Faculty Profile #27: Kim McKay-McNabb

Kim McKay-McNabb, Assistant Professor, Department of Science. Kim has been a faculty member since 2006. She is originally from Sakimay First Nation in Saskatchewan. She was born in Regina and has lived here most of her life. She is the mother of five children, one of who attended the First Nations University of Canada; Kim hopes that the others will consider attending First Nations University when they are old enough. Kim is an alumnus from the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College where she received her undergraduate degree, a Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) and her Masters of Arts degree in Clinical Psychology. She is currently completing the requirements for her Doctorate, in Clinical Psychology at the University of Regina. She will be one of the few First Nations Registered Psychologists in Canada once she completes her degree. Kim also coordinates the National First Nations Environmental Contaminants Program (NFNECP). This program is administered at the First Nations University of Canada in partnership with First Nations Inuit Health Branch, Research and Monitoring Section and the Assembly of First Nations. The objective of the NFNECP is to help the First Nations of Canada assess the extent of their exposure to environmental contaminants and the potential for associated risk to their health and well being (see www.nfnecp.ca for more information). Her research interests are Environmental Health, Aboriginal Health, Aboriginal communities and HIV/AIDS. She is a community-based researcher who believes in action-based research.

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Faculty Profile #26: Esther-Kathleen Segal

Dr. Esther-Kathleen Segal (formerly O’Reilly-Scanlon) is Professor Emeritus from the University of Regina and currently Professor of Indigenous Education at First Nations University of Canada. She teaches undergraduate and graduate classes in Indigenous research methods and language and literature. Dr. Segal received her PhD from McGill University and has published widely in the areas of narrative/story, memory-work, and self-study. Last year, Dr. Segal had a wondrous time living, writing and teaching in a remote Dene Community in Northern Saskatchewan.

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Faculty Profile #25: Sharon Acoose

Sharon Leslie Acoose, School of Indian Social Work, Saskatoon Campus. Ms. Acoose is a member of the Sakimay Indian Band. She has been working for First Nations University since 1999, which has been one of the most empowering experiences of her life. She is a recovering drug addicted alcoholic and will celebrate 19 years of sobriety April 1, 2010. In those 19 years she has acquired a Bachelor of Human Justice, a Certificate in Corrections, a Master of Social Work and is presently enrolled in a Doctorate of Philosophy program through the College of Medicine – Dept of Community Health & Epidemiology, University of Saskatchewan. Her research interests are issues around Indian women who have been in conflict with the law; her thesis will be based on the concept of reintegration. Ms. Acoose has rich and colourful past life experiences which she uses in her classrooms and in her many community presentations. She loves teaching for the First Nations University of Canada.

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Faculty Profile #24: Shannon Avison

Shannon Avison is an Assistant Professor and Department Head of Indian Communication Arts (INCA). She also administers and teaches courses for the Intercultural Leadership Program (ILP). Shannon completed her MA in Media Studies at Concordia University, while on education leave from the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College (SIFC). She also has a BA Philosophy, a BA High Honours in Indian Studies, and a certificate in INCA. Her thesis, Aboriginal Newspapers: Their contribution to the emergence of an Aboriginal public sphere, and her work with Aboriginal broadcasters, inform her teaching in courses including Aboriginal Media in Canada (INCA 283), Management Communication (ADMN 205) and Intercultural Leadership (ILP 100). Shannon coordinates the delivery of the INCA Summer Institute in Journalism (INCA 200) which has produced journalists including Michelle Hugli (The Afternoon Edition, CBC Radio), Nelson Bird (Indigenous Circle, CTV), Connie Walker (The National, CBC Toronto), Miranda Hanus (Missinipi Radio), Priscilla Wolfe (APTN), Kerry Benjoe (Regina Leader-Post). She also coordinates internships in communications, journalism, multimedia and leadership. Shannon serves on the SaskFilm board of directors and the CTV Indigenous Circle advisory council. She has produced video projects including the Urban Aboriginal Peoples’ videography project, Treaty Elders Governance and Leadership series, Saskatchewan First Nations for the Vancouver Olympics, SaskScene and Centennial Scene, as well as student television productions like Inside the Circle.

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Faculty Profile #23: Herman Michell

Dr. Herman Michell (B.A., MEd., PhD). Dr. Herman Michell is originally from the small fishing/trapping community of Kinoosao, on the eastern shores of Reindeer Lake in northern Saskatchewan. He speaks fluent Cree (‘th’ dialect) and also has Inuit, Dene and Swedish ancestry. He has been involved in Aboriginal higher education in different capacities for over ten years. He is an Associate Professor (tenured) at First Nations University of Canada and has taught undergraduate courses in Indigenous Health Studies, Education, and Environment.

