By Spencer Sterritt

$13.5 million coming to VIU to help Indigenous students

Sep 20, 2017 | 3:11 PM

NANAIMO — A multi-million dollar learning partnership hopes to bring more Indigenous students into Vancouver Island University and break down any barriers to a complete education.

Announced Wednesday morning at the VIU Nanaimo campus, $9 million is allotted for VIU scholarships specifically for Indigenous students. $4.5 million is for supporting Indigenous students through recently hired education navigators, who act as counsellors and helpers.

Sheldon Scow, a third-year First Nations studies student who spoke often at the announcement, said the money will help students like himself more easily accomplish their goals.

“They do anything and everything to help Indigenous students,” he said of the three recently hired educational navigators.

“Myself in my first two years, I needed my hand held. I needed someone to walk me to class, I needed someone to sit with me while I did my homework. The educational navigators go above and beyond that.”

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Scow said any opportunity to send more Indigenous youth to post-secondary is an opportunity which needs to be capitalized on.

“If Indigenous people are going to fight for our rights to show we’re a strong and resilient people, we need to combine our traditional knowledge with post-secondary knowledge,” he said. “If we can combine the best of both worlds, then there’s nothing our people can’t do.”

This is the third time Scow has attempted to graduate university. He said the first time was a lonely struggle made worse by the death of a close friend and he wasn’t prepared to face the challenges the second time. Now, he said help from counsellors, teachers and friends has made the struggle easier and he can see a future where he graduates.

The $13.5 for VIU is part of a larger $50 million partnership which also benefits Yukon College, with major contributions from both the Rideau Hall and Mastercard Foundations.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit