PATRICK WHITE
WINNIPEG — From Monday's Globe and Mail Published on Monday, Mar. 08, 2010 12:00AM EST Last updated on Monday, Mar. 08, 2010 7:25AM EST
For three months, Canada's only aboriginal-run university has been under siege. First, it was allegations of gross misspending and managerial shenanigans from a senior financial officer who was promptly fired. Then it was the province and the federal government pulling all funding to the Regina-based First Nations University of Canada.
Now, a damming internal report written by Manley Begay is recommending sweeping changes at the institution: forcing out all chiefs from the board of governors; granting the university more independence from its sometimes overbearing governing body, the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations; and opening its books for full public transparency.
Today and tomorrow, FSIN Chief Guy Lonechild will try to convince his membership to ratify the Begay report. It promises to be a rocky effort; many of the chiefs in attendance will lose their cushy board positions under the Begay prescription.
Why does First Nations University matter? Why should the rest of the country care?
It has over 3300 graduates who are contributing all around the world to enriching lives. It's also important for us to nurture our identity, our Indian identity. If there was a time to get real about our future, it's now. Only through education, doors will open for the First Nations population.
One of the Begay report recommendations is to have no chiefs on the board. That seems a direct criticism of your group's oversight.
We think that the Begay report has some very strong and forward-thinking processes we can implement over time. I can't comment on specifics until the chiefs of assembly review that report.
Personally, though, what did you think of the report? Was it too strong? Too weak?
I think it was consistent with our belief that removing politics as much as possible from the institution is what we want. And it could be a model for other institutions - not having political leaders serve on the board of governors. I would say we're taking some very progressive steps in terms of having no politicians on the board.
Is this ratification all for nothing? Indian and Northern Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl recently wrote in The Globe and Mail that he would not restore any direct funding to the University because the institution had failed over and over again to "make its governance accountable and its spending transparent."
I think that the federal government is opening to look at proposals for a different arrangement. The no-direct-funding issue is something we will continue to discuss. But we think the provincial and federal governments are sincere about a new arrangement we've been working on for weeks that would see funding rerouted for up to four years through a publicly funded institution.
So the funds that used to come directly to First Nations University would be filtered through the University of Regina?
Funding would flow through either the University of Regina or another institution.
Will ratifying the Begay report give the feds enough confidence agree to that arrangement?
I think it would give our federal and provincial partners the confidence. We get the sense that once we table the Begay report and discuss it that Indian and Northern Affairs will take a good look at reinvesting with our partner institutions.
In these negotiations are you wary about giving up too much control over the university, about possibly losing the title of only aboriginal-run university in the country?
Of course. I would go further than that. I would say in an era when the Prime Minister apologizes for their policy of killing the Indian in the child, let this mark a time when we have our own institutions run by our own people. We want First Nations University to become a stand-alone, degree-granting institution where our culture, language, heritage will be taught.
That goal has become pretty unrealistic in recent months, hasn't it? The University of Regina currently grants all FNUC degrees and, from what you're saying, FNUC will have to rely on the U of R more than ever in the future if it wants to get any funding back.
I think for a long time we've been in a holding pattern regarding that goal. I'm a firm believer that things happen for a reason. Hopefully this will be the impetus for a greater emphasis on the responsibility of running, administering and governing and institution that has a significant amount of potential. We're looking to come out of this shinier than ever.