Dr. Michell has studied in four Canadian universities. In 2008, he completed a PhD in Education from the University of Regina in Curriculum and Instruction with a focus on the inclusion of Cree culture in science education. Previous to this, he graduated with a Masters Degree in Education from the University of British Columbia in 1998, specializing in Curriculum & Instruction. He also completed graduate course work in Education Psychology and Special Education from both UBC and the University of Manitoba. Dr. Michell initially obtained a Bachelor of Arts Degree majoring in Sociology from the University of Winnipeg in 1990.

In addition to teaching and research, Dr. Michell sits on numerous internal and external committees including having served on the Board of Governors at First Nations University of Canada as a faculty representative for seven years. His administrative experience includes completion of a three-year term as Department Head of Science and one year as Acting Head of Science. He is currently the Vice President of Academics at First Nations University of Canada.

As part of his academic endeavors, Dr. Michell has published widely and has also travelled internationally (South Africa, Netherlands, England, South America, West Indies, Barbadoes). Dr. Michell regularly visits pre-service teacher education programs as a guest lecturer on the topic of cultural content inclusion. He is also called upon as a guest speaker on numerous occasions to address youth in First Nation communities and schools in relation to pursuing careers in science and health-related fields. As principal investigator, his research team recently completed a major federally funded study in 2008 entitled, “Learning Indigenous Science from Place: An Action Research Study Examining Indigenous Science Perspectives in Saskatchewan First Nations and Métis Community Contexts.” It will influence curriculum and instruction in science education for years to come.

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Faculty Profile #22: Blair Stonechild

BLAIR STONECHILD, Professor of Indigenous Studies. Blair Stonechild is a member of the Muscowpetung Saulteaux First Nation in Saskatchewan. He spent his first nine years of education at the Qu’Appelle Indian Residential School at Lebret, and was one of the first students to enroll in a white high school in Regina. He went on to obtained his B.A. from McGill University in Montreal, and later completed his M.A. and Ph.D. degrees at the University of Regina.

As a student at McGill, Blair was elected President of the Native Youth Association of Canada, the first effort to organize Aboriginal youth across Canada. Upon completing his bachelor’s degree, Blair worked as Assistant Director of Manitou Community College, the first Aboriginal-controlled post-secondary institution in Canada.

In 1976 Blair was the first academic hired by the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College (SIFC). Shortly after being employed, he chaired the Ad Hoc Committee on Indian Studies, which lay out the basic structure of the Bachelor’s Degree. As the first Head of the Department of Indian Studies, he was responsible to building a faculty and developing the curriculum. After two terms as department head, Blair was selected as the first Dean of Academics, responsible for faculty and curriculum issues across the several college departments. During this period, he helped to develop a system of academic rank and promotions, and helped to negotiate the first SIFC Collective Agreement. During this period, Blair also instrumental in establishing the Canadian Indian/Native studies association (CINSA). He was elected the organizations first President, a position that he held for two terms. CINSA helped to promote the interest of Native Studies programs across Canada and raise their profile in the scholarly community.

Blair has been involved in research for local First Nations. He has conducted land claims research for the Federation of Saskatchewan Indians, and his research on the abandoned Treaty Four Grounds in Fort Qu’Appelle led to the eventual returning of much of that land. In 1982 he along with Bill Peigan Jr. conducted an extensive study of flooding in the Qu’Appelle Valley that has led to the negotiation of settlements with eight Reserves in the Qu’Appelle Valley.

In 1990, Blair participated in the hearings of the National Task Force on Aboriginal Peoples and Museums. Shortly after, he was selected by the Prime Minister’s Office to be one of the dozen members of the Board of Trustees of the Canadian Museum of Civilization, Canada’s national museum of culture and history located across the river from the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa. He served on the board for nine years. The museum, designed by renowned Aboriginal architect Douglas Cardinal, had just been completed. Blair participated in the broad planning of the extensive First People Hall. Blair has also sat on the First Peoples’ Advisory Committee of the Glenbow Museum, been a consultant for the Treaty Four Keeping House project, and developed the First Nations content for the RCMP Museum in Regina. It was at the museum that Blair told Douglas Cardinal about the SIFC’s dream to construct a new facility. This led to an invitation to the architect to come to Regina for consultations. The unique design reflected Aboriginal values, but was also designed as an organic and functional facility. Blair became Executive Director of Planning, responsible for coordinating the planning process and fund-raising. The successful completion of the project led the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College to be rechristened the First Nations University of Canada.

