Mon Mar 29, 2010, 11:19 PM
By The Canadian Press
REGINA - Approximately 20 University of Regina professors rolled out their sleeping bags and pillows on Monday to join a so-called live-in by students and staff at the troubled First Nations University of Canada.
Faculty members and students have been living in a student association office at the aboriginal-run institution since last week as a way to press Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl to reinstate millions of dollars in federal funding.
The troubled institution has had financial mismanagement and governance problems that caused the federal and Saskatchewan governments to pull over $12 million in funding. The province moved last week to restore its share of about $5 million.
Academics from the University of Regina say that the federal cuts were "vindictive and short-sighted" and will lead to the demise of the aboriginal university.
It's an important symbol to First Nations people and all Canadians should be concerned that the university may fold unless all its funding is restored, said assistant professor Marc Spooner.
"This is a great symbol of hope," he said, as he prepared to join his colleagues in the one-night sleepover. "It's a symbol and an acknowledgment of First Nations ways of knowing and that university is something to strive for."
That's especially important, given the low number of aboriginal young people who attend university classes, he said.
When Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized in the House of Commons to aboriginal people for a litany of wrongs, including residential schools, that came with an implicit promise to make things better, said Spooner.
That plan should include honouring aboriginal people by supporting a university that values their culture and languages, he suggested.
The Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, which oversees operations of the aboriginal university, has taken steps including replacing senior administrators and the institution's board of directors, he said.
The professors say it's also time to take restrictions off the university's administrators and board members.
"First Nations University has to be accountable and they've taken step to make themselves more accountable. Now it's time for the federal government and Canadians to be accountable, too," Spooner said.
A committee of the Canadian Association of University Teachers was the latest to send a letter of support, but there have been others around the world that have also voiced their concern, Spooner said.
"So it's actually starting to make Canada look bad as we put this funding in jeopardy."