StarPhoenix editorial lauds appointment of Blaine Favel to U of S chancellor

An editorial printed in the StarPhoenix newspaper lauds the appointment of Blaine Favel to the position of University of Saskatchewan chancellor. “Favel long has demonstrated the best qualities one would expect of a graduate from Saskatchewan’s largest university. He was among a handful of First Nations graduates when he attained his law degree in the mid-1980s, and has since gone on to lead his First Nation, become Grand Chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, hold the position of special counsellor on international Indigenous issues with the federal government and earn a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University,” reads the opinion. Favel serves currently as president of Calgary-based One Earth Oil and Gas company. The opinion describes Favel as a long-time advocate of education for First Nations youth. “As leader of the FSIN, Mr. Favel gained a reputation for battling the systemic and overt racism he believed was mainly responsible for many of the social ills that First Nations people suffered in Saskatchewan. He rarely missed an opportunity to point out what he believed to be examples of unjust treatment—from the manslaughter verdict handed to Steven Tyler Kummerfield and Alexander Dennis Ternowetsky for the sexual assault and beating death of 28-year-old Pamela George, to the accusations of band corruption levelled by the Canadian Taxpayers Association.”