Over the years, Blair also found the time to conduct research and publish books. He co-authored with Dr. Bill Waiser, Loyal Till Death: Indians and the North-West Rebellion, which overturned erroneous impressions of widespread Indian disloyalty during the 1885 Resistance. It won the Saskatchewan Book Award and was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award in 1997. Dr. Stonechild’s book examining Aboriginal post-secondary policy The New Buffalo: Aboriginal Post-secondary Policy in Canada (2006) was a finalist for the Saskatchewan Book Award. He is currently in the process of having published the biography Buffy Sainte-Marie: It’s My Way, based upon a series of interviews with Buffy and those who have been important in her life. Next, Blair plans to do research on Aboriginal spiritual philosophy.

Blair was selected as the Editor responsible for Aboriginal content for the Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. Stonechild has done extensive consulting on Aboriginal education, including being the lead researcher in national studies of Aboriginal post-secondary policy including a pan-Canadian inventory of Aboriginal post-secondary initiatives, study on Aboriginal attitudes towards self-identification in education, and study of the needs of Aboriginal post-secondary learners. He has been a part of international delegations representing the university in Peru, Chile, Belize and the Peoples’ Republic of China.

In his spare time, Blair has run marathons, completing the 42 kilometer Queen City Marathon. Blair is married to Sylvia and has raised three children.

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Faculty Profile #21: Angelina Weenie

Angelina Weenie (B.Ed., B.A., Post-Graduate Diploma, M.Ed). Angelina Weenie is Plains Cree from Sweetgrass First Nation. She is a fluent Cree speaker. Angelina has been involved in Aboriginal education for over 30 years, as a school teacher, curriculum developer, and eventually as Associate Professor in the Department of Indigenous Education at the First Nations University of Canada. She has served as the Department Head of Indigenous Education since 2002. She has published numerous articles in peer reviewed journals, a book, Resilience and First Nations Students (2009), and numerous professional reports including evaluations of the Aboriginal Head Start program. She has given many talks on Aboriginal education at conferences throughout the province of Saskatchewan and the country.

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Faculty Profile #20: Janice Acoose

JANICE ACOOSE / Miswonikwekesik (BA Hon; MA; PhD (ABD)) is Bonais Doodomag from Sakimay (Anishinaabe) First Nation. Acoose, an internationally recognized Indigenous literary critic, has been a professor of English with the First Nations University for 17 years. A scholar activist, she has devoted her life to empowering First Nations people by calling attention, both in and out of the classroom, to the power politics of literary criticism and by critically engaging with contemporary story carriers of First Nations knowledge. Currently, she is finalizing her PhD dissertation entitled “Minjimendaamowin Anishinaabe: Reading and Righting All Our Relations in Written English.” Acoose is a highly visible scholar of First Nations literatures whose work is included in Canada’s only two anthologies of First Nations Literary Criticism by First Nations critics, [Ad]dressing Our Words and Looking at the Words of Our People. Her first book Iskwewak – Kah’Ki Yaw Ni Wahkomakanak: Neither Indian Princesses Nor Easy Squaws is the first full-length book of literary criticism by a First Nations critic in Canada. She has also contributed to Reasoning Together: The Native Critic’s Collective, a critical anthology that gathered prominent Indigenous scholars from both Canada and the United States. Before devoting attention to her doctorate, Acoose was Saskatchewan’s first Native Affairs Columnist, a film producer, and newspaper journalist. Most recently she worked with NFB film director Christine Welsh to make Finding Dawn, a film that documents stories of Canada’s missing and murdered Indigenous Women.

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Faculty Profile #19: Del Anaquod, Chief Operating Officer

Del C. Anaquod

Diploma of Aviation (Mount Royal College)
B.A. (Carleton University)
M.Ed. (Harvard University)
n.d.c. (National Defence College)

Del is a full Professor with the First Nations University of Canada where he teaches upper level Indigenous Studies courses.

Summary

Del’s past and present involvements/accomplishments are many:

• Graduate-Harvard University (International education/administration)
• Founding Board member and Vice-Chairman of the International Centre for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights and Democracy)
• Established the First Nations Bank of Canada…Canada’s 11th domestic bank
• Founder and Chair of the Saskatchewan Indian Equity Foundation and later Chair of SIEF Investments
• Board member- National Parole Board of Canada
• Council Member- Statistics Canada’s National Statistics Council
• President –Saskatchewan Indian Federated College
• Chair-Rupertsland Holdings- the largest First Nations’ owned investment consortium in Canada
• Privy Council Office
• National Executive Director-National Association of Friendship Centres
• Established Bold Eagle (over 2,000 youth graduates)
• Author of various publications
• Only Saskatchewan citizen to hold the Cabinet/military designation n.d.c.

