Success gained through hard work, and program support, says Native students

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Graduating ceremonies for students from an Alberta Native studies program was truly a shared experience during which eagle feathers and sweetgrass braids were presented and memories made.

"It was very moving, hearing from each graduate," said student Cindy Dunnigan, at the University of Alberta School of Native Studies June 6 convocation. "And I felt very privileged to be in Native Studies. People in General Arts graduating that day, anything they did to celebrate was a private function with their families but we were involved in a meaningful meeting together with family, friends, and staff where we were recognized for all the hard work that goes into a challenging program," she added.

Dunnigan entered the program aftger obtaining her Bachelor of Arts in religious studies. She saw Native studies as being far more relevant, practical and contemooary.

"It's been helpful for me in raising awareness on campus by being able to contibute to philosophical discussios. I'm armed with knowledge and I can educae others who make generalizations and stereotypical remarks about Aboriginal people."

An additioal bonus Dunnigan reaped form the program was getting closer to her roots.

"I went into the program looking for knowledge about Metis history and culture and an introduction to the Cree language because my grandma speaks Cree but none of her children do. Now, we speak Cree together and she's so proud of me."

Dropping out of school at 13 seemed the end of the academic road for Tina Dion. But the strong advocate of the university program has paved her own new path, in part through the support of the Native studies faculty.

Dion has participated in a student exchange program in Australia, studying international relations and comparing Aboriginal issues both at home and "down under". And on June 20 (as a result of successful fund-raising efforts), she leaves for the United Nations' Centre for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland for two months. She has been granted an unpaid internship to help plan for the International Decade of the Indigenous Populations, 1995-2005. In September she's off to the University of British Columbia to study international law.

Tina attributes her success to the knowledge and support offered through the School of Native Studies, the hard work and discipline she committed herself to and her work with the Student Ambassador Program with Native Student Services.

"The school is small and personal and it's easy to feel comfortable there. And students in the Native Studies program find what they're looking for. I wanted some understanding, some in-depth knowledge of what was going on regarding Native issues and the program offers you what you're willing to go and get."

And she's gained a lot of self-confidence from the knowledge she's accumulated.

"I know about the atrocities that went on but we have to go beyond that. We can't go back in time but I know what happened now, for instance, to my grandparents. Before Native Studies, I had no idea. Now I'm confident in putting up a good argument."

Tina is also determined to encourage other Aboriginal people to go to university:

"If you're doing well in school, you have a responsibility to take your relatives aside and give them information about the university. Start when they're in junior high. tell them that just because they're not straight A students it doesn't mean they won't get into university. That's what we didn't have. We were told we'd never make it."

That message is being dismantled by the growing number of Native students entering post-secondary educational institutions. At the University of Alberta, the Native studies program has seen an increase in students from 24 in 1989, when the facility first opened its doors, to 141 in December, 1991, the first year which saw graduating students.

Out of this total, about one third are furtherintg their education and about half are employed in such diverse fields ats the Canadian Native Arts Fundation, forestry management and Corrections Canada, say program representatives.