New Southern Plains Métis Local 160 and Saskatchewan Polytechnic have signed a memorandum of understanding to create closer ties and expand opportunities for Métis students.
Dr. Larry Rosia, president and CEO of Saskatchewan Polytechnic, and Darrell Hawman, president of New Southern Plains Métis Local (NSPML) 160 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Feb. 8 that highlights the relationship between Sask Polytech and its Métis students.
“To have partnerships like this just demonstrates to us and to the community that we’re serious about Truth and Reconciliation,” Dr. Rosia said. “We have so many of our students who are Indigenous and Métis, and it’s important for us to work with the Indigenous communities and Métis communities… Miyo wahkohtowin – good relations – is built right into our institutional strategy.”
Sask Polytech has classes in the Cree language for interested students and, in light of the new partnership, is looking to Michif language initiatives as well. The institution is actively looking for ways to promote Métis culture.
“This has been a long-standing relationship with the Métis Local 160,” said Deanna Speidel, Sask Polytech Indigenous Strategy Director. “They’ve always been immersed in the Moose Jaw campus and supporting all events to embrace Métis culture and history in the Michif language.” Speidel added that the MOU gives identity to a reciprocal relationship based on Truth and Reconciliation.
Speidel explained that Sask Polytech’s current five-year Indigenous Strategy plan will be coming to an end in 2023. The MOU will help guide the renewal of the strategy for the next five-year plan.
Rosemarie Zaba Stewart, Indigenous student advisor at the Moose Jaw campus, said that the local Métis leadership have partnered with the campus on almost every event since 2011. “So we’ve involved them with our events, with students, with our initiatives, with our projects. It was a natural extension when Darrell (Hawman) said that the Métis Local 160 wanted to write a memorandum of understanding on behalf of the Métis students here.”
NSPML 160 is a non-profit that launched in October 2016 to promote awareness of the Métis community in Moose Jaw and the surrounding areas. “Our motto at New Southern Plains Métis Local 160 is to Reach, Teach, and Unite,” Hawman said. He expressed thanks to everyone who had made the MOU possible and expressed his hope that it would help Métis students to become lifelong learners.