Background

A member of the Muscowpetung Saulteaux First Nation in southern Saskatchewan, Del attended the Qu’Appelle Indian Residential School for seven years. He began his professional pursuits by attending Mount Royal College’s Aviation Program in Calgary followed by several years of employment as a pilot/radio operator in the high Arctic Islands.

Del held a number of senior positions in Ottawa. He served as one of the youngest ever appointed Privy Council Officers in the PMO/Office of the Secretary to Cabinet for Federal/Provincial Relations in Ottawa. He was responsible for the coordination of specific inter-provincial policies and programs and compiled the first ever Inventory of Federal/Provincial Programs and Activities.

Prior to this he was a senior Program Manager for the Department of Secretary of State and then as National Executive Director of the National Association of Friendship Centers (NAFC) representing today over 100 centres across Canada. As well, prior to this period, Del was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree from Carleton University (Sociology/Anthropology). He later attended Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts and completed a Masters of Education degree (1980) with a specialization in international education/administration.

After an absence of ten years from Saskatchewan, Del returned in 1980 and held the position of Senior Policy Adviser to the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations (FSIN), as well as Assistant Professor at SIFC (now FNUC). He was instrumental in a number of new initiatives such as founder/Chairman of the Saskatchewan Indian Equity Foundation; Canada’s first Aboriginal controlled Capital Corporation. This later became a model for over forty such lending institutions across Canada.

1982 witnessed the first World Assembly of First Nations, an international gathering of Indigenous peoples from around the world. As Executive Director of this event, Del was responsible for coordinating staff as well as establishing and maintaining contact with all participants and delegates from over twenty-five countries.

From 1983 to 1986, Del served as President of SIFC (now the First Nations University of Canada), the only First Nation’s controlled University/College in North America. In this position he transformed SIFC from an FSIN program to a stand-alone university institution through the SIFC Act and its own Board of Governors, finances and policies while obtaining core funding and AUCC accreditation with an enrolment of over 750 students. Following his Presidency at SIFC, Del had the unique opportunity of attending the National Defense College in Kingston, Ontario. He obtained the cabinet/military designation of n.d.c. and one of few in Canada and the only one in Saskatchewan.

Throughout his life, Del has traveled extensively (40 + countries) and during his tenure with SIFC, he was instrumental in facilitating over ten educational exchange agreements with several countries, including the People’s Republic of China, the Navajo Nation (USA), Mexico, Russia, and Chile. Shortly thereafter, he was appointed Board member and Vice-Chairman of the International Center for Human Rights and Democratic Development (Rights and Democracy), Montreal, Québec on whose board he served for four years.

In 1992, Del was again seconded to FSIN where he served two years as Executive Director of Education. In this position, he was instrumental in initiating a summer militia program (Bold Eagle) and a new direction for First Nations’ education emphasizing business development and the promotion of science/math based professions.

From 1996-1999, Del was the Director of the Indigenous Centre for International Development (SIFC) where he initiated and coordinated projects in Mexico, Costa Rica and Guatemala.

As a founder of the First Nations Bank of Canada, (Canada’s 11th domestic bank) Del continues to be involved in a variety of political, educational and business developments.

Author of numerous publications — his recent “Contributions of Indigenous Peoples of the Americas” to the world was printed in six languages (four First Nations) and distributed across Canada to all Aboriginal schools (2,000).

Del continues to instruct advanced courses in Indigenous Studies at the First Nations University of Canada. His recent involvements include the Chair of Rupertsland Holdings Ltd., the largest First Nations’ owned investment consortium in Canada. Rupertsland was owned by 156 Bands in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Yukon and the NWT. He was also Chair of SIEF Investments and a board member of the National Parole Board of Canada and the National Statistics Council.

Del and his wife, Diane have two children: a daughter, Dawn (HR Office, Canada Post in Ottawa), and a son, Derek (Cpl) presently deployed in Afghanistan.

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Faculty Profile #18: Carl Beal

Dr. Carl Beal, Professor of Indigenous Studies. Dr. Beal has been at First Nations University for 25 years. He authored “Aboriginal Economic Development in Canada” for the recently published Volume 2, “Indians in Contemporary Society”, of the Smithsonian Institution’s prestigious Handbook of North American Indians. He received a policy fellowship award with the Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy in 2007–08. He has been an expert witness in economic history in First Nations several court cases and specific claims. He has authored commissioned papers for the Treaty Relations Commission of Manitoba on “The Manitoba Treaties and the Right to Livelihood.” Dr. Beal has extensive experience in specific claims negotiations, and played a part in the development of new methods of calculating compensation in long-lived land claims, especially pre-confederation claims.

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