North Okanagan residents can learn more about the growing role of aboriginal youth.
On Thursday, Okanagan College will host Gabrielle Scrimshaw, who will speak about how aboriginal people are growing in numbers, educational rates and what it means for the Canadian economy.
“We have more than 1,500 aboriginal students registered in our diverse programs, which is triple what it was 10 years ago,” said Anthony Isaac, aboriginal access and services co-ordinator at Okanagan College.
“We’re excited to have such an influential speaker, someone many students can relate to, come to our campuses to inspire and engage our community in the broader conversation about diversity and our growing economy.”
From 2006 to 2011 the national aboriginal population increased by 20.1 per cent, compared with a growth of 5.2 per cent of non-aboriginal residents, according to Statistics Canada.
Saskatchewan-raised Scrimshaw co-founded the Aboriginal Professional Association of Canada, and was the recipient of the 2013 Indspire First Nations Youth Award. She also attended the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation and CEO Summits in Japan as a Voices of the Future delegate where she spoke about foreign policy to world leaders.
Scrimshaw will speak at the Vernon campus lecture theatre at 1 p.m. Thursday.
