FNUC Still In Bad Books With CAUT And Former V-P

FNUC Still In Bad Books With CAUT And Former V-P

Thursday, November 05, 2009 at 12:29

 

 

The First Nations University of Canada is still on the blacklist of a national group representing professors and other academics.

 

The Canadian Association of University Teachers is refusing to lift the censure it placed on the school for problems with its governance model.

 

The move essentially means the association is advising teachers to give the school a wide berth when it comes to jobs and speaking engagements.

 

This week, an arbitrator exonerated the FNUC on five complaints laid against it by the University of Regina Faculty Association four years ago.

 

The school’s president, Charles Pratt, said he hoped this recent development would help improve the school’s image and allow it to move forward.

 

However, the CAUT’s executive director, Jim Turk, says he believes the governance problems at the FNUC go deeper than this, and the censure will remain in place.

 

“Basically (FNUC professor) Herman Michel, the vice-president of academics’, position is that there’s no justification for CAUT’s position. And I just kept saying, well, we’re just going to have to agree to disagree on that. We’re not alone in feeling there’s a concern about the nature of the board and the structure of governance,” Turk says.

 

Turk says an all-chiefs’ task force and a provincial panel have also agreed the governance model needs to change.

 

Meanwhile, a former executive at the First Nations University of Canada says he still has concerns about the institution, and he doesn’t think last week’s grievance dismissal fixes anything.

 

Wes Stevenson says he is disappointed by the decision but doesn’t think it means a lot.

 

Stevenson says that there are still 25 outstanding grievances, and the ruling doesn’t fix the governance issues surrounding the university, nor justify the events of four-and-a-half years ago.

 

“I just continue to worry, as many people worry, about the future of the First Nations University. My heart goes out to the faculty and staff, and the students, who continue to make it their home, and I hope at the end of the day that our new (Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations) chief, Guy Lonechild, is able to make some corrections there,” he says.

 

Last year, Stevenson was charged with defrauding FNUC of more than $5,000.

 

He will make his next court appearance in about a month.