Million dollar donation to benefit Aboriginal students

First Nations, Métis and Inuit students will one day have a place to call home away from home at the University of Alberta, thanks largely to a one-million-dollar gift made by Chancellor Eric Newell and wife Kathy.
Their donation will help support the construction of a gathering place that will "embrace and provide an inclusive and supportive learning and living environment for Aboriginal students, faculty and staff at the U of A."
Usually the Newells invest directly in young people, but this time, they went for a collective project that would benefit a larger group as well as encourage future generations, a precious gift for the present and for long term.
At the announcement ceremony, Newell explained that they think of this "gift as an investment in a new kind of opportunity for our entire community."
More than just the creation of a building, this project will be a way of celebrating Native cultures in the area.
Newell hopes the Aboriginal Gathering Place will reflect pride in Aboriginal people as well as offering a warm, welcoming place for everyone, once it is built in the North Corner near the International House.
With this $1 million donation, the U of A exceeded its desired $500-million Campaign goal. At the ceremony, U of A president Indira Samarasekera spoke highly of the Newell initiative and of the couple who have long encouraged Native culture on the campus.
"The Newells' advocacy for Aboriginal students-and for the critical need to engage Aboriginal communities in higher education-has had an enormous impact on the University of Alberta and on our plans for the future," said Samarasekera who also voiced the university's commitment to its almost nine hundred Aboriginal students.
"We aim to be the university of choice for Alberta's and Canada's Aboriginal students," said Samarasekera.
Newell, a corporate leader, businessman, and education advocate who is well known for his successful and ongoing efforts to strengthen partnerships between education and business, is currently completing his four-year term as chancellor. During this term, he was responsible for the creation of the Aboriginal Initiatives Working Group which he chairs along with Carl Amrhein.
"The great equalizer for opportunity is education," he said.
According to Newell, education is central to future success. If a person receives an education, the world is open with possibilities; if not, the opposite holds true.
Why does he place a special emphasis on First Nations, Métis and Inuit students? Newell insists that educational results are not as good for Aboriginal youth as they are for the non-Aboriginal population.
In keeping with Statistics Canada's latest census, Newell repeats the significant fact that Native communities are the fastest growing in the country. The federal census also pointed out that they have the youngest population which is growing at six times the average Canadian rate. Population statistics and employment realities paint a clear picture.
"We hope the Gathering Place becomes a place of celebration, a facility where Indigenous perspectives on knowledge, Aboriginal arts, Aboriginal languages and Aboriginal customs and values are given pride of place, not only for our Aboriginal students, but also for the entire University of Alberta, our great city of Edmonton, our province, and our country," said the Chancellor.
This vision seems to be spreading into a trend for building Aboriginal gathering places. The University of Manitoba opened its own Aboriginal House this September. Its aim is to give students support from peers, staff and Elders, while providing a positive learning environment, which respects culture and heritage.
Similarly, Aboriginal students at the British Columbia Institute of Technology (BCIT) in Burnaby can look forward to their own Aboriginal Gathering Place slated for construction in March 2009; predicted completion is slated for the following summer.
"(We) want the Gathering Place to become a place of hope, where students of all ages might return to again and again, and in doing so begin to see themselves one day pursuing the dream of post-secondary education," said Newell.