhabit today. They were imagining us. They were planning seven generations ahead.”
During that address, Ottmann also paid tribute to the efforts of leaders like Dr. Sol Sanderson, who was a driving force in the inception of Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, which Ottmann noted was an institution that “opened its doors only four years after Indian control of Indian education, which was an assertion of sovereignty and self-determination.”
Ottmann shared the story of advocates such as the late Tony Cote, who had shared that his great-grandfather Gabriel Cote was among the chiefs who signed Treaty 4 in 1874.
“As Tony recalled, the first thing that his great-grandfather asked for was to educate his young people. He also remembered his great-grandfather's vision that someday First Nations people would have, quote, ‘a place of our own where we will be able to educate young people that we want to see up in a much higher level than what we see today.’”
Ottmann also pointed to the efforts of the institution’s very first leader, the late Ida Wasacates, a “woman so committed to this, a woman so committed to this institution that she sacrificed a gift that she gave her mother so payroll could be met, and that gift was a gold brick.”
The story goes that Ida had gifted her mother a gold brick because she worked in the Yukon. “When payroll could not be met, she went back to her mother and asked for the brick. Her mother had it inside a sock, and she was using it as a doorstop. I love that story, but imagine the faith that that required, imagine her belief in what this institution could become 50 years later.”
These, she said, “communicate a story that is both enduring and continually unfolding. These voices remind us that the university story cannot be confined to a particular time, event, building or person. It lives in the experiences of the people who pass through its doors, the accomplishments of our alumni, the knowledge carried by many, the positive impact the university has had on families and on communities, the aspirations of students who are here today.”
In speaking to SaskToday shortly afterward, Ottmann paid tribute to all of those who “contributed to the realization of First Nations University of Canada.”
Ottmann noted that the vision for the university could go back as far as the treaties. And within the treaties, she said, “it does mention education. Education has always been a value for First Nation people. And prior, even before the treaties, education was a vital part of everyday living. And so with the treaties, there was also the understanding that the world is changing. And so an institution like this not only showcases and centres Indigenous knowledge system, but it also preserves those knowledge systems, our ways of knowing, being, and doing. And it's important for our Indigenous students to see themselves within the institution, within the walls, within the curriculum, within the content that they're learning from, through land-based education, experiential education, and to hear their languages.”
Ottmann said there were “many reasons for the importance of a university like this. And it is very distinct. Our approach to supporting students is very holistic. And our students don't get lost within our institution. They come to see our spaces as home and welcoming.”
Once again, the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation has been designated for Sept. 30. The university itself has held its annual Smudge Walk and truth and reconciliation activities over the years, and again this year.
But Ottmann sees reconciliation as something to be observed not just on one day, but year-round.
“I think for us at First Nations University, the recognition, the celebration of Indigenous peoples is not confined to a day. That is something we want students to feel every day. And that's what I would encourage the general public is, of course, it is important to have a day where we sit and reflect and ask questions of why has this day been designated as it has been. And so people can do their own research, right, and go to the library. There's a lot on YouTube. And so this university is also, I see it as the leading institution of Indigenous education. So it's important for us to uphold that for our community.”
As for the significance of the university to Saskatchewan as well as Canada, Ottmann pointed out that it is a leader in Indigenous education.
“And we've had dignitaries from all around the world come to visit us at First Nations University of Canada and ask us how we do what we do in areas of reconciliation and in areas of decolonization and in Indigenous education in general — like, how do we weave that knowledge and those practices alongside Western ways of knowing, being and doing.”
The gala event earlier in September was just one of a number of commemorations of the 50th anniversary, which included a ceremony at the university earlier in the spring and other events. At the gala, Ottmann was particularly thrilled to see so many people who were involved in the university over the years take part.
“And so to have Sol Sanderson here, to have former president Eber Hampton here — who drove all the way from Tennessee to be here — to have, to recognize former chiefs and community members and elders who just persisted and endured until this place was realized. It's phenomenal.”
As for what’s to come for the institution, Ottmann said the “future is incredible. And as I mentioned, we get so many visitors to the university and international visitors. And so that interest is only growing.”
She believed the 50th anniversary for First Nations University of Canada was something worth celebrating for Indigenous people.
“For us to celebrate together is very important. And we need to come together for joyful times also. And this is one of those very joyful times for First Nations people.”
