FSIN Dissolves FNUC Board, Begins Wait For Funding
Friday, February 05, 2010 at 15:22
There has been some dramatic change at the top of the First Nations University of Canada.
The school’s board of governors has been dissolved and the president and vice-president placed on administrative leave.
The moves happened yesterday at the closing session of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations’ winter legislative assembly.
FSIN Chief Guy Lonechild says the chiefs decided to bring change to the faltering school after they learned its federal funding was being threatened.
Lonechild adds he is hopeful the provincial government will restore the funding it took away from the institution.
An interim board of First Nations academics not involved with politics is being picked to oversee the institution.
A report on FNUC governance is due out in two weeks, and a special assembly on the issue is set for March 1st in Saskatoon.
The chief of the Beardy’s Okemasis First Nation says it was a combination of factors that led chiefs to change their minds.
Rick Gamble says many chiefs were angered when the provincial government yanked funding away before their assembly was even over on Monday — but he says a good night’s sleep helped put things into perspective.
Gamble says chiefs are prepared to engage other sources for funding commitments if the province refuses to hand back the $5.2 million it revoked.
Meanwhile, a former chief who sat on the FNUC’s board of governors for nine years says he is relieved the board is being depoliticized.
Gary Standing of the Wahpeton Dakota First Nation says that particular move was suggested to the FNUC twice before — once while he was a member of an all-chiefs task-force assigned to research the board’s structure, and again a few years later.
Standing says the reason why it’s so important to keep politicians off the board is because none of the other universities in Canada likely have politicians on their boards.
He says the all-chiefs task force was making a lot of headway on the FNUC file back in 2005, but a similar controversy back then killed the momentum.
Standing says he is now optimistic about the school’s future.
The First Nations University of Canada Students’ Association is challenging the province to reinstate the 5.2 million dollars pulled from the university on Wednesday.
Vice President Cadmus Delorme says the FSIN did its part yesterday, and it’s now time for the province to restore that funding.
Delorme says Advanced Education Minister Rob Norris told the association that his first concern is students’ success — but Delorme says withholding finances will do nothing but harm the students.
Saskatchewan Liberal Leader Ryan Bater says the provincial government should have waited before pulling the funding from the FNUC.
Bater notes the decision came while students were waiting to speak to chiefs at the FSIN assembly.
He says that indicates the government didn’t care about what the students had to say.
Bater also says the province should have waited for a report on governance to come out before it acted.
He adds many stakeholders learned about the moves through the media, which he says shouldn’t have happened.