A regional First Nations post-secondary education program, which ran successfully for 14 years, is closing due to the cancellation of its federal funding.
The Northern Shuswap Tribal Council is discontinuing its Cariboo Chilcotin Weekend University (CCWU) program, after no funding for the 2011/12 fiscal year was approved from Indian Studies Support Program of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada.
Partnered with Thompson-Rivers University (TRU) and the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), CCWU involved a stepped program ranging from certificates to baccalaureate degrees.
Canim Lake Band (CLB) councillor and natural resources co-ordinator Don Dixon was one of the first two students to graduate from CCWU with a UNBC degree in 2004.
He was followed a year later by CLB Chief Mike Archie and two of Dixon’s co-workers.
The program facilitated weekend classes at CCWU in Williams Lake, in classrooms supplied by TRU, and summer classes on campus, Dixon explains.
“The neat thing about this program is it allowed us to continue working.”
The late Sister Mary Alice Danaher was the founder of CCWU, working closely with the First Nations communities in its development.
Danaher was instrumental in bringing the Weekend U program to the 15 First Nations Bands in the Williams Lake area in 1997.
Her efforts establishing CCWU were recognized in her prestigious appointment to the Order of Canada in 1999.
Dixon was on the co-ordinating committee with Danaher when the original CCWU degree programs were selected, ranging from accounting to political science, he explains.
“I can’t thank Sister Mary Alice Danaher enough for being a mentor for this program. A lot of times we wanted to quit, and she kept pushing and pushing us. She urged us on and challenged us.”
After more than 200 adults successfully completed courses at CCWU in Williams Lake, its last class will be held on Aug. 26.
CCWU co-ordinator Cici Sterritt says the NSTC board is reviewing its options to support the educational needs of its communities.
“We are discontinuing our protocol agreement with UNBC and TRU, which directly affects the CCWU program as it is tied to this agreement.”
Dixon spoke briefly at a celebration on Aug. 12 at the TRU Gathering Place, acknowledging the end of the CCWU program.
