Lakehead University looking for Aboriginal alumni
By Rick Garrick
THUNDER BAY – Lakehead University is calling out for Aboriginal alumni to participate in the Thunder Bay and Orillia campuses 50th anniversary celebrations.
“One of the things that we want to do is ensure the Aboriginal community is involved in a big way in the celebrations that are going to be happening across the campus here and Orillia over the next year,” says Cynthia Wesley-Esquimaux, vice provost (Aboriginal Initiatives) at Lakehead University and a Georgina Island citizen. “Because (Lakehead University) didn’t have a self-declare policy or Aboriginal supports in those days (1960s), we wouldn’t necessarily know who they are until we look at some of the records. So we are going to have an opportunity here to create an (indigenous) alumni list.”
Wesley-Esquimaux notes that three indigenous alumni were among the 40 Northern Lights honoured at Lakehead’s 40th anniversary celebrations, including Dolores Wawia, a long-time education assistant professor at Lakehead, Harold Linklater, who developed Lakehead’s Native Teacher Education program, and Mae Katt, who developed the curriculum for Lakehead’s Native Nurses Entry Program.
“Indigenous people have had a say in how this university developed and have contributed a great deal to its foundations,” Wesley-Esquimaux says. “That acknowledgement should come this year in 2015 at (Lakehead’s) 50th anniversary.”
Two Robinson Superior alumni are currently featured on the Alumni Association of Lakehead University’s website: Pays Plat’s Christopher Mushquash, who brought in more than $2.2 million in research grants and contracts to Lakehead University since 2011, and Lake Helen’s Lana Ray, who is completing her PhD in Indigenous Studies at Trent University with a dissertation on how to integrate Anishinabe women’s knowledge into research.
Wesley-Esquimaux plans to reach out to the university’s indigenous alumni through a message on the Alumni Association’s website.
“If you are indigenous (or) if you remember going to school (with a) native classmate and you remember their name, could you let us know,” Wesley-Esquimaux says. “Can you tell them to get in touch with us so we can ensure they are here.”
Wesley-Esquimaux also plans to hold an indigenous alumni dinner or luncheon this upcoming September, noting the university will be holding a Homecoming Weekend gala dinner to celebrate the 50th anniversary at the Thunder Bay campus in early October.
“There are going to be awards given,” Wesley-Esquimaux says about the gala dinner. “We just want to see the indigenous community included in those celebrations.”
Wesley-Esquimaux says the university has seen a growth in indigenous students and programs over the second half of its history, noting that Aboriginal peoples didn’t go to university prior to 1951 because they would have been enfranchised and lose their right to live on their reserve or to be buried there.
“The Native Nursing program is (28) years old, the Native Access program is 24 years old,” Wesley-Esquimaux says. “Now we are moving into the Indigenous Knowledge 2016 process where every student who graduates from Lakehead University from 2016 on will have at least 18 hours or half a credit of indigenous learning